Sports, Commerce Wed in Chapel Hill

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- I had a story idea, which is to say I had a cheap stunt in mind. Starting at Gumby's (306 West Franklin St.), a dive of a pizza place, I was going to run east down the main drag of Chapel Hill., trying to spend $1,000 on Tar Heel trinkets and memorabilia in under 20 minutes.

Turns out, it was no challenge -- I would have only needed 10 minutes and could have spent far more than $1,000 -- so I had to adjust. I dropped the stunt for a more leisurely jaunt.

Whether at a fast clip or crawl, sports merchandising is an important business to understand for any fan of either small-town or international commerce.

And probably nowhere are America's twin obsessions with competition and commerce on better display than in this southern college town, home of the University of North Carolina -- the alma mater of Michael Jordan, football's Lawrence Taylor and untold championship sports teams, all wearing Carolina blue, the signature color of a Tar Heel.

The merger of competition and commerce all takes place on Franklin Street, Chapel Hill's main commercial strip. Franklin Street boasts several things along its tree-lined corridor, which makes for a beautiful college-town stroll at a relaxed southern gait.

At one level, you can achieve a level of impossible serenity. Franklin Street, which runs along one side of campus, is also a party site with no shortage of bars where all those college championships have been celebrated in bawdy fashion. There is a "what happens on Franklin Street stays on Franklin Street" vibe (you can even buy the T-shirt).

There is also a more modern concern about the strange site of empty storefronts, which is a top subject of the current town council race.

But my concern is cheap sports memorabilia, in part because little sports trinkets are such a part of the economy.