And when we say hate, we mean it in capitalized, italicized and bold font letters... HATE
We Hate everything about Nike--
Hate (and despise) its soulless greedy CEO Phil Knight, a man of limited conscious who puts profit over everything..
Hate how it targets and markets its products to young people, particularly its high-end $200+ sneakers to the inner cities where many live in deep poverty..
Hate how it uses child labor to make its products
Hate Nikes's utter crassness at every turn..
Example: Former Syracuse football star Ernie Davis was the first non-white to win the Heisman Trophy He tragically died of leukemia in 1963. A statue honoring him was recently erected at Syracuse. And what's that on the statue.. on Davis' sneakers? Nike swooshes. That’s a problem since Nike wasn’t even invented until eight years after Davis died.
Ernie Davis thus becomes the first person ever to get a posthumous Nike endorsement deal. Except that neither he or his family ever got paid.
The swoosh don't mean shit in the real world.
Many, many evil corporations in the world doing dastardly deeds and spending heavy advertising budgets to convince Americans to buy their third-world produced, overpriced wares. But as stated before, few corporations hard sell lies to young people as Nike does; all with such catchy slogans such as 'LiveStrong'..
And speaking of which, and in light of the confession (Finally!) that Lance Armstrong used drugs to cheat during his professional cycling career, we wanted to compile a Top 5 list of professional athletes who were or are currently on the payroll of Nike as endorsers of their products.
You may disagree with part of all of the list, and that's quite OK, but its how we feel, and anyone is welcome to start a passionate pro-Nike blog anytime they wish:
So.. we start the list with the 5th worst scumbag, moving down to #1...
5) Charles Barkley -- We're not interested in his controversial opinions or the fact that most of the time he doesn't really think before he speaks. But let's move behind the chuckles and the one-liners to view the real man..
During his playing career he was arrested for instigating a bar room brawl and once spit on a girl in the stands, which he defended by stating he meant to have spit on another person instead.
The man has a severe gambling addiction (was once sued by a casino for over $400,000 in unpaid gambling debts) which hasn't affected his lifestyle too drastically to this point because TNT pays him such a lucrative salary for its NBA pre and post game show.
In late 2008, the married man with children was arrested for DUI. His blood alcohol level was a Staggering .149! When pulled over, his passenger turned out to be a prostitute and Barkley later admitted he was receiving oral sex while driving his vehicle on the highway.
And quickly.. what does .149 blood alcohol level mean?
The legal limit is .01. According to the Blood Alcohol Level Chart, when your level is .149, it means poor reflexes & reaction time, being staggered.. slurred speech, it means Funny Chuck could have killed someone behind the wheel..
And Barkley is still on Knight's payroll because kids find him 'cool'.
4) Barry Bonds -- The supposed single season and All-Time Home Runs leader with a cheater asterisk as big as a mole. (We still say Roger Maris for single season and Hank Aaron for All-Time) From the mid 1990s until the end of his playing career was cheating by using anabolic steroids to increase both his power numbers and physical bulk.
Bonds is also a Liar: He was indicted in 2007 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to the grand jury during the government's investigation of BALCO, by testifying that he never knowingly took any illegal steroids.
Also while married with children, Bonds Bonds had an extensive intimate relationship with woman named Kimberly Bell from 1994 through May 2003, as stated in the book "Game of Shadows", even buying the woman a house.
During the mid 90's until Bonds' retirement, he was a nice cash cow for Nike.
3) Tiger Woods -- Utter scumbag of the highest order. While married with children, not only did Woods have extra-marital relations but did so with about a dozen different mistresses including porn stars, having not the slightest concern or care that he was prone to contracting sexually transmitted diseases to be passed on to his monogamous wife.
Nike stuck with Woods following the sordid details of his romances with many women while married, and on the eve of Woods' return to competitive golf at the 2010 Masters, Nike ran a television ad that according to the NY Daily News, many viewed as downright creepy.
"In the 30-second spot, Woods stands on a golf course dressed in a Nike cap and sweater vest while his father's voice asks him, "Did you learn anything?" Earl Woods died in 2006.
"Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion," the voice of Earl Woods says in the commercial. "I wanna find out what your thinking was. I wanna find out what your feelings are, and, did you learn anything." Tiger Woods says nothing in the ad, staring blankly ahead."
Tiger didn't learn a fucking thing other than when you're wealthy and hit the golf ball well, people will forgive and forget quickly.. And Nike learned when someone makes you a boatload of $$, like a mindless animal, you suck every drop of 'milk' from that financial 'teat' as Intense as possible
2) Lance Armstrong -- An utterly horrible human being. To think not only how much money the man made off his professional cycling career when his success was due to steroids, but how many people he duped with his 'LiveStrong' campaign (co-orchestrated by Nike) to profit off Armstrong's fight with cancer a decade or so prior...
It wasn't so much that he lied about his long history of doping and adamant refusal to come clean because it would affect his squeaky clean image and hurt endorsements, but its the desperate ways Lance would try to get around drug testing by switching his urine with other members of his cycling squad.
Lance started using performance enhancements in 1995. He was so determined to never let the truth come out, he would sue accusers for millions accusing them of libel and intimidating others to back down from their charges.
He evoked great empathy and the status of a role model for standing up to and defeating cancer in the early-mid 1990s yet later on when his girlfriend at the time, rocker Sheryl Crow was found to have breast cancer, he broke up with her rather than be there to support her in time of comfort.
Once again, according to the NY Daily News, when asked if there was any chance Armstrong and Nike would "reunite" soon after Armstrong confessed openly on Oprah...
" "Never say never," a smiling Knight said"
The smile of the soulless...
1) Michael Vick -- Of all the trash, filth and utter scum that make up this list, Vick is the only one to do physical brutal harm to living creatures and to serve jail time for it. Vick didn't beat, have raped and outright torture, maim and kill human beings (though we've no doubt Nike still would have stayed loyal)...
Vick did these sadistic, cruel acts upon dogs as part of his lucrative dog-fighting business. We won't get into the specifics because to do so would be very revolting.. simply go back and refresh the details for yourself on the internet... look at the photos of the dogs in Vick's kennel after such savagry inflicted..
Oh sure, he's made amends.. served his time.. won't happen again
Nike had finally cut ties with Vick only after found guilty and ordered to Federal prison... and not a single moment before. And the very soonest opportunity after Vick entered the NFL, re-signed him and established a Vick signature clothing line V7.. Hey, that's how Phil Knight rolls...
Vick - Nike.. Nike - Vick
By rights, if Vick and any other of the scum on this list makes your stomach crawl, then Nike as a brand and Phil Knight as a person should as well..
Of course, if you're one to forgive and forget... or more to Nike's hope, you simply don't give a damn as long as you're entertained by touchdown passes or little white balls hit into cups, then the multi-billion dollar corporation thanks you for your shallowness.
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