AFTER THE screaming for Bolt's magical run died down last Sunday, it started up again, even more raucously, when we realised that Asafa had taken the bronze. For me, Asafa's bronze is even more of a victory than Bolt's gold. He is finding himself again by letting go.

'Safa is learning to dance and clown around and release the pressure. He's getting back into stride. And Usain is pushing him on: "Yeow! Run! Record!" Those were the commanding words Bolt used to motivate Asafa as he handed him the baton for the final of the 4X100 relay in Beijing.

Then it strikes me that we're at risk these days of taking Bolt for granted. We done know. Im a go win. We don't know what his next record-breaking time is going to be; but we're pretty confident he'll be way ahead of the pack. Even Texaco has taken that position: unbeatable. I don't want to sound like a spoilsport, but I have grave reservations about that advertisement. It flies in the face of traditional wisdom.

Our African ancestors taught us not to tempt fate. That's why the usual answer to the greeting, 'How yu doing?' is the cautious 'Not too bad.' We rarely say, 'Good.' Next thing you know, things not too good. We know about the power of 'goat mouth.' Now, I do understand the struggle to find words to adequately express Bolt's extraordinary achievements. The 200 final left me speechless. We're quickly running out of superlatives. But we need to be careful about excesses like 'from out of space' and 'superhuman.' Usain, after all, is only human. And he is still a young man. How prepared is he to deal with all of this adulation? We don't want his head to swell up and burst.

'Buck-up' sports management

It's great that Texaco has sealed a deal to brand its products with the mark of Bolt's athletic prowess. Among other endorsements, Usain is a Gatorade athlete. The company's updated logo is a graphically enhanced lightning bolt. Bolt's readymade name and his magnificent athletic accomplishments clearly add exceptional value to the Gatorade brand.

But I don't think our world-class athletes have benefitted nearly enough from product-endorsement deals in comparison with their North American counterparts. I suspect that Michael Phelps, Usain's closest rival for the title of fastest man on land and sea, is streets and lanes ahead of him in the field of product endorsement. Jackass seh di world no level. And it's true.

That's a whole other story about the way in which sports management needs to be fully professionalised in the Caribbean. We've been doing 'buck-up' management. I know some hard-working, visionary managers will object. But sports management these days is a science and an art. Trial and error isn't always the best way to manage. We need to raise the bar in the region so that our athletes can maximise their potential to earn big bucks.

So I'm suggesting that Texaco change the 'unbeatable' slogan to something much more in keeping with local cultural values, like 'hard to beat.' Or, if they are daring enough, they could even use the vernacular: 'hard man fi beat.' This business of culturally appropriate branding is something that international firms operating in Jamaica really do need to take seriously.

Just think of the completely mystifying case of the rebranding of Cable and Wireless as LIME. I suppose it was a public-relations executive from the United Kingdom who came up with the concept. If anybody had done even the most basic focus-group research in the local market, it would have been obvious that choosing LIME was buying trouble, tempting fate and putting goat mouth on yourself.

Courting impotence

First of all, lime is famous here for cutting your nature (sex drive). As a service provider, LIME really shouldn't be taking the risk of courting impotence. Then limjuice isn't exactly sweet. Dissatisfied customers have now taken to mocking LIME's sour service.

But there's hope for the brand. Brackish sugar and water can be transformed by lime into a most refreshing bebrij. The Dictionary of Jamaican English cites an 1873 description of 'beverage': "A host of 'beverages' of which not the least acceptable was sweetened lime-juice and water, with just a soupçon of nutmeg and perhaps a teaspoonful of old rum to qualify the whole." So there's a good prescription for LIME's branding woes.

Oddly enough, Cable and Wireless is not branded as LIME in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), the only country in the region where diehard revellers truly know the sweet pleasures of a juicy lime: 'liming' is the art of partying that has been scientifically refined in T & T.

Sailors used to stop in the Caribbean to stock up on limes to counteract scurvy. The onshore recreational activities they engaged in came to be known as liming: much wining and dining around the maypole, not only in May, but all year round.

So, in the true spirit of regional integration, I propose that LIME host a big bacchanal lime, with nuff bebrij, for all of our magnificent athletes. Up and down the Caribbean, it will be one long conga line of gold, silver and bronze medallists and all those who did their very best but didn't medal. After winning the bronze, 'Safa sent a text message asking if we were now proud of him. Absolutely!

Carolyn Cooper is professor of literary and cultural studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona. Send feedback to: karokupa@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.

Editor's note: Martin Henry's column now appears weekly in Section F - In Focus.