Tangled Web

Baseball players won't get to walk all over Spider Man next month. After howls of protest from fans, Columbia Pictures and Major League Baseball have cancelled plans to stick ''Spider-Man 2'' on bases in games played between June 11 and June 13, according to a joint press release. ''We don't want to do anything that takes away from a fan's enjoyment of the game,'' Columbia marketing exec Geoffrey Ammer said in the press release. The New York Yankees had already refused to use the Spider Man bases during games, and fans and some baseball experts decried the deal as overly commercial.

As part of a $2.5 million deal, baseball parks will still hold ''Spider-Man 2'' promotions that weekend, offering free Spidey items and showing clips from the movie on video screens. ''The bases were an extremely small part of the program,'' said MLB President Bob DuPuy in the press release. Sports industry consultant Marc Ganis told the New York Times that the decision was ''a smart move,'' and noted that the controversy had provided ''millions of dollars of publicity'' for ''Spider-Man 2.'' Now maybe a few people might see it.

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