Why are Lebron James and NIKE confiscating the "dunk" video?
By John Amato Saturday Jul 11, 2009 4:00pm
Talk about ego and image control. Because of King James and the actions NIKE took, they've created a LeBron-Gate. It's so ridiculous.
The first mistake Nike made in the viral video mess that is LeBron-gate was trying to hide something from Gary Parrish. If you dropped Parrish in the middle of Afghanistan he'd emerge with Osama bin Laden's carcass in one hand, the details of John Calipari's new contract in the other, and a cell phone secured between his teeth. Nice work, Nike. Who did you think you were trying to fool, anyway? ESPN? The second mistake Nike made in LeBron-gate?
It underestimated the angry mood of the country toward arrogant mega-corporations who think they can do what they want, when they want. Nike believes that because it runs cute commercials and pals around with handsome athletes, it's no different from a sniveling credit card company or predatory bank.
To many people, Nike is the sports equivalent of those entities. By confiscating video of LeBron James getting his muscled-up head dunked on and subsequently acting like the release of the video is a threat to national security, the company confirmed what many have long believed: Nike is a ruthless corporation no different from other cutthroat companies.
Nike has, after all, been repeatedly accused of running sweatshops. More on that in a moment.
I mean, I'd like LeBron to sign on with the Knicks because they've stunk for so long, but this is Cheneyesque behavior.
There's something about James and Nike that makes this story more stringent than it ordinarily would be. There wouldn't be as much outrage if there were video of Dwyane Wade or Kobe Bryant getting dunked on. There'd be interest, of course, but James is the most arrogant and guarded superstar in the NBA and Nike is the most arrogant and guarded company in sports. That combination has turned this story from pedestrian to interesting and, until Nike releases the video, it'll stay that way.
It's Nike's corporate-ness which is at the center of this entire fiasco. It's not just the public enjoying watching a giant company feel the pain of stepping on the wrong end of a rake. No rational human being would ever be this angry over a simple dunk video. This isn't about the dunk. This is about rage over the actions of the wealthy and powerful.
What harm would it have done to King James' image? Nothing. Who cares if he got dunked on? John Starks had an incredible dunk on Michael Jordan. Who remembers that now?
Did that dunk hurt his marketing image? Of course not. People should not buy their products until they release the footage so they never do this again. It wasn't a crime scene. The way they handled this situation is Gestapo-like. Only NBA fans would watch it and nobody would care at all. It was just fine for James to have 60 Minutes film him doing amazing things and making him out to be, well, a King, but this is somehow unacceptable to him.
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Here's another video of LeBron getting beat by some white guy at a game of HORSE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuqiGrWBRqE
This is such a non issue, but I'll say that this Bron-gate has more to do w/ Nike than bruising Bron's ego. I bet it's too massive to to be broken by this dunked-on incident.
:)
So predictable
The Eagle has landed!
Yes sports fans, in a world uncorrupted by artificial heroes and manufactured drama, I find this "issue" entertaining. Entertaining like watching bums fight over a half full quart of beer. Entertaining being code for "pity" and misanthropy.
When the students at U of Oregon voted to require Nike to provide 3-rd Party independent verfication of their no-sweatshop claims, Nike withdrew its $30 million to renovate Autzen Stadium. Next year, they pushed through their own crappy verification and the $30 mil reappeared. The corporate wankers need to be sausaged!
I agree. Ridiculous. In the mean time, watch this to cheer up:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/07/video-guin...
On the internet, there's a sex tape of the Goddess of Victory?
Ha, these "ballers" wouldn't know "Nike" from "Hephaestus"!
You always "score" ysbaddaden! LOL!
By Goibniu's pubes, you're right!
Live long and prosper
(Preferably not in Prosper Texas.)
What brand of shoes was Jordan Crawford wearing when he dunked on the King?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUNTdHRP2gc
Also acceptable: This.
but i don't think they would have been so eager to get their hands on the tape-we know it's the shoes that are responsible for the ability to dunk like a mofo and the skillz to hit that ball a half a mile!
...the company would have bought the tapes and used them to make ads once Crawford is no longer an amateur.
And, yes, we know better. But does that 10-year old in Peoria? I still have an affinity for Converse All Stars because of JoJo White coming through the net feet first in their ads in the '70's- about the time I was 10.
because I was littlest, and wanted to keep up...
that really make you run fast...
There was a shoe store in Lowell, MI that closed in the late '60's or early '70's that was reopened on weekends only in the '80's by the deceased owners kid. The stock had never left the building, so some friends of mine bought a few pairs each. Quality tennis shoes (wrote the Midwesterner as he took a sip of pop)!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Q8WLdbFr4
PF stands for Posture Foundation.
He even had a friend called Haji, If I remember right. That brought back some memories! PF flyers from BF Goodrich...where the rubber meets the road.
Little Abernathy
high-top white.
and Spaulding, yes, SPAULDING, made the best super sneakers, once.
Nike has tried to become what Spalding was- THE maker of ALL things athletic.
Spalding never made a lot off of it's shoes (remember that when the company started up in 1876 that there wasn't a mass market for athletic shoes, but off of it's baseballs, gloves, tennis balls and rackets, golf balls and clubs, basketballs, volleyballs...For decades Spalding was the top brand in the US for those things.
They hide the dirt better. Harder to find on the shelves, though.
Walt Frazier's Greatest Game
The Knicks were desperate for a hero against the Los Angeles Lakers in the seventh and deciding game of the 1970 NBA Finals. Knicks captain Willis Reed was hobbled after suffering a leg injury in Game 5, which was followed by a 135-113 victory by the Lakers in Game 6.
Reed returned for Game 7, but he was ineffective. Frazier, on the other hand, was spectacular. In addition to his 36 points and seven rebounds, Frazier passed for 19 assists. He scored 23 points in the first half as the Knicks raced to an insurmountable lead. Final score: Knicks 113, Lakers 99.
...Russell and Chamberlain had triple-doubles all the time, but the league didn't count block shots back then.
I don't recall if it was Clyde or Earl Monroe who, ambling on to the court at the Rucker Tournament through a magically parting crowd, was referred to in hushed tones as "Black Jesus".
I found it.
I guess I was wrong about the hushed tones.
"It wasn't a crime scene. The way they handled this situation is Gestapo-like. "
Uh, no it's not, not even close. This is just another ham-fisted attempt by a mega-corporation to protect it's image, that's all it is.
It's not about sports. It's not about competition.
Cue music:
Money money money money money.
Money.
Why would this guy hand over the tapes in the first place? this is less about sports and more about strong armed corporate thugs thinking because who they are they can censor us. Some may sit here and think that this is just a stupid post about sports but it's much more. This is actually pretty scary. If a Nike can do this imagine what your government could do or is doing. It's not like he was in a war zone and drawing maps in the sand ala Geraldo.
he was told they'd be returned to him the next day, by people who had cozied up to him. and he didn't want to be kicked out of the camp; it had 2 more days, and he needed the pics.
I got that info by watching the top video.
He was told by these guys who took his videos. Well that makes a lot of sense now. Instead of telling them I'll send you copies, he handed over the video. I hear that happens a lot in Iran and with the CIA these days.
Note to seasoned reporters...when someone ask you for your camera, RUN!!!!!!!
the seasoned people were telling him "Next time..." but he already knew. Really wet behind the ears.
Lebron, Kobe, Grant Hill, etc. were all proclaimed the second coming of Jordan...all coming up short.
BTW, that Starks dunk was like seeing Haley's comet. Jordan did that to him probably a hundred times.
As a hoops player? I don't think so, L and L. As a bankable pitchman, maybe- but he shot himself in the foot.
Jordan's success has helped them make big money(in the NBA'S desperate pursuit of the next Jordan), There's a ton of unskilled, undeveloped kids playing in the league now(Jordan played against men), and don't forget the now instituted no hand checking rule(imagine trying to guard Jordan without hand checking).
These fools should be paying Jordan tribute.
And he put up huge numbers. But his teams never went anywhere.
And no one EVER walked as much as Michael w/out being whistled for it. They can thank him for that, too.
As for plagiarism...Yeah, there are a lot of Jordan knock-offs out there *cough* Vince Carter fer one *cough*, but Kobe isn't one of 'em. Are his stats similar? Sure, but so were The Big O's.
Break down some tape and you'd be amazed. There were a couple times I swore I saw Michael travel, but the replay showed his pivot foot didn't move till the ball left his hand. It took slow-mo to see it; he was that good.
jordan walked. pat ewing is one of the chief beneficiaries of the Jordan walk rule.
Sports greatest stars have always gotten the benefit of doubt. Babe Ruth always got a fourth strike and Ali had to be knocked out to be defeated.
A baseball moving at 90 mph+ is much more open to interpretation (if you will) than an obvious extra step at about 15 mph. And the inconsistency in the calls in baseball is at least consistent as that it's been happening since the game began (you could say the same for boxing champs needing to be knocked out to be defeated).
NBA refs were consistent at whistling guys for traveling before Jordan's arrival. It didn't take too many Jordan highlight reel dunks for them to become inconsistent.
... was selflessly dedicated to getting his butt kicked by Michael Jordan. What a guy!
reggie miller Olajuwon and that fucking finger-roll.
The Pistons knocked out Jordan's Bulls how many times on the way to the Conference Championship and/or Finals? Seems to me that it was 5 or 6 years in a row. When the Bulls finally beat the Bad Boys, it was as the latter (Thomas and Laimbeer, the key offensive players) were getting old.
John Salley was the only one that stayed to the end of the game and shook hands. Isaiah left as soon as the last game was out of reach, and I think Laimbeer went out to the parking lot to beat up old ladies.
In 1991 the Chicago Bulls gave your Detroit Piston the worst defeat in it's history...completing a four game sweep of the defending champions on their home court! The Piston players were so humiliated by the ass whipping they left the floor before the game was over...pussies!
But it took them how many tries to do it?
I will admit though, walking off the court was a cheesy thing to do. I think it was Joe Dumars who stayed to shake hands. Joe usually keeps it classy.
And with Shaq. In Jordan's first few years he took lottery teams to the playoffs(Kobe walked onto a championship caliber team). The Chicago Bulls of the 1984-85 season had Quitin Dailey, a sex offender who destroyed the University of San Francisco's basketball program while he was there, Orlando Woolridge, a crack head, Granville Waiters, a center affectionately called "grandpa" because he looked and played like he was sixty. Jordan taking that team of dogs to the playoffs was a miracle. In 1988 Jordan led the league in scoring while winning defensive player of the year, and MVP of the regular season and All-star game....not to mention 6 for 6 in NBA championships with 6 playoff MVP's. Nothing Kobe has ever done matches those feats. Jordan was also much smoother with the ladies...now if Kobe had stolen that act it would have saved him a ton of money as well as his rep.
Kareem got Oscar his ring at Milwaukee.
Kareem got Magic 5 rings at LA.
Ask Riley why he skipped town.
In the NBA, you don't win without a front line and at least mediocre coaching.
ask LeBron.
Ask Howard.
What year was it that Magic played center in the finals...that the Lakers won? ;D
afaik
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYNDWaEmqto
You're helping me make my point.
cartwright 7'1
grant 6'10
wenningtom 7'1
williams 6'10
king 6'10
small forward: scotty pippen 6-7 (2nd best player in the league)
before them, chicago was doormat to detroit, boston and philly.
no one man ever won shit. and there's no substitute for good coaching. Phil jackson has ten rings for a reason. Mike has six rings for a reason.
BTW Bill Russell, the absolute greatest player of all time, has eleven rings. Chamberlain will tell you, were he alive.
There were a lot of players in the NBA better than Scottie. He would be the best second option on any team with a great player, but he was never the second best in the league.
or ignoring what you saw?
not only as a coach, but as a member of the community as well.
Scotty Pippen showed his true worth when Jordan retired in 1993. He crumbled under the pressure, culminating when he refused to play the last critical seconds of playoff game six against the Knicks...the whole team and city lost respect for that fool.
No one was more happy when Jordan returned than Scotty "Migraine" Pippen.
I don't recall Scottie suffering migraines during any regular season games.
I don't know of any fellow Pistons' fans who ever mocked Jordan- cursed him, sure- but invoking Pippen's name would create a laugh riot amongst us.
...of the city's best restaurants and Scotty Pippen was named the celebrity they'd least like to see...that country bumpkin would leave no tip! Scotty's nickname in Chicago was "No tippin" Pippen. Lol.
I was just going to mention that when you brought up the headache.
hatin'
I'm in West Michigan, I lose 670 AM in Grand Rapids less than I lose it between the big buildings in Chicago. If you recall, that was the flagship for the Bulls when MJ joined 'em.
Johnny "Red" Kerr FTW!
He's was great Bulls announcer and did Bears games too - until he took a job announcing for the Packers.
Never quite trusted him after that.
You're thinking of Wayne Larivee: called the Bears for 14 or 15 years on the radio. He only called a handful of Bulls games, and only on WGN. Kerr was the color commentator on those tv broadcasts, iirc, but did most of his work on the radio, where Jim Durham did the pbp.
(Have I ever told you I'm a fourth generation Packers' fan? Dad has season tickets.)
I had you pegged as a Detroiter.
Grandma was from Gladstone(suburban Escanaba), and Grampa was from Kipling (suburban Gladstone). That's Packers' country.
Dad was born and bred in Muskegon. He'd get up on the roof with his dad on Sundays to adjust the tv antenna so they'd pull in the Pack from the Milwaukee station.
My maternal grandmother was a Packers' fan too. She grew up in Muskegon and listened to radio broadcasts from across the lake before the Lions moved from Portsmouth in the early '30's. But her kids were all Lions' fans.
But I do feel sorry for the Lions fans. I know how they feel. Go Cubs.
As for the Packers: I can't wait for September!
Hell, like my cousins, I'd be a Lions fan if my dad was more like his brothers!
Of course most of my friends are Lions' fans. I feel for them.
And bring it on! You've got a qb who can be great one game and lousy the next, but you've got no receivers (Greg Olson is looking good in the fantasy drafts). And your defense is getting weaker as I type.
But if you guys win, so be it. As long as it isn't the Vikes...
He's young, yet still has three years experience, a Pro Bowl, and, oh, John Elway's single season passing record. Even better, he's already been paid on a front loaded contract. Thanx Denver, you guys rock.
And receivers are nice, but I think Olsen and Hester can help stretch the field for our running game. Forte had a great rookie season and they were playing him 8-in-the-box all year.
But the key is D. First, last, and in between.
So will Favre play for the Vikes? I hope so. In the past six meetings with the Bears (forget the decade or so before that) he's thrown more TD picks than TD passes.
I'd compare him to Willie Gault if he didn't have so much upside as a return specialist. And that ain't a nice comparison.
I'd rather have a receiver who has good hands and great route-running abilities- but no speed- rather than a burner with questionable hands and route-running abilities.
And I don't care about Favre. That guy has been pissing me off for at least five years. that's how long ago he was playing games ("I'll let you know in June if I'm coming back.") with the Pack.
But Cutler can hit him - deep.
He'll eat up a corner, and probably a safety. Two less guys to cover the run.
He said it was Wayne. Look at the subject title of his post.
Six NBA Championships is going nowhere?
What a wussy, if Labron was real then he would have been the first person cheering that a college kid in his basketball camp was able to dunk on the pro.
But Labron isn't much of a man, just your average cry-baby celebrity.
nike steals the tapes and you take the petty excuse to attack lebron james. get a life and while you're at it, get a fucking clue.
That John A. has a link to the dreaded Fox News Network.
It's a clip on the C&L server.
Also it's FOX Sports not the 'news'
The little old box in the left lower corner says Fox News.
is the young guy who did it doesn't get a record of it. It's hugeness to get into the camp, but to fake LeBron out of his jock and for Lebron to be a super pussy about it...really it's the guy who did it who is scrambling hard to be noticed, and some mega star billionaire isn't man enough to let people see him be bested just once.
Mighty big of you. Careful. You my pass this guy on your way down. I hope when that happens, he's a bigger man than you. Actually, he could well be already.
He knows he dunked on him. LaBron knows he got dunked on. And So do the people in the camp. And now the rest of us, who would not have cared one way or the other before, know it now as well. There is a record of it forever for the kid.
and EVERYONE will know this happened, but knowing that there is film, and knowing you can't have it, must be frustrating even though everyone knows. It'd be nice to view view and review, and watch it a few more times and show mom, dad, the GPs, high school coach--I mean his old coach would LOVE to see it, talk to his protege about it, how he did everything right, that little move there and the way he did something.
catching the look on Labron's face...
...and his flat-footedness.
:)
it sure would!
is touting DisCount Jordans.
to really get your knickers in a twist over a dunk. Could it be a matter of reverse logic - I never heard of Lebron James before this, and now I have; old saying, there's no such thing as BAD publicity. Confiscating some naive sport's geeks tape to ineffectively 'hide' a minor player's bit of excellent luck/talent. Like that's enough to cause pandemic public amnesia...
I think what cheezes ME off, however, was that little bit of a throw-away in the beginning about James generating $2 BILLION in revenue 'he could pay for health care'...
Now THAT is totally obscene. People are dying from lack of decent health care, and this one single basketball player is the source of $2 BILLION dollars in profits, for himself, for Nike, for the team??
I don't have to give a damn about basketball to know something about that is just morally, deeply wrong. Disgusting.
of press. Witholding the video, almost a week, now. A marketing no-brainer.
Watch the clip. Starks wasn't Jordan's guy. Jordan was the help; he just arrived too late.
ask the chicago Bulls and phoenix Suns.
...just ask Micheal Jordan.
don't blame it on the players. 1994 and 1995 were promising years and riley proved himself to be a joke as coach.
jordan was a selfish whiney-assed titty-baby. the jordan rule was "no touchey mikey". it sucked. they changed the rules for that pussy.
The Detroit coach devised a plan in which his players would beat and wear down Jordan up throughout the game, hopefully taking away his legs and energy by the fourth quarter and forcing Jordan's teammates to try and win the game.
...and Rodman would pick up the coverage when Joe D was taking a breather.
BTW, I'd take Dumars over Pippen any day.
I'd take Dumars over that Chicago traitor Thomas too.
He was drafted. Should I call Magic a traitor for being drafted by the Lakers?
But I would take Dumars over Thomas as a GM any day. On the court I've gotta stick with the sub-6-footer who drove the lane without fear, though. Zeke's mom might have kept him out of the gangs in Chicago, but the guy was no pussy.
In 1985 Thomas and Magic orchestrated the freezing out of Jordan at the All-star game...out in pure jealousy. In 1991 after the Chicago obliterated the Pistons Thomas, a Chicago boy, openly proclaimed that he was rooting for the Lakers. Now at that time the Bulls had zero titles, the Lakers had too many to count...Thomas has always been seen by his hometown as a trick.
and so deserved. Thomas is still an idiot.
my sister and I used to flip Thomas wads of shite...he was punk non grata everywhere, I think.
Yep, Thomas is an asshole. Still a great player.
As to the second count: Thomas has been very tight with Magic for a very long time. That's why he was rooting for the Lakers.
Pros tend to root for players rather more than the laundry, at least more so than fans do.
Dumars and Rodman were two of the best defensive players around.
Thomas may be a headcase, but his game six display in the 1988 Finals on one foot, was one of the greatest ever.
The Pistons really should have won that game. The ref called a foul on Lambier with one second to go. Replays showed he never touched Kareem. In fact, Kareem shoved Lambier. Even the league came out afterwards and said that it was a horrible call, and that it did rob Detroit of the NBA Title. For whatever thats worth?
Till his dying day, Pistons owner Bill Davidson cursed the SOB's in the NBA refereing fraternity that stole an NBA title from his team.
for the first three. he was with Detroit.
That's what I was saying: Dumars would guard MJ until the former would take a breather, then Rodman would pick up MJ.
The NHL actually did something quite the opposite with the Gretzky Rule.
During Gretzky's time in the NHL, when there were coincidental penalties, 5 skaters would remain on the ice for each team. The feeling was that if the teams played 4 on 4 or 3 on 3, the Oilers (Gretzky's team at the time of the rule change) would be at a distinct advantage.
They dumped that rule within the last 5 or 6 years.
The 'garbages'. Hmmm, and you are in what grade? College? OK.
WTF are you talking about? The guy checked the garbages out. Are you having trouble understanding that?
Ryan is an idiot... He thought they would give the tape back!? Hahahahaha! Please, he should have put it directly onto YouTube. Who cares about getting more access when you have all the footage you'll ever need?
Excuse me, but isn't this a criminal offense-- confiscation of a tape from a private citizen? Sounds like theft. He will probably settle for a huge payment of 40-50 million dollars and be happy. Lebron is a schmuck.
Not if he was breaking the rules by videotaping in the first place. he should be happy he doesn't get prosecuted.
Late,
QSE32
You didn't attribute the text you pasted to its author: Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com. Here's the link to the article:
http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/11942018
What's the big deal about somebody dunking on Lebron? Is he not human? Is it sacreligious? I mean really, if this guy is this thin-skinned, no wonder Orlando kicked his ass in the playoffs. Grow up dude.
Don't care.....
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