Unusual Campaign Smells Like a Winner

What’s a macho stock car driver doing with Drakkar Noir cologne as a sponsor?

When Jack Wiswall, president of L’Oreal USA was looking to rejuvenate the Drakkar brand, he said, “People told us, if you want the 18-35 demographics, you have to have Dale Jr.”

So Dale Earnhardt Jr. is showing up these days at perfume counters wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, causing stampedes.

“He’s been fantastic,” Wiswall said after a chorus of screams greeted the Winston Cup driver at the Herald Square Macy’s in Manhattan as he worked his way through a police escort and a squad of bodyguards. “He’s a special kid, very gentle. He speaks well, he looks the part. He’s cool.”

Trivia time: The last time the Boston Red Sox won a World Series was 1918. Who were their winning pitchers?

The way it’s done: Curt Schilling has won 21 games and has walked only 20 batters.

“It’s command,” the Arizona Diamondback pitcher explained. “Control is the ability to throw strikes. In the big leagues, everybody has control. Command is the ability to throw quality strikes. And when you add preparation to command, good things will happen.”

Schilling has a compact disc on which he records every pitch he has thrown to a major league batter. He even keeps track of each umpire’s strike zone.

Opening day: Since 1978, of the 330 NFL teams that won their opening games, 176 went to the playoffs and 95 won division titles. Of the 330 losers, 76 went to the playoffs and 42 won division titles.

That was Chick: Times reader Gordon Grigg saw Chick Hearn and his wife Marge standing in line at the post office on White Oak Avenue in Encino a few months ago. When the person in charge learned that the Hearns were there, he came out and offered to move them to the front of the line. Hearn said no, thanks, that they’d just wait in line like everybody else.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) plans to introduce a bill to have that post office named after Hearn.

Working tradition: Ron Adamson is quarterback of Mount Union, winner of the last two Division III national titles. Besides throwing passes and running the offense, Adamson washes the team’s uniforms. It’s a tradition at the Alliance (Ohio) school, which offers no athletic scholarships.

Jim Ballard, quarterback of the 1993 Purple Raiders, started washing uniforms. Every starting quarterback since has performed the task.

“They all want the job now,” said Ballard, now quarterback of the Indiana Firebirds in the Arena Football League.

Trivia answer: Babe Ruth and Carl Mays. Ruth beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0, in the first game and 3-2 in the fourth. Mays won the third and fifth games.

And finally: Nebraska’s cheerleaders have been grounded. No more acrobatics and tumbling across the end zone. A new policy prohibits off-the-ground stunts to reduce injuries.

“It’s a big disappointment,” said Kellie Bowman, co-captain of the Cornhuskers’ Spirit Squad. “Cheerleading has been more than just standing there, waving pompoms.”

Last year, Nebraska agreed to a $2.1-million settlement with a former cheerleader paralyzed in a 1996 accident.