A swish for Swoosh?
Well, we'll see, but it's not off to a quick start.
By now everyone knows that the sports merchandise giant Nike has named Colin Kaepernick as one of the faces of the 30th anniversary celebration of the ground-breaking "Just Do It" ad campaign.
Nike went big. Nike embraced the simple adage "Any publicity is good publicity."
And the early returns are certainly not what Nike had hoped for or projected. As of 9:20 Tuesday morning, Nike stock was down 2 percent (and for a stock as valuable as Nike, that's almost $300 million in value) on the first day of trading after the announcement was made over the weekend. The hashtag #BoycottNike has been trending on Twitter since the announcement.
The picture of Kaepernick features the quote: "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything."
That's accurate, because any one who thinks a league that has a Nathan Peterman as a starter does not have a place for a quarterback with Kaepernick's skill set is either football ignorant or simply delusional.
Man, it seems like an unnecessary risk for Nike in several directions. (Unless of course they believed they were going to lose some of the highest profile athletes out there - especially LeBron - unless they weighed in on the matter.)
First, there already has been backlash about the exploration and violation of international child labor laws in Nike's past that certainly would be protest worthy too.
Second, Nike became Nike by tying their sneakers and products to two dudes: Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Jordan famously said, "Republicans buy sneakers too" when once asked about airing his political views. Tiger sidestepped leading questions about his relationship with President Trump last month.
So Nike goes completely 180 degrees from the proven business model laid by its two all-time bell cows.
Finally, was there not a rational head in the room who could have offered some sense of balance. If you are bound and determined to put Kaepernick in this ad campaign - side fact: Nike still had Kaepernick under an endorsement deal from his playing days that they still honored and found a way to use him apparently - find balance under the powerful phrase.
Think of the eye-watering moments from the images under the "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." slogan.
Pat Tillman is a great one.
Make a deal with the family of Jackie Robinson, Jessie Owens and Muhammad Ali as well.
Call Terry Fox and get images of his Marathon of Hope. Or the Byron Leftwich image of being carried down the field by his Marshall teammates on a leg that does not work.
Call Aly Raisman and let her be the face of the sports angle of the #MeToo movement.
Nike, it's your business. Knock yourself out with your marketing campaigns - something that has helped make Nike what it is.
But this, as a business decision, if you want to pardon the pun, seems like Nike "Just Dumb It."
NFL stuff
Lots of NFL predictions to get to friends. Lots.
Today, we'll do teams. Tomorrow we'll do individual stuff.
Team projections. Let's get it.
Best team: New England because, well, you know.
Worst team: Buffalo Bills. Gang, if you are putting chips on the Nathan Peterman bandwagon, well, there you go.
Biggest surprise (in a good way): Chicago Bears. Led by NFL defensive player of the year Khalil Mack, the Bears edge the Packers in the AFC North. Grab some of that.
Biggest surprise (in a bad way): The Raiders are going to stink on ice. Did you know of the skill players on their roster, exactly one (Amari Cooper) non-QB of their offensive guys who will touch the ball is younger than 29. Yes. One. Here's betting about week 12 everyone in Oakland - fans, staff, players, Gruden himself - are wondering if the game has passed Chuckie by.
Playoff picks:
In the AFC we'll take New England, Kansas City, Baltimore, Houston as the division winners. Wild cards of Jacksonville and Los Angeles Chargers.
Texans over Jags and Chargers over Ravens. Chiefs over Texans and Patriots over Chargers. Patriots over Chiefs.
In the NFC, we'll take Eagles, Rams, Bears and Falcons with Saints and Packers as wild cards.
We'll take Falcons over Saints and Packers over Bears in the wildcard round with Falcons beating Rams and Packers beating Eagles. We've got the Falcons edging the Packers in a classic NFC title game.
Patriots-Falcons in the Super Bowl. Yeah, Falcons fans everywhere would love another chance at that one.
New (over/under)state
OK, we have regular features each day through the football season.
Mondays have Weekend Winners and Losers.
Tuesdays have the NFL power poll.
Wednesdays have the College Football playoff poll.
Thursdays have the picks (we went 5-1 against the spread to start the season) and the college football items of interest.
Fridays are the mailbag.
Wow, that's a lot of stuff.
Well, we are adding the overstated/stated/understated segment to Tuesdays program. This will cover five items from the college football weekend that may range from mild to way over blown. We encourage for you to offer possible over- or understatements as well. Deal? Deal.
The SEC has a chance to get three teams in the playoff. Say what? That has to be the monster of all overstatements right? Has to be? Well, it is an overstatement, but not nearly as much as you would think. Follow this logic friends: After Auburn beat Washington, what happens if Auburn goes to Georgia and wins by 10 and goes to Tuscaloosa and loses by a field goal. Then top-ranked Alabama loses its first game of the season in the SEC championship to Georgia by a point on a last-second field goal. Assuming all three are 11-1 with a circle of losses to each other - and operating under the assumption that there are no other unbeaten conference champs other than Clemson - well, how big of an overstatement is that now? Yes, that's putting a thousand carts before the horses, but (cue the Lloyd Christmas, "So you're telling me there's a chance" clip) not as big an overstatement as first glance, huh?
Willie Taggert had the worst opener in college football history. Statement. Wow, that FSU effort was terrible. Tear-E-BULL. Sloppy. Turnover-filled. Lackadaisical. And embarrassing, especially at home. Man, we know the FSU gig is Taggert's dream job - and we know no decision can ever be made after one game - but of the four schools that were part of the coaching carousel, the FSU folks have to be wondering, "You know Jimbo could be moody, but he was not that bad." Crazy stat: Last night 56 percent of FSU's plays went for zero or fewer yards.
The Pac-12 in general and the Washington fan base in particular are a tad butt hurt. Understatement. Wow, did you see this story about ESPN announcer Mark Jones' tweet? Jones, who called Auburn's 21-16 win over Washington, put "Washington Huskies took one one (sic) on the chin. Where's Montana?" It was a dig at the Huskies' nonconference schedule from 2017 when they beat Montana 63-7. Apparently the Huskies Nation EEEEEEE-rupted. Here's the Pac-12's statement on the matter: "We are aware of the inappropriate comments in this tweet and have addressed it with ESPN." What? Wow.
Tennessee was way worse than we expected. Overstatement. West Virginia was better than we expected. Statement. West Virginia going to light up some folks. That's for sure. (As TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer tells us here, it was a difficult task for Game 1 for Jermey Pruitt.) Still, maybe we simply wanted Tennessee to do better. For Tennessee to look better. For Tennessee to simply be better. But the process of rebuilding a proud program in the nation's toughest conference after almost a decade of debacles - Kiffin bolted, Dooley was hired and UT could not find anyone other than Lyle Jones to take the gig - will be a long haul for even those of us who want it be here before Friday.
Kansas is the worst FBS football program in the post-BCS era. As crazy as this may sound, that's an actually an understatement. Head coach David Beaty is 3-34 and has more losses to FCS programs (two) than he has wins over FBS opponents (one). He's 2-2 against FCS schools and 1-32 against the FBS. Ouch-standing.
This and that
- Get Up!, the controversial ESPN morning show that has been poorly rated and poorly receipted made another change this week. After jettisoning Michelle Beadle last week, the Get Up! show had an hour cut off their morning set and is now a two-hour gig. Wonder if Greenie is giving back a third of his monster salary?
- The 5-at-10 NFL Survivor pool (remember kids, no peeing in the pool; side note: How great was the old-school sign that read "Welcome to our oil, please notice there is no p in it" back in the day?) is under way and there have already been two dozen or so entries submitted. We will post them every Friday under the week's Rushmores. Deal? Deal. Also of note: If the Saints lose this week, well, there will be many more lanes to swim in the Survivor Ool.
- And after Nick Saban acted like a brat after Saturday's opener and apologized for it on Sunday, the Dark Lord of Recruiting and Beatdowns named Tua Tagovailoa as the Alabama starting quarterback. In other breaking news Donald Trump tweeted something controversial, Wednesday will come after Tuesday and research shows that high school football quarterbacks are generally popular youngsters. See Nick, was that so difficult?
- Because we find this interesting, Darren Rovell tweeted that an Australian bettor put $25K on Roger Federer last night for the chance to win $500. Federer lost in four sets. (Sorry DP and Weeds.)
- Jacob deGrom pitched in his 25th consecutive start with allowing three runs or fewer. Dude is a monster.
- The U.S. Ryder Cup captain picks will be made later today. Here's betting that DeChambeau chap and some dude named Eldrick are among the four. Thoughts?
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Today's questions
On a true or false Tuesday, we'll try to stay true. True to school. True to country. True to Titliests, the Mrs. 5-at-10 and a certain kind of Co-Colas. Dilly! Dilly!
True or false, there are two types of people in the world: People who pee in the pool and people who lie about peeing in the pool.
True or false, the over/under/statement segment is a keeper.
True or false, Patriots make Super Bowl LII.
As for today, Sept. 4, let's explore.
On this day in 1972, Mark Spitz becomes the first athlete to win seven gold medals.
Great birthdays today. Paul Harvey would have been 100.
Tom Watson turns 69 today.
Beyonce is 37. Yes she is money.
TV's Dr. Drew turns 60 today.
Rushmore of TV doctors. Go.