With the Summer Olympics just a month away (July 27-Aug. 12), participating athletes, teams, coaches and marketing sponsors are awaiting the Games with baited breath. But others feel they have been baited into an unwanted situation.

No, this isn't about the State of New Jersey or breeding Jersey cows or sordid activity "down the Shore," but rather the huge business of licensed apparel. As the recent kerfuffle between Nike and Reebok attests-the former won a judge's order temporarily blocking the latter from using Tim Tebow's name on New York Jets apparel-this is not a game for the faint of heart.

As a marketing researcher who has seen more than my share of poorly executed research in the sports industry, I'll be among the first to advocate to clients about the importance of avoiding the trap of jumping to definitive conclusions off insufficient data. I've aimed my disdain at poorly constructed survey questions, and inappropriate sampling, as often as I've raised caution about the proper deployment of qualitative research. And while my company conducts a large number of focus groups and one-on-one interviews with sports fans and participants in facilities dedicated for these purposes, I'll caveat these engagements with a thorough …

Imagine you were trying to buy your first home (not a pleasant prospect at the moment, I know, but bear with me). However, the people who own the house at the moment refuse to tell you how much they paid for it three years ago. You also have no way of knowing what similar homes in the neighborhood sold for, other than a few rumors (that you have no way of verifying). Because you've never bought a home, you don't know whether it really is quite normal for you to have to pay for the closing costs and a vacation …