The Arrogance of His Heirness

Michael Jordan's son, Marcus, plays basketball for local school the University of Central Florida. That alone tells you Marcus did not inherit his father's skills, as UCF is a perennial "hopeful" in most sports. Nonetheless, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, and Marcus, demonstrating that he did inherit his dad's ego, decided he would not wear Adidas shoes, even though UCF was in the last year of a contract with Adidas. The young Jordan said he will wear only his father's Nike Air Jordan shoes because "they hold special meaning to my family." The university relented, still giddy to have the drawing power of a Jordan on the team.

Adidas was fine with Jordan's and the school's decision on a regional level, but corporate nixed the deal, canceling the UCF contract, costing the school $3 million. Good on you, Adidas.

"We are disappointed to learn that Adidas has chosen to discontinue its relationship with UCF Athletics," the school said in a statement released by spokesman Joe Hornstein. Yeah, Joel, I'll bet you are.

Now, here's an opportunity for Nike to jump in and take that contract, or here's a chance for Marcus to dip into his huge trust fund and pay the school back.

The NBA Finals on ABC - As Seen from Orlando

the bigger, 6'11" version

Get Your Basketball On - Or Don't

Charlie Murphy's got a new website called Get Your Basketball On in which he plays a Bozo-haired motivational speaker who does it all.



As in most things of this nature, I'm trying to find the corporate sponsors behind it. Though you can't find it on Charlie's site, which is disguised as a poorly created web designer's nightmare a la Borat's old MySpace page, a quick "Who Is" search reveals what I should've guessed: NIKE, Inc.

It's nowhere near as funny as they're hoping and the clowning done by Murphy seems over-the-top. This thing will be short-lived, I'm sure. Nike seems to stab out in a dozen directions lately, often going for the viral two-minute video. Most of the offerings on the site are pretty lame and I almost feel bad for Murphy. Expect to see appearances of Charlie's character "Leroy Smith" during the NBA Finals in the coming weeks, with the slow reveal by Nike. I would not be surprised if Nike trotted out Jordan for an appearance in the series.