Nike Rise Commercial

Nike has launched their new Lebron James commercial, named “Rise”, in order to defned their athlete’s most recent decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and go to the Miami Heat.  Lebron received a lot of anger and hate towards him for switching teams.

            People have said that James has ruined his career by making this switch.  There have been comments about how he has ruined his legacy as an all-time NBA great, that he will never live up to his expectations and that he is a sell-out.  Former NBA players such as Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan have both said that they have lost all respect for James and that he will never be considered to be as good as they are. 

            To combat all these issues Nike released a commercial that not only addresses the issues but shows that Nike and James are not worried about what people have to say.  These address the multiple back lashings that I have discussed in the commercial.  The commercial is a very smart campaign because where in most cases athletes would stand down to the media and admit they were wrong and regret their decisions.  This commercial shows that James is not afraid to face criticism and that he is ready for whatever the media throws his way.  It also show that Nike still fully supports James and will continue to do so no matter what others have to say about James. 

            The one problem with the commercial is that is as opened up James to more scrutiny from other people.   There have been several parodies on the video including one the TV show South Park.  Also the people of Cleveland have come up with their own version of the commercial where the bash James harder than ever before.  They take all the words that James says in his commercial and they twist them so that it hurts his image.  They use phrases such as quitter, trader, back stabber and ending the commercial with the phrase “Quietness” upside down (in the original commercial it ends with “Witness”).  It is a very harsh commercial and I am interested to see how the video affects the media.

            Overall I understand that the city of Cleveland is very upset with James and that they are hurt by his actions and the team is not nearly as good now.  But first and above all, the NBA is a business.  Is harsh as it is to say James does not owe it to the city to keep playing there.  He had every right to switch teams and this happens all the time in the NBA.  The Cavaliers did not bring in any players to help James and he had to carry the entire team on his back.  I believe this is why he left and went to Miami to play with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.  James has no found what he has been looking for the past few years, a load of great players for teammates, which is crucial this day and age in the NBA, and a chance to win the Championship. 

  

Here are the video links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdtejCR413c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvgD9HNTMkM

Randy Dandy

            This week on of the strangest events I have seen in sports took place in the NFL.  The Vikings released star wide receiver Randy Moss after only playing four games with the team.  The Vikings traded their third round draft pick for Randy Moss, which is a very valuable pick in the draft.  I would think that if they did not want Moss they would trade him for something, but instead just let him go, which in essence means they just gave away their third round draft pick.

            As weird as it was for the Vikings to release Randy Moss, the actions by Moss this past two weeks were not much better.  Last week Moss was fine $25,000 by the NFL for not giving any interviews during the week.  When Moss was asked about not giving interviews he responded by saying that they only interviews he would give were the ones where he asked the questions and answered them himself.  That was not a good start but his actions after the game this past Sunday did not help.  The Vikings played Moss’s former team the New England Patriots this past weekend and the Patriots got the better half defeating the Vikings 28 to 18.  After the game, Moss went on a rant talking about how much he missed playing for the Patriots.  He talked about how he missed the employees, players and especially head coach Bill Belichick.  I certainly see how this could upset the Vikings organization.           

            This was not a good move by Moss and it is understandable how the team could be very upset with him.  But releasing a player of his caliber and for what they gave up seems a bit of a rational decision.  He has only played four games with the Vikings and he spent the last three years with the Patriots.  The Patriots have a reputation for being a well-run organization.  While on the other hand the Vikings have been known to be a team that is poorly organized and always in turmoil.  This past offseason they had no idea who was going to be their quarterback and planned for Brett Farve even though he did not show up for training camp.

            The Vikings had also been trying to trade for other wide receivers in the beginning of the season but never could get anything worked out.  The Vikings have also got off to a terrible start this season with two wins and five losses.  The team has been in turmoil all season.

            With that said I think that what Randy Moss said is understandable.  He has tossed into a situation where he was on a bad team, where the coach and the quarterback were fighting with each other, and the team was off to a terrible start.  Especially, after he came from a team where he had one of the best seasons of his career.  I think people should be able to see where Moss is coming from.

            On NFL live analysts Tedy Bruchi and Trent Dilfer, who both are former NFL players, both agreed with Moss.  Even though what Moss did was not a good idea and I understand how the Vikings would be upset, the bottom line is that you cannot let a player as good as Randy Moss go, especially after trading a third round draft pick.  No the Patriots have a chance to sign Moss back to the team if they want and still have the third round pick they got in the trade for him.