Shopping for your vote - This race is mall-bound

Shopping for votes

The Heisman Trophy campaign for Florida quarterback Rex Grossman is beginning not on billboards or the internet, but at the shopping mall.

This year, the Gators are foregoing tradition by selling replicas of Grossman's No. 8 Florida jersey at sporting goods stores, hoping the sales will draw him some attention before the season starts.

As a general policy, athletic director Jeremy Foley doesn't like marketing uniforms with players' numbers on them, mainly because it's the school that makes the money off the sales, and not the players themselves.

"This is not a normal situation, but when you've got a guy who was second in the Heisman Trophy race, you have to think about it," Foley said Wednesday. "I think the fans like it. When you have that kind of high-profile player, I think it's good for your program."

Going for the prize

The two official mascots for the 2004 Athens Olympics are under attack from a group called the Greek Society of the Friends for the Ancients, which says the cone-shaped caricatures mock the gods Apollo and Athena.

"The two mascots ... savagely insult our religion and identity," said the lawsuit. "We want to see the gods as they are presented in statues, reliefs, etc., and not as parodies."

The group not only wants the dolls banned, but $2.85 million for its suffering.

Now that's what you call going for the gold.

-- Wire service reports