| 22 October 2009
How can a simple pair of shoes cause so many problems? Air Jordans might be the epitome of style on the court, but they've caused tons of turmoil throughout their quarter century of existence. The first pair of Air Jordans were banned by the NBA due to their colour scheme, so Michael Jordan got fined each game that he wore them. Then in the 1990s kids started murdering each other over pairs of the shoes. Now Jordan's youngest son, Marcus, has been roped into the latest controversy.
If you haven't heard about this story yet, here it is in a nutshell - Marcus Jordan is a freshman with the University of Central Florida's basketball team. Central Florida has a sponsorship deal with adidas worth about $2 million per year that requires all of the school's athletes to wear adidas apparel. Junior MJ says that during his recruitment with the school he was given permission to wear his family's brand of shoes, Air Jordans, while playing with the team. Now adidas says that no such deal was made with the school, Marcus still insists he will be wearing Air Jordans on his feet when he hits the court with the team, and Central Florida is stuck in the middle.
There are really only three potential solutions to this snafu - Marcus gives in and wears adidas shoes (he already has stated that he will wear all the rest of the team's adidas gear - just not the shoes), adidas gives in and allows Marcus to be an exception to the sponsorship deal or Central Florida lets Marcus wears the shoes without adidas' blessing. The problem is, with this story becoming such a newsworthy item, none of the parties involved are going to want to appear weak and give in. Marcus doesn't want to betray his father and his family's company. adidas doesn't want to allow him to wear the shoes of his choice because the exception could become the rule and players all over the country could start doing the same. And the school obviously doesn't want to relent because they would break their contract with adidas and could be kissing $2-3 million a year away.
But this conflict has far greater implications. This conflict is all about how hypocritical the NCAA is when they state that their participants are "student-athletes". If this was indeed the case, shouldn't Marcus Jordan be free to wear whatever shoes he felt comfortable wearing? If he was an employee of the school and was told what type of shoes he had to wear, that would be a different story. Now, you could argue that the school technically is paying Jordan to play for them via his scholarship. But are students attending college on academic scholarships told what type of laptop they have to use? No, this is all about the NCAA and its universities making billions of dollars off of the backs of amateur athletes. Marcus Jordan and all the other "student-athletes" are nothing more than slaves to their universities, used to shill their sponsors' products and make their schools money. Television revenue, ticket sales, video game sales, apparel sales - it all adds up to billions upon billions of dollars earned off of amateur athletes that are paid nothing. There is nothing wrong with Central Florida earning sponsorship money from adidas or anyone else. However, it is wrong if they lied to Jordan during his recruitment and it is wrong that they have allowed this to become such a public issue, with an 18-year-old kid stuck in the middle looking like the bad guy, all because he doesn't want to be a walking advertisement for a rival company of his family's.
So don't be mad at Marcus Jordan for holding his school to their promise to allow him to wear Air Jordans. Even if the school hadn't promised Jordan this concession during his recruiting, he still should be allowed the right to wear whatever shoes he wants to on the basketball court, as long as they do not hinder his performance in any way. No, this isn't about Marcus Jordan not being a team player - this is about the hypocracy of the NCAA.
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