and in the red corner
Recently, the University of Central Florida lost a $3 million contract for sneakers, uniforms, and equipment with Adidas because a basketball player named Jordan refused to wear Adidas sneakers. Not Michael, but his son Marcus.
Marcus Jordan stretching in Jordan Brand sneakers
Is Marcus really to blame?
The most common first thought would be, yes Marcus is to blame. He’s being a selfish player. He should wear the same sneakers as his teammates.
BUT…Before committing to UCF (an Adidas school), Marcus (Jordan Brand since before birth) made sure that he would be able to wear his fathers Jordan Brand sneakers instead of the school sponsored Adidas sneakers. Before signing his name on the dotted line, he thought this issue was taken care of. UCF promised there would be no issue and for weeks leading up to the first game Marcus laced up his Jordan 12 (Rising Sun) sneakers, wore UCF across his chest for the first time, and surely became the envy of his teammates (really, wouldn’t you rather play in Jordan’s instead of Adidas?), there has been speculation regarding his footwear. Would he wear Adidas, which he claimed from the beginning he would not, or would he wear Jordan Brand sneakers, the brand that will ensure that he and his future offsprings offspring will never have to work a day in their lives?
I haven’t ever seen Marcus Jordan play or really heard anything about his basketball ability and I’m quite sure he doesn’t live up to his father as a basketball player. So this really isn’t even about Marcus, Adidas was hoping to have a Jordan wear their sneakers instead of Jordan Brand or even Nikes. Do you know how big that would be? This is a competition between sneaker companies and Marcus is just doing his part for the family. UCF will surely be a Jordan sponsored university in the near future. The university and Jordan can both thank Marcus when this happens.
Marcus Jordan isn’t the villain, he is stubborn and a bit selfish but then again he is Michael Jordan’s son and he made his intentions clear before signing with the university. Could he have handled this differently, definitely. He could have just worn Adidas and been apart of the team, instead he lets everyone know who is father is. UCF and Adidas had more to lose and should have put their minds together and came up with a solution that worked for everyone involved. No one did this and now everyone involved is dissatisfied…well except Marcus.
I played in Adidas one year; those were some great sneakers if you look past the shoe falling apart before we even had our first game or the plastic on the shoe cutting my teammates. Not saying Adidas doesn’t make great sneakers, but my one season wearing them was an interesting one. I don’t know what the name of the shoe was or anything and I’m sure this was has a chance of happening to all sneakers. By the way, I have played in some pretty bad Nikes too. But that’s neither here nor there…
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