Just like Michael Jordan, Lee Kealon is making a comeback.

	Lee Kealon's career as a Michael Jordan lookalike is on the rise again.

It only makes sense that their careers would take off at the same time. Kealon, a businessman who hails from Wilmington, N.C., is a Jordan lookalike whose moonlighting career has skyrocketed again with his Airness back playing in the NBA.

After keeping a low profile during Jordan's first two stints in the league, making only a handful of appearances, Kealon says he's hoping to make the most of Jordan's third tour of NBA duty.

He's ready to shave off his goatee, a sign of the Jordan of old, and hit the weight room to add some muscle. Jordan is listed at 6-foot-6, 216 pounds. Kealon says he is 6-6, 225.

"Kids love me," Kealon said. "They just don't believe that I'm not him."

"The iron's hot for Jordan lookalikes," said Ron Bartels, owner of www.Lookalikes-USA.com, a company that manages some 1,000 lookalikes, including Kealon. This week, Bartels said a company in China wanted a Jordan lookalike for a commercial. And recently, an organizer of a trade show in Las Vegas called, as did a company in Chicago, inquiring about No. 23A, Bartels said.

Across the country, Bartels said there are as many as 100 "high-end" sports imposters linked with talent agencies.

Kealon, who owns an airport shuttle service, is not only a Jordan lookalike, but a soundalike, as well. But the similarities don't stop there. Jordan and Kealon were both born in Brooklyn, N.Y., two years apart, and both moved to Wilmington during their early childhood. Yes, Kealon claims he also can dunk, stick out his tongue like you-know-who and wears the same size 14 shoes that Jordan wears.

In 1995, when Jordan made an appearance at an exhibit dedicated to him at the Cape Fear Museum in Wilmington, confusion ensued when Kealon showed up. "I stood in the front of the building and while people swarmed around me, Michael came in the back," Kealon said. When Kealon got inside, people asked Jordan if the two were related. "Jordan played along with the joke and never denied it," Kealon said.

In a separate case of mistaken identity, a Wilmington television station showed a photograph of Kealon when Jordan retired in 1999.

Although Kealon said he is excited to attend functions that pay him approximately $1,000 a day, he has his standards. "I'm not going to go to a place that Michael wouldn't go to," said Kealon, who named his own son Jordan.

Kealon said he's ready to work, minus one detail. "Everyone's telling me I have to get a Wizards jersey now."

What's in a name?
The Continental Basketball Association suspended play in mid-season after filing for bankruptcy last February. But the teams have been reorganized under local ownership and the CBA name will continue for its 56th straight season starting Friday.

Previous CBA team owners bought the league's name in bankruptcy court for $16,000 in late July. They also bought the names of some of the teams, for prices ranging from $1,250 to $2,000. What wasn't up for bid at the bankruptcy sale? How about the league’s Web site: www.cbahoops.com. It is now a porn site.

"We lost that site very shortly after (the bankruptcy)," said Scott Johnson, director of operations for the CBA. "We were making an effort to get it back but the people that had it wanted a fairly large amount."

The CBA starts the season this week with a new Web site, www.CBAHoopsOnline.com. The CBA's old Web site is still for sale. Its owners are currently soliciting bids beginning at $550.

Upon further review
Indiana Pacers coach and former CBA owner Isiah Thomas' recently released book, "The Fundamentals: 8 Plays for Winning the Games of Business and Life," is getting some tough reviews. From one reviewer on Amazon.com:

	“	Isiah, in an attempt to explain the fundamentals of basketball and business, fails to explain how he single-handedly drove a 50-plus-year-old league completely into the ground in one year's time. ”
		— Unsolicited review of Isiah Thomas' new book, 'The Fundamentals: 8 Plays for Winning the Games of Business and Life'

"Isiah, in an attempt to explain the fundamentals of basketball and business, fails to explain how he single-handedly drove a 50-plus-year-old league (the Continental Basketball Association) completely into the ground in one year's time. He seemed to forget his fundamental of not paying the millions of dollars he ended up owing several hundred creditors. He also left out his fundamental of leaving plenty of hard-working people in his wake while he walked away unscathed. If you'd like to read about Isiah, it's simple: just read Chapters 7, 11 and 13. They seem to be his favorites."

The review was signed only as "A reader from Ann Arbor, Mich."

It's a small world
A league called the Global Basketball Alliance, scheduled to debut in February, had its draft last Sunday. Who knows if it will ever make it to tipoff, but at least it lived up to its global name with the first pick. The Atlanta Moose selected Japanese-born Yuichiro Morishita, a point guard who played at Osaka High School in Japan from 1993 through '95 and later at New Hampshire Community Technical College (1998-99).

	Nike hopes the Shox-mobile will drive shoe sales.

Shox value
On Nov. 23, Nike is debuting Shox, a cross trainer shoe. Stealing a page from Oscar Mayer's Weinermobile, Nike created the "Shox-mobile," a giant replica of the shoe that is 6 feet high, 8 feet wide and 20 feet long. It is the equivalent of a men's size 650 shoe, Nike spokesperson Monica Rigali said. The Shox-mobile will travel the streets of Los Angeles and make an appearance at the Coliseum this week for the football game between USC and UCLA.

Street signs
Four years ago, Mark Wollin saw novelty street signs being sold at a flea market and decided to start up Authentic Street Signs, a company that makes signs with player and team names embossed on them. Wollin said he will sell more than 10,000 signs this year, thanks to his licenses with Major League Baseball and its Players Association.

The licensing agreement enables him to use names of teams and players, as well as players' numbers and their likenesses. Yankees signs, such as "NY Yankees Ave.," "Yankee Stadium" and "2 Derek Jeter Dr.," make up 50 percent of his business, Wollin said.

Now he's going after colleges. He signed a licensing agreement with his first school, Michigan State, earlier this year. The signs sell for $34.95 each.

Darren Rovell covers sports business for ESPN.com. He can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com.