Is it the shoes?

A dream of many ballers on the courts of high schools is to play for a great college and then, hopefully, move up to the NBA. God love them for it. I'm sure that such was and is the dream of Marcus Jordan, son of Chicago Bulls Hall-of-Famer and all around great player, Michael Jordan. Marcus is a freshman at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and is eager to play. But there's a problem. As Nike advertisements back in the 1980s and 1990s consistetly asked "Is it the shoes?" trying to determine what made Michael Jordan so great, for Marcus Jordan, it is clearly about the shoes.

Marcus Jordan refuses, absolutely refuses, to wear Addidas brand sneakers which has a contract with UCF. His reason? The Nike shoes he wears, which his dad endorsed, are special to him. They are so special that he cannot wear anything else. I'm sure that the school will gladly sacrifice the $3 million contract it has with Addidas through 2010 just to appease this scion of the great Jordan family. UCF is also in talks with Addidas for another $3 million deal to go for another six years. Here is the source.

I'm sure that the school will not sacrifice such a lucrative deal just because of the whinings of a freshman basketball player regardless of his lineage, but they may just do that. A few thoughts: I wonder how good Marcus Jordan is. I mean it would be one thing if this guy was the next incarnation of his father or the next LeBron James or Shaq, but he's not. He's playing for a bottom dwelling team in the Conference USA which, save for Louisville and Memphis, is not a power conference by any stretch of the imagination. And considering that he is not even playing for a school of the caliber that his dad played for tells me he's not that great to begin with. So, why is there even negotiation over this? What if Marcus Jordan had a problem with the school colors and wanted instead to wear the blue and white of his dad's alma mater, the Univeristy of North Carolina? Will UCF negotiate that too? The shoes are part of the uniform just as the colors. Shut up and wear them.

But, like a lot of other people, Marcus Jordan is invoking his last name to mean that he deserves special treatment. I'm sure that his father did nothing to stop this character flaw from developing because Michael Jordan is an egotist as well. Have you listened to his speech when he was inducted into the NBA hall of fame? It's all about "me, me, me." He puts down other players, other coaches, people whom he thought "got in his way." I don't know if his dad is encouraging this, but I'll bet he's not stopping him from complaining either.

In the end, it's all about the shoes.