For New Line's Goodman, the Mets are No. 1 - Randi Goodman, vp of licensing and merchandising - Brief Article

Brandweek, July 2, 2001 by David Finnigan

"They break my heart over and over again," said Randi Goodman, New Line Cinema's new vp of licensing and merchandising. "It's just heartbreaking to be a Mets fan."

Goodman works on New Line product for its upcoming The Lord of the Rings. But the Long Island native makes time for collecting British pop and punk, and the New York Mets.

In her Manhattan office, a Roger Clemens doll hangs from a string. "The Mike Piazza beanie doll watches him, comfortably sitting in his little Mets cup," she said. (Along with Clemens, Goodman has considerable disdain for Mets groupies prowling for player/husbands. "They so obvious.")

After getting her liberal arts degree from SUNY-Stony Brook, Goodman, 34, joined Warner Publishing as an administrative assistant. When that unit folded she transferred to Warner Bros. Consumer Products, working in New York on licensing for Batman and Looney Tunes home furnishings. In 1995 she became licensing director for now-defunct novelty licensee Happiness Express. In 1997 she joined Warner-owned New Line as licensing director, working on the Lost in Space and Austin Powers licenses.

One of three children born to an accountant mom and advertising art director dad, Goodman rooted for the Yankees as a little girl. ("I cried when Thurmon Munson died.") But her older brother, Jaimie, nudged her teenage loyalties from the Bronx to Queens, influenced considerably by his signed 1969 World Series ball.

Each of the past four winters, Goodman has spent a week watching the Mets at spring training camp in Port St. Lucie, Fla., where her brother, now a Michigan lawyer, has a home. The two this year got seats behind home plate, perfect for meeting Piazza. "Well ..." Goodman said, in a voice toughened by years of Mets' disappointments, "he was hurt that week."