July 3, 2008 11:42AM
The Making of a Dream Team
By Alexis Glick
Getting psyched for the summer Olympics? I am. They’re just around the corner. This week I caught up with some legends in the basketball world that happen to be responsible for Team USA’s bid for an Olympic gold medal. Coach K or Mike Kryzewski, the head coach for Team USA, Jerry Colangelo, the chief executive officer of Team USA, otherwise known as the team’s national director and Nike President Charlie Denson about Nike’s big time investment in USA men’s basketball.
As you could imagine with resumes like theirs, it was both intimidating and exhilarating to be in the room with them. All in one room there was: Coach K, the winningest active coach in the nation, with three NCAA Championships, 10 Final Four appearances, 10 ACC Championships and Jerry an NBA Hall of Famer and former majority owner of the Phoenix Suns, it doesn’t get much better than that. Coach K had a huge ring on his hand, the 1992 dream team Gold medal ring for his post as assistant coach at the time and Jerry had on his Hall of Fame ring. Clearly two of the sports very best who have a vested interest in bringing home the GOLD!
We talked basketball, expectations for excellence in this summer Olympics and why Nike made such a big investment given the weakness in the U.S. economy and how they’re holding us given the weakness in the U.S. dollar and the spike in oil. We had some fun. Check it out.
Comment by Greedom
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
If anything
when the team coach responded why they picked Nike
‘Because it’s the best brand’
He didn’t say ‘Because it’s a GOOD brand’
he used ‘best’
I really wanted to vomit right there - okay - an expression.
Really though - made me RIGHT there say - I will never buy Nike again.
Then again, I don’t buy Nike now - only because I challenge myself to ask -
‘hey, who am I ? amd I merely the sum of the products I identify with’
Now that’s not erroeneous, that’s how we derive outward identity to some degree.
Oh well, I’m off, I just noticed I have old lady perfume on my hands from the supermarket cart - and while it ALWAYS smells the same -it’s very potent, and I can’t handle potent perfumes - don’t know why - they just give me a headache - I actually will walk OUT of an aisle in the supermarket if it smells to heavily.
Phew - from identity through shoe brands to - my god - I suppose there exists identity through perfume brands too - JUST to make an absurd point here trying to integrate what I didn’t intend to bring up - the supermarket issue - perhaps Channel 5 ? is it ? or is it 9 ? maybe channel 9 was Office Space with ‘Peter, turn on Channel 9′ - whatever that perfume is, maybe the Dream Team ought to explore a perfume sponsor too ?
Hey - why cap it at shoes !
let’s give em (Host of Price is Right show from ANY 1970’s episode) ‘A new car’ (bell ringing like mad).
?
Gas cards ?
Exxon + Nike + GM + first class on US Air where they can buy a stock for $2 or a bottle of water ?
Olympics ought to be kept out of corporate reach for branding if you ask me.
Comment by Greedom
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
P.S.
Unless they are willing to disconnect from Nike
I say - let’s just call them Team Nike and be out with it.
Hope the last post made SOMEONE laugh at least.
Comment by Greedom
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Last comment on the Dream Team
from article:
“Clearly two of the sports very best who have a vested interest in bringing home the GOLD!”
I found the article not critical on the corporate favoritism to Nike
BUT - I enjoy the style of writing from Alexis Glick - I as well like to type as if I’m talking (except the lower accountability factor of COURSE) but in reference to the above sentence ?
I recall this focus in the video during Oxford Raspberry #2 (it’s only 4.5 % ABR folks) - and you know ? Bring home the gold for WHO ?
I’m not going to spend time re-watching that but maybe Alexis Glick was critical and asked ‘for who’ Nike ? or America.
Either way - Something doesn’t seem to fit right that all the athletes coincidently have contracts with Nike from my POV.
Comment by Greedom
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Happy 4th of Nike everyone !
I have long thought that perhaps corporate lobbyism inside the beltway begot Corporatism taking the driver seat from Nationalism.
Is America a brand ?
or is a brand American ?
I guess I did forget that corporate branding has been about for some time, and that certain TV stations get access to the Olympics, and further you will have the ‘offical sponsor of the Olympics’ from company XYZ etc.
So, maybe that’s all fair and game - hmm but there is a TEAM though that also doesn’t mandate ? but co-incidently is all contracted to the official brand.
I could get upset over oh, the falling US Dollar, my work I have put off for an hour while I check out the blogs here - (I DO get my work done though) - unfair health burdens to children to be from continued use of an energy solution that’s now a bigger problem in one regard to health than it is a solution in regards solving basic transportation issues.
BUT - for now, I will choose to be upset about the strange comment from the US Olympic basketball coach saying ‘Nike is the Best brand’ And yet ? Perhaps we ought to look into just who has been known to make Nike shoes, and Where ?
Perhaps Nike isn’t ready for this kind of press.
I wonder if the Vietnamese will be in the stands cheering ‘Nike - Nike - you give our kids jobs - OR - Go America Nike #1, or - Without exploited labor practices, we’d have no US Basketball team ! ?’
It gets complicated real quick
Especially that the Olympics ARE in Asia this year.
China is VERY touchy about who gets to max out what advertisting during the Olympics- in part - it’s I think there biggest interest.
And here we have Nike - competing with Asian companies.
Is this Olympics about sports ? or brand competition ?
there are SO many paths leading to new stories to take from this bizarre story of US Basketball team all being Nike contracted if you ask me.
Comment by Greedom
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
from another article:
Bowing to pressure from critics who have tried to turn its famous shoe brand into a synonym for exploitation, Nike Inc. promised today to root out underage workers and require overseas manufacturers of its wares to meet strict United States health and safety standards.
Philip H. Knight, Nike’s chairman and chief executive, also agreed to a demand that the company has long resisted, pledging to allow outsiders from labor and human rights groups to join the independent auditors who inspect the factories in Asia, interviewing workers and assessing working conditions.
“We believe that these are practices which the conscientious, good companies will follow in the 21st century,” he said in a speech here at the National Press Club. “These moves do more than just set industry standards. They reflect who we are as a company.”
Nike said it would raise the minimum age for hiring new workers at shoe factories to 18 and the minimum for new workers at other plants to 16, in countries where it is common for 14-year-olds to hold such jobs. It will not require the dismissal of underage workers already in place.
-end
Gee ? “It will not require the dismissal of underage workers already in place”
And the US Basketball team is proud to associate with Nike ?
IN ASIA ?
Is this some kind of sick slap in the face to China ?
“Hi, we’re going to beat you in basketball, oh yeah, who knows, your child may have made my shoes ? ”
Uhhhh…. This is a press nightmare in waiting- in BIG part because it IS in Asia.
Comment by Greedom
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
more from googling a bit here:
Mr. Knight’s pledges did not include increased wage, a major complaint of critics who say that Nike and other American companies pay workers in China and Vietnam less than $2 a day and workers in Indonesia less than $1 a day. (A 1996 World Bank report concluded that more than one-fifth of the world’s population lives on less than $1 a day.) Still, even with much lower prices in these countries, critics say workers need to make at least $3 a day to achieve adequate living standards.
Nike, in a statement today, cited a report it commissioned in 1997, which said that its factories in Indonesia and Vietnam pay legal minimum wages and more.
I’m sorry
you abuse children ?
you do NOT get to continue your company.
Nike should have been shut out a LONG time ago.
You are SLIME if you try to continue a company that has abused children.
For the US Olympic BasketBall coach to say “Nike is the best BRAND ?”
He didn’t say “A good brand”
let alone - he said BRAND - not product iirc.
And Fox Business News runs an article on the four qualities that make BRAND today ?
Shouldn’t ‘The company has been engaged in child abuse , er - better put - abusive child labor practices ?’
I’d think you do NOT pass go with a track record like that.
How did Nike ever recover from this ?
I will never buy this product again.
If someone abuses a child - and moves in MY neighborhood ? I move - or they get NO contact from me - and yet ? Nike ? gets a free pass ? Even a promotion ?
nope - not here !
Doesn’t Tiger Woods support integrity for - oh never mind.
Happy 4th of Nike everyone.
if you engage in exploiting a child - if your COMPANY exploits a child - I say - you lose the company, period.
Perhaps Nike is what is wrong in this world.
Corporatism and accountability - where is it ?
how can ANYONE promote Nike after the track record established with child exploits.
No, you do NOT get to ‘forget about it’ because it was - oh my - 9 years ago - Nike should have been disintegrated a LONG time ago.
I DO wonder - the shoes of the American Basketball Olympic players - will they too be made in Vietnam ? Or China ? Or by children -
After Baxter’s Herarin - and the FDA’s total LACK of ability to even VISIT the right factory, I have ZERO faith in US government keeping US corproations in line that go to Asia to find cheaper labor - CLEARLY - BY RECORD- from children. Bottom line.
I think I’m departing from this subject for good - it’s really making me question what people DO stand for.
Where’s the Bill O’reilly “these slimeballs want to what ? be a US olympic sponsor ? after they abused kids ?” yeah - is this a Fox double standard or WHAT ?
I for one will NEVER buy Nike -again, after what I’ve learned today. I may even SKIP the entire basketball portion of the Olympics. I’m surprised China even allows Nike shoes to be worn by the US players, let alone endorse the company that uses child labor - or has used child labor - OPENLY ADMITTINGLY too from Nike’s CEO.
Comment by Greedom
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
11 years past as a US corporation that committed acts of abuse towards children doesn’t earn them the right to advertise in the country they exploited.
Perhaps that distills it best.
I’m not sure ANY amount of time could remedy that.
Comment by Greedom
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
If it was a PERSON abusing a child like that ?
you BET they better go to prison.
Yet ? a corporation ? that gets citizen status ?
and here they are ? still in business ?
No, Nike should have been disassembled to make an example of what SHOULD happen to companies that go abroad (even IN the US really, I’m sure it happens in the US, probably doesn’t hit the news) to exploit child labor.
Imagine a basketball team in prison wearing t-shirts “The Child Abusers”
you want to guess how QUICKLY that team would - be ‘dissassembled’ ?
yeah
and yet ? Here is Nike promoting the US Olympic Basketball team, on FBN this AM - on my retina - and somehow it’s all fine and dandy - can’t wait to bring home the gold for Nike ,er, America… ???????
Nuh uh, this story took FBN down a notch, oddly JUST as I was starting to give some leeway on the ills of righteous moralism promoted on the main Fox station.
Anyone who promotes Nike in my book is as bad as ALL Nike is guilty of, and they even ADMIT what they’ve done - and yet ? THEY ? get to sponsor the Olympics ?
Gee- who bought who ?
The coach should be fired.
Comment by Greedom
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Alexis Glick ?
IN a good way, I think you’re naive - that is, I don’t think you intended to support Nike by this story today.
I mean, I don’t think you actually support practices of abuse of children, unless it’s making them watch Fox - jk - really - I recognize FBN isn’t fox.
I say naive in that - NOT in a bad way - I think you ran a story that on the surface did seem like a good story.
I don’t think you realized Nike’s past involvement with child labor, and I DO think you are a reliable, decent human being that would never ever ever tolerate such behavior.
(Hey, I finally stopped spelling behavior as behavioUr ! )
You’re still on my list of at least 4 people at FBN I think WOULD be safe to leave the kids with at a picnic ! On the other hand, if you find yourself forfeiting principal and morality for brand loyalty or money - then - hey, yeah, you just lost my respect, like THAT matters I suppose but - really- Nike I think lost it’s right to move on SOME time ago.
My rule is - if a company engages in child labor/abuse ONCE - it’s done. At that point it has demonstrated to me it is lacking the integrity to put people before money.
I concluded on a definition of crime that I like - That which is disadvantageous to ones community - is a crime/criminal.
What Nike did - is a crime to the species as a whole - AND I think they are criminally guilty - and should close up shop - CERTAINLY not be promoting the US Olympic Basketball team in a country they have exploited. Sheesh.
China may not care, but shouldn’t the US have SOME standards ?
my god.
Comment by James Arnold
Jul 4th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Cry me a river Boo Hoo Hoo Evil Nike has exploited Children. Give me a break Western Whiners. I bet the families were happy for the earnings they made.I don’t agree with any of the opinions above. Alexis Glick is an attractive informed financial journalist. I wear Asics,but I have no problem with Nike. If they are helping sports worldwide more power to them.As a basketball fan I am looking forward to watching the Olympics and hope the USA team wins the gold medal.
Comment by Greedom
Jul 4th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Welp
I finally did it
I put a block on Fox News.
Not FBN - (Yet ?) I suppose I can pick and choose what I want from FBN online.
After having a massively repulsive experience with the show ‘Fox n Friends’ this morning (note, I am careful here to responsibility for the emotional trauma on myself, and not project ONTO those people as if there is something repulsive about them).
I don’t think Fox will cover the Fox indictments, so no point in ever unblocking it.
I used to see those devices at $9.95 that blocked JUST Fox News on the cable wire - I think I now understand.
Why didn’t I do this earlier ?
Comment by Greedom
Jul 4th, 2008 at 8:51 am
This is not to say, short of the demeaning and rather obscene prostitution joke (really now, somehow ? I don’t find classy people deriving humor from this, I’d prefer to spend my time on this planet on better material), I would say Alexis Glick does fair well on hosting new guests. Liz MacDonald’s presence - excellent, Charles Payne - nice there guy - bit naive on how serious the market it, I too set 8600 last week on MarketWatch on comments - heh, and got some interesting response as well - and here we see another 8500 prediction. It’s going to be 2002 - until the dollar is rescued.
I like to master whatever I get involved with, right now it’s economics, as I’ve long sought to understand this seemingly subjectively driven analytics arena - I’ve gotten close enough to learn to discount more than just the dollar, I’ve learned to discount many perspectives as well. That one yayhoo FBN has on from MarketWatch - and some others - even some who actually WRITE for MarketWatch I’ve learned, gee, not only are they WRONG most of the time, they really don’t bring forward ANY new ideas.
I think I’ll find the best out of the bunch. I think Liz MacDonald is clearly the best of the bunch - especially as to integrity on analytics on FBN. Alexis Glick does okay on bringing people together- and at the same time doesn’t come across as totally Stepford - but I don’t know if she’s capable of interacting on a pure human level with anyone based on the fact they are merely the same species. Money can not divide people, genetics are long, money status is short, let’s not try and short the species eh ?
Cavuto I gather has his own deep roots to Fox News to promote any message he wants to use his guests to accomplish.
I suppose the best thing about Fox Business news is Rove and Geraldo haven’t shown up with any ‘wisdom of God’ on the stock markets - global economy - or future of globalism.
BTW - the US ranks 47th in education in the world, whoever posted the US is still the best place to raise a family - there are MANY considerations to take into place.
Depends where you live too - plenty of EPA/health hazards - if you’re not careful.
The FDA is letting dangerous drugs in from China, Pfizer ? Bayer ? Baxter ? Roche ? to name a FEW - ALL have labs in China now - and you know ?
based on Baxter’s Heparin ? and Pfizer’s Benadryl screwup and Roche’s next day pill ? it goes on ? I checked - you can’t tell when your drugs come from China.
We can only rely on each other as a species first - nationalism comes AFTER species.
Religion comes AFTER species.
Gender comes AFTER species.
I’m content where I’m at - it’s frustrating to watch OLDER people live as if they are still adolescent when it comes to real foundations to make REAL progress for humanity.
I just put a block on Fox today, I’ll watch Happy Hour in SOME regards as FBN preys on potty humor about prostitutes, I mean, ‘Come on Becca ? We’re taking over WallStreet and it’s gonna be a party ‘ ? all the while Cody sells Apple to his mother and every viewer - AND every person he can GET to his private website exploits ? I find the woman on Happy Hour an interesting study, I mean, that her biggest problem in life seems to be managing her mp3’s on her Blackberry (which probably isn’t locked down likely from a network standpoint) - and understanding this entire ‘internet’ concept ?
What ? is she 90 in a 35 yr old body trying to look 20?
If she can’t understand how a website works, how am I to ever expect she has anything intelligent to say on the markets, my god- 6 yr olds understand the internet in concept - it’s intermediation of networks. It’s out of humanity, it IS humanity.
Odd it came out of fear of nuclear weapons - ArpaNet before BitNet - then what we have now but still - competence !
Cavuto - hire Competence- hire more people like MacDonald and you might just earn the respect of viewers who you WANT to attract.
You don’t WANT to attract viewers that you can sell Head On ads to ! People see through sticks of Wax. They’ll see through everything else sandwiched in between the Head On ads.
If you want a Stepford work Cavuto, run Fox n Friends 24/7 reruns on your FBN and tell them to listen to their ear piece for what to say about the markets.
You know, kind of like a machine, android, cyborg or robot would be able to do.
I’m GLAD I blocked Fox News today (not FBN) - I never want to watch the movie WestWorld again, Fox was pretty darn close.
Comment by Greedom
Jul 4th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Maybe the flag I get at the 4th of July celebrations this year won’t have
Made in China branded at the top ?
let’s stop lying to ourselves
we LIVE on loans from China
they provide the goods in our home
the pharmaceuticals that can harm us
the childrens toys that can harm us
the MONEY we borrow that can harm our children’s economic future
Of course - the Comptroller of the Currency over at the General Accounting Office http://www.gao.gov ? knows all about this and is touring the US city by city to SHARE what HE has seen on the books.
Of course THIS isn’t news.
Just another day of denial -
Fox Business News approach on the denial of the falling US Dollar, and the impact on futures and stocks ?
Is like someone that just keeps quiet about abuse.
Intervention is needed.
At least the FCC can intervene on the main network.
At best ? the FTC and SEC will intervene on FBN - gotta be careful what ya say Cody !
You would have gotten in less trouble drinking booze at the bar on the air.
You people have a nice day
and Liz MacDonald - you rock ! THE #1 person that could probably hold their own network I think ! Forget Neil ! You’re reverent - he’s manipulative.