Ace

Live Strong, Die Young

December 18, 2004

As quite of a few of you wear Lance Armstrong's Live Strong bands, you might like to know (as I learned from Anthony Cox) the unintended alternative meaning.

Several area hospitals are putting the brakes on Lance Armstrong’s cancer organization fundraising bracelets. It’s not cold-hearted backlash, but rather a safety precaution.

Patients wear colored bracelets to identify safety needs, said Lisa Johnson, vice president of patient services for Morton Plant Mease Health Care. Yellow stands for “do not resuscitate.”

As Anthony says, “The rubber bands appear to be spreading into the rest of the rainbow.” Nike, the very model of a modern multinational, do what they do best.

Gart and Scheels have been selling the Nike “Baller Band” version of the bracelet which comes in many colors including, black, light blue, pink, red and glow-in-the-dark and have different basketball terms embossed in them, “battleground” being the most common, or the Nike swoosh.

Sunny Delzer, an employee at Scheels, said the store sold out of its bracelets in about three days and doesn't plan to get any more.

Mike Ashworth, who works in the athletic department at Gart says that while he thinks the “LiveStrong” bracelets are the most popular, the Nike version sells out quickly too.

“Whenever we get them in, they sell like crazy,” he said.

It's dubious whether Nike, which also manufactures the LiveStrong edition, donates any proceeds from its “Baller Band” bracelets.

“They just jumped on the wagon,” Ashworth said. “They aren't for charity.”

“Battleground” is such a suitable term for basketball.

Posted by Dave at December 18, 2004 12:36 PM

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