Nike, adidas and Marcus Jordan

Good post. Life really isn't that complicated.

 

Everyone is so up in arms about this, but this is really a unique situation that won't reoccurr until LeBron Jr. is 18. How many other kids have their own family shoe? It's not like he prefers Nike over Adidas. It's his freaking dad on the logo!

Adidas should have said they'll give Marcus a shoe waiver out of respect for his father, and then given the team socks, warmup jackets, pants, etc with big old Adidas logos on them.

 

Jordan is the managing partner of the Charlotte Bobcats, if (in fantasyland) Marcus ends up playing for a different NBA team will he wear a Bobcats uniform??

 

Spoiled brat, gutless coach, end of story

 

lololol

 

What's the "business" though? Seriously, it's Central Florida.

This is an extenuating circumstance that will never happen again _ how many people have a shoe sub-company named after them? _ and adidas should have said "f it." How many people even knew UCF was an adidas school?

On the flip side, adidas could care less is UCF dumps them, they got the attention already, and now they got to take an unlikely poke at the shoe giant and MJ. I didn't realize how small a market share the three stripes has in hoops.

 

I'm sure UCF's minor-sport coaches, who probably have shoestring budgets and actually need the free or cut-rate adidas stuff to help sustain their programs, are just thrilled with Jordan Jr. too.

 

Here's an interesting graf from Orlando Sentinel, via Big Lead:

UCF officials reached an agreement with adidas regional representatives allowing Jordan to wear Nike shoes despite the school's exclusive adidas contract. Higher-level adidas corporate officials later objected to Jordan being allowed to wear a competitor's shoes. UCF stood by the promise it made to Jordan that he could wear his father's shoes."

And don't think that Nike and Jordan Brand won't shower these teams with Swoosh gear. I've talked to coaches who deal with Jordan Brand, and they said the customer service is second-to-none.

 

It's not

I disagree. I don't know Marcus personally, so he may be a spoiled brat, but I missed where he gave the school an ultimatum or anything like that.
The school promised him he could wear his dad's shoes, and they kept that promise.
Adidas (damn right I'm capitalizing it) is the villain here.

 

Last I checked, it was a basketball team. They should all abide by the same rules. Coach should enforce the rules equally and player should expect equal treatment. If the coach did make that promise, it just supports my point.

Adidas isn't the villain, they are running a business. If I were sponsoring a school I'd expect that school to hold up its end of the bargain.