A farmer who pruned a cornfield maze into the shape of the interlocking Olympic rings is in trouble with Winter Games officials.
The cornstalks in Steve Ames’ field in Farmington, Utah, stand in the shape of the five Olympic rings and feature the logo of an Olympic sponsor.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee’s brand-protection department is telling Ames to either plow the corn under or alter the crop so it no longer looks like the Olympic logo.
Ames says he has an e-mail indicating that the sponsor, Nu Skin Enterprises, gave the OK for using the Olympic insignia.
But SLOC officials say no one can use the Olympic rings without paying a price–$10,000, by one account.
Nu Skin officials now say they want their logo out of the field as well.
“It’ll be pretty difficult,” Ames said. “It’s kind of like, `What’s the big deal?’ Just leave it alone. I can’t alter it overnight.”
Nu Skin spokesman Larry Macfarlane said Ames was told he would have to get approval from SLOC.
“The more we look at it, the more we’re unhappy with it,” Macfarlane said.
But Ames says he has an e-mail, signed by the company’s Olympic marketing director, that reads, “Thanks for doing this.”
Short honeymoon
Arizona Diamondbacks attendance has fallen annually in the first three seasons, despite the team’s success. Even now, with the D’backs in first place, enthusiasm lags.
“I think we get good crowds,” first baseman Mark Grace told the Arizona Republic. “But I would love to see fans get on their feet in the second and third innings, not just with two outs in the ninth. [Bank One Ballpark] is a big place. Maybe too big.”
