Just (Don't) Do It!!

A bit late though, but can't pass this up...

It is the story of one ego-centric multi-millionaire basketball player twisting the arms of an equally eager-to-please Nike to protect the Lebron James franchise!!

Lebron James was dunked by Jordan Crawford.
Jordan who? And, what is the big deal, you ask.

For those people who eat&live&breath&sleep cricket, it is akin to Sachin Tendulkar being clean bowled by.... hmmmm.. let me think of who it could be ... yeah, right, ME!

Practice game or net practice, indoor or outdoor, gully cricket or tennis ball - it simply does not matter. Sachin is bowled by me!

It is how big it is, for the basketball fans.

But that is not the problem.

The big and mighty fall off their lofty pedastals all the time. How they get up and dust off is what that matters. Well, a Sachin would have gone on to pummel me to Johor Bahru every other time I manage to get the ball within his vicinity and that will be that! (Thank God, this is only a conjecture!)

But dear Lebron (and Nike, his proud sponsor), did just the opposite.

You see, what happened was as follows:

Lebron runs a Basketball skills academy where young wannabes line up to get trained by, and with, the big man.

This gets recorded - for obvious reasons - advertisement, talent identification etc. etc..

But in one of the rare moments of history, Lebron gets dunked by Jordan Crawford (probably his parents named him after Michael Jordan :-). Jordan is practically a nobody and it would have galled Lebron to have been 'insulted' that way.

How dare you insult me? All recordings shall be confiscated
and destroyed immediately!! Now, I want it now, maan! Nike, like a true puppet agreed to the embargo and promptly invited the wrath of one and all!

What were they smoking?

If Lebron had immediately joked about the whole incident and congratulated the youngster (may be give him a pair of court-side tickets for next year's Cavaliers games), he would have increased in stature manifold.

If Nike had worked with Lebron and come up with a fabulous advertisement campaign featuring Jordan Crawford to further their 'Just Do It' campaign, then I would have gone and bought another Nike pair.

Well, if pigs can fly...