“The PG 2.5 is designed for the game’s most versatile players. It’s light yet strong, with a supportive strap and comfortable cushioning that responds to every fast, focused step,” reads a description on Nike’s website....If I understand it correctly (based on this video, which shows the failure of the shoe), the school's (lucrative) deal with Nike forces the players to wear a particular model of Nike shoe, and Williamson had no choice but to wear a shoe that was known to be inadequate for him:
Are the PG 2.5 built for a player like Williamson? Not really. The simple answer is that they’re built for Paul George, a slimmer, lighter athlete who is nearly as tall as Williamson, but weighs 65 fewer pounds... The players who have worn the shoe this season have similar body types to George....
None of those players are built like Williamson, who is a tank with high-flying features.... Williamson’s frame is so unique that not even the new LeBron 16s are perfect for him. How does one find a sneaker that can support a 6’7, 280-pound frame leaping, running, and cutting 30 to 35 minutes a night?... There might not be anything for him because there isn’t anyone like him.
ADDED: I can see in the first link that Williamson wore different models of Nike shoes while playing for Duke, so that suggests that the commentator in the video is wrong that he was forced to wear that particular model of shoe.
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100 comments:
Product Liability case! Sue Nike! Defective foot apparel. Big dollar!
But he gets a free education.
And hundreds of leftist administrators get 6 and 7 figure salaries.
Totally legit.
He should not play another game for the university.
and Williamson had no choice but to wear a shoe that was known to be inadequate for him
In hindsight, of course, it is obvious that the shoe was inadequate for him. Was it known beforehand that it was inadequate, or only that it was not ideal? Were any shoes known to be adequate for him?
Not a terrible injury.
Hopefully he takes advantage of this to take it supper easy for the season. Better to focus on the payday, the free play stuff is trash.
And, that'll make for a more interesting basketball ring world series ending four, as Romney would call it.
Saw that. Weird, it was.
He IS a big dude. And amazingly mobile for such a big guy, jumping to block the ball, etc. He's all over the place on the floor. It makes sense that he'd be putting unusual stresses on his shoes.
How does one find a sneaker that can support a 6’7, 280-pound frame leaping, running, and cutting 30 to 35 minutes a night?
Uhmm, aren't there lots of people in the NBA that fit that description? Is he moving or doing something that's never been done by someone of his dimensions?
Bad time to bring this up, I know, but: considering what basketball players do in and with their shoes, those sneakers are marvels of chemistry and engineering.
And it goes without saying that equipment decisions should not have a commercial element to them if safety is a factor. But of course, Nike.
In all seriousness, Zion is slated to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.
That means a rookie contract of, say, $60 Million.
Let's say he has a good 4 years. Then he gets a max deal of, say, $30 Mill/year for 4 years = $120 Mill.
That's a big earning potential ($180 Million) that's been jeopardized.
No, Althouse; your presumption that Zion was in any way forced to wear a shoe that was inadequate for him is fundamentally wrong I think. There are a hundred different Nike shoe models that Zion could have worn.
However, the dirty not-so-secret about shoes is that NCAA-issued special team-edition shoes are worth thousands of dollars. I’m talking four figures for a pair. And I don’t know how much for a game-worn pair. And I wonder if in this case a special-edition pair was made improperly.
Btw; the players must not sell any of their equipment while they are eligible; but they can sell it the moment that they end their eligibility. In Zion’s case that will be in April, when Michigan beats Duke in the West regional final.
Uhmm, aren't there lots of people in the NBA that fit that description? Is he moving or doing something that's never been done by someone of his dimensions?
He is unusually mobile. Quick AND big. Rare.
You will kneel wasn't a suggestion. Just do it!
In Zion’s case that will be in April, when Michigan beats Duke in the West regional final.
Has Michigan ever beaten Duke in the NCAA tournament?
Seems like an opportunity to test out some new materials. Maybe basketball shoes made of kevlar, or even graphene?
Sue DOOK. They are the ones making the money off the Shoe Contract. Damages should be Triple the amount of the Nike Shoe Contract Paid money paid to DOOK..
JohnAnnArbor said...
In Zion’s case that will be in April, when Michigan beats Duke in the West regional final.
Has Michigan ever beaten Duke in the NCAA tournament
More to the point in 2018-19; we beat North Carolina. Crushed them.
Yeah, the UNC game was a while ago, though. We'll see what happens. Hopeful.
"So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville. You was my brother, Charley [Coach, Duke, Nike]. You shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end [Coach, Duke, Nike] money."
"It was you Coach Krzyzewski, and you Duke U, and you Nike. You all sold me out."
I hope Zion's recovery is quick.
Also, HA HA suck it DOOK!
Althouse's comments on sporting are as insightful as my comments on constitutional law.
It's too bad Duke lost one player and didn't have a roster full of McDonald's All-Americans and future NBA lottery picks to take up the slack.
Karl Malone was the same size and never had a shoe problem.
Sue Nike. Poor manufacturing. That cheap Asian labor is going to cost Zion some money.
Duke has excellent college players who never become all-time greats in the pros. Kyrie Irving is going to end up as the greatest NBA player from Duke but he’s not going to end up a top 50 player ever.
North Carolina has Jordan and Worthy.
Paul George also suffered a bad knee injury. Perhaps Nike shouldn’t have named a shoe model after him.
What? The article doesn't mention that Obama was there? Not that it matters.
I never have, nor will, buy Mike shit: the TwitterGoogleFacebook of athletic wear.
One of the best players in college basketball today and I follow it closely.
Fun fact. Creighton's center has more dunks than Williamson. And he's had 3 ACL surgeries.
@mccullough
Paul George suffered a compound fracture of his lower leg during pre-Olympic practice, not a knee injury.
Were they defective new shoes or worn out ones?
Players should be allowed only a certain number of shoe squeaks per game before they must play barefoot.
I like the way they replayed the video of him falling several times without ever bothering to make sure their on-screen graphic wasn't covering up the actual shoe breaking.
I think a pair of Converse All-Stars (Chuck Taylor model) would have taken that punishment.
The article doesn't mention that Obama was there?
ESPN spent a good portion of the evening drooling over him. His mug was the first shot after the open.
KH,
Paul George had surgery on his left knee last May. That’s what I was referring to. You are correct he broke his leg back in 2014 and missed the season.
But his first PG shoe didn’t come out until 2017.
I think we can all agree it was Obama’s fault
Bad tidings for Zion.
Everyone agrees that this was Obama's fault. PBUH.
There's a whole line Nike can offer.
Nike Kneebreakers
Nike ACL 2.0
Nike Career Killers
Nike DOH!s
Nike Ankle Breakers
...the list is as big as Zion.
Rory McIlroy stopped winning after signing with Nike and switching to their clubs.
MONEY!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smlOI4YWn6M
Money, get away
Get a good job with good pay and you're okay
Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream
Think I'll buy me a football team
Money, get back
I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack
Money, it's a hit
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit
I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet
Money, it's a crime
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're
Giving none away, away, away
Hell, he should be able to OWN his own pro team.
Blogger mccullough said...
I think we can all agree it was Obama’s faul
Blashpemy! Not a sparrow falls to the Earth but that it is Trump’s fault!
They don't call them ambulance chasers for nothing.
Who should Zion Williams sue? Nike or the money grubbing whore of a university president who signed the Nike contract forcing him to wear that shoe?
So sad for Nike Inc. There stock had finally recovered the value lost after signing Colin Kaepernick, like one week ago.
The guy’s first name, Zion, makes me wonder if he grew up southern Baptist.
"Foot exploded”? I was picturing the shoe bomber.
ALTHOUSE says: "the school's (lucrative) deal with Nike forces the players to wear a particular model of Nike shoe, and Williamson had no choice but to wear a shoe that was known to be inadequate for him.."
Well......then I can't wait until the Media-Democrat SJWs wake up this 'sports' story with the theme "Black athletes just modern slaves on the collegiate-corporate Plantation!"
That's why I wear New Balance (that and I am a 3E width and Nikes are way too narrow for me).
then I can't wait until the Media-Democrat SJWs wake up this 'sports' story with the theme "Black athletes just modern slaves on the collegiate-corporate Plantation!"
You haven't been paying attention, have you? That meme has been around for quite a while now.
He's still 18 and he's going pro?
Hope the early millions don't ruin his life--or others.
Triple E myself, and I can’t figure out who it is that can even get a Nike sneaker on their feet. It’s very painful to wear a narrow sneaker. My foot might not “explode’ out of the shoe, but if forced to wear it, it would certainly “seep” out the side in a couple of weeks.
"the school's (lucrative) deal with Nike forces the players to wear a particular model of Nike shoe, and Williamson had no choice but to wear a shoe that was known to be inadequate for him.."
I didn't see anything in the links provided to back this up. May be confusing model with brand.
You wonder how often he put on a new pair and what the signs of wear on the old pairs are. It seems he was keeping the old pairs to sell them later, so somebody could look at the old pairs to see how they were wearing. This incident reminds me of all the injuries in the NFL because of TV adding in Thursday-night football which means players don't have time to recover. But on sports shows they cover-up for that and now for Nike. It has to do with the Usual Green Deal.
I played basketball and volleyball for 50+ years. Now it's pickleball only. Never knew there were athletic shoes manufactured based upon the players weight. As a young person, I always used low-cut Chuck Taylor's, then Adidas, and now New Balance.
I am now looking for some new indoor court shoes and stumbled across this Asics write-up:
"Gender-Specific Cushioning: Women's models feature a lower-density top layer in the mid-sole, allowing female athletes to better enjoy the benefits of mid-sole compression."
Maybe if Nike spent more time designing proper shoes and less time circle jerking with Colin Kaepernick . . .
Light yet strong, with a supportive strap and comfortable cushioning.
Yup, that's me.
Rabel said...
"the school's (lucrative) deal with Nike forces the players to wear a particular model of Nike shoe, and Williamson had no choice but to wear a shoe that was known to be inadequate for him.."
I didn't see anything in the links provided to back this up. May be confusing model with brand.
The guys with Stephen A. Smith (trashtalkers with the nation's Number One trashtalker) were saying that Duke players must wear Nike. I think Althouse mistook that for the "model"; confusing "brand" and "model."
Woops. I see that someone beat me to the "brand" versus "model" distinction. Props.
We had Keds.
As I understand it Nike contracts only require that the athletes wear Nike shoes, not us he wear a specific model.
But I do want to call attention to a prominent anti-Zionist at courtside. Coincidence? Maybe, but maybe not!
That fucking Trump.
@Althouse, admit it. You were waiting for someone to make that pun.
hey meade how are you enjoying your Starbucks extra foamy
Grade 1 sprain, day-to-day.
It turns out that Nike shoes are only good for kneeling down.
Sprained knees are very fickle- even minor sprains. He could be out for a game, or the rest of the season. He at least has access to some of the best therapists for such injuries since they are so common in basketball.
On the issue of whether or not he should play at the rest of the season- this is always a question for anyone who can be drafted in the 1st round. If he can play, he should play- if he doesn't want to, then he should withdraw from Duke.
The NBA should just go back to the old rule- if you are 18, then you can declare for the draft. This one and done shit has ruined the college game to the point I don't even watch any more, and I was a really avid fan of the game.
My son is a senior, All-District player in high school. His team wore these shoes this season. He broke his foot wearing them. Had to wear a boot all season except when he practiced and played. Tough trying to play through the pain, but it was his last season and his team needed him.
None of his teammates like the shoe. It sucks.
My statement about his being required to wear that model is, as I say in the post, based on the video!
@Althouse, yes, I know. But it appears that the video was wrong.
It was the shoe that exploded, not Williamson's foot. At least I hope so.
Yesterday we agonized over minor ambiguities in the prose of Tom Wolfe. Today... sportswriters get a free round-trip pass to Vague City.
The foot protruded through a burst seam in the shoe... forcing him to take a knee.
Tort, torting away, tort torting away, may all those lawyers tort tort all society away.
Tort, tort it away.
it's the Shews! The Shews!! Always blaming the Shews!
werent there Protocols of Zion's to follow re: the Shews?
Did he step on a landmine? How do you explode through a shoe? I didn't see that on the video.
In any case, the NBA is - and has been - full of big strong guys who move well. karl malone, charles barkley, Shaq, dennis rodman, bill russell, etc.
somehow they played without their shoes "exploding" and sending them to the hospital.
Whether he was forced or not to wear a particular brand, this rarely happens and the NCAA or Duke or the Coach or whoever had no reason to believe he was at risk for a "shoe explosion".
The movie is the man who won't open his eyes, unless like Ross Perot's running mate, the Admirable Admiral James Stockton, it's a subterfuge eye-opening.
I think.
Don't know.
But that is what the next great scenes will in part be composed of.
It’s a shitty shoe.
The young man should not risk his future earnings by playing for Duke any longer. He’s established himself as a top 3 pick. Don’t risk it. He got what he needed from Duke.
THe nost interesing thing is this:
High crimes are okay, like Hollywood glamorizes idolly.
But if you ain't connected like Kamala, ???, decades in Chino MOFO.
http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2008/03/dmx-here-i-am/
"His name is Barack?!
Barack Obama, yeah.
Barack?!
Barack.
What the fuck is a Barack?! Barack Obama. Where he from, Africa?
Yeah, his dad is from Kenya.
Barack Obama?
Yeah.
What the fuck?! That ain’t no fuckin’ name, yo. That ain’t that nigga’s name. You can’t be serious. Barack Obama. Get the fuck outta here.
You’re telling me you haven’t heard about him before.
I ain’t really paying much attention.
I mean, it’s pretty big if a Black…
Wow, Barack! The nigga’s name is Barack. Barack? Nigga named Barack Obama. What the fuck, man?! Is he serious? That ain’t his fuckin’ name. Ima tell this nigga when I see him, “Stop that bullshit. Stop that bullshit” [laughs] “That ain’t your fuckin’ name.” Your momma ain’t name you no damn Barack.
So you’re not following the race. You can’t vote right?
Nope.
Is that why you’re not following it?
No, because it’s just—it doesn’t matter. They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do. It doesn’t really make a difference. These are the last years.
But it would be pretty big if we had a first Black president. That would be huge.
I mean, I guess…. What, they gon’ give a dog a bone? There you go. Ooh, we have a Black president now. They should’ve done that shit a long time ago, we wouldn’t be in the fuckin’ position we in now. With world war coming up right now. They done fucked this shit up then give it to the Black people, “Here you take it. Take my mess.”
Right, exactly.
It’s all a fuckin’ setup. It’s all a setup. All fuckin’ bullshit. All bullshit. I don’t give a fuck about none of that.
We could have a female president also, Hillary Clinton.
I mean, either way it doesn’t matter. I don’t care. No one person is directly affected by which president, you know, so what does it matter.
Yeah, but the country is.
I guess. The president is a puppet anyway. The president don’t make no damn decisions.
The president…they don’t have that much authority basically?
Nah, never.
But Bush pretty much…
You think Bush is making fuckin’ decisions?
He did, yeah, he fucked up the country.
He act like he making decisions. He could barely speak! He could barely fuckin’ speak!
Can’t be serious. He ain’t making no damn decisions.
Well Barack has a good chance of winning so that might be something.
Good for him, good for him.
How’s your family and your kids?
They’re good. My son is rapping now.
Did he see you? I’m sure he was inspired by you.
Yeah, yeah. all that. Took him to shows and everything.
What does your wife Tashera think about him rapping?
She likes it. She’s the one who told me. She told me.
Did you talk to him? What do you tell him about the industry? Do you give him advice about the industry?
He knows it, he knows all that shit. Ah, man. I give him some advice.
What kind of advice do you give him? Like, watch out for, you know…
Advice about life, advice about girls, whatever a father would tell his son. Everything. Advice about everything. Everything. Advice about everything.
Do you think you’ve been a good father up 'til now?
[Pauses] I don’t know. I’ve done the best that I could.
I guess you never know, right?
They’re all well mannered. I hope I instilled something positive in ’em.
Would you ever do a second—like, your reality show again? ’Cause the first one did pretty well.
Yeah, I will.
After that Snoop had a show and Irv Gotti so it kind of kicked off the reality shows after you did it. Right?
"
I don’t think this ever happened to Shaquille O’Neal.
I had to coat the botton of my bare feet with rubber cement, stolen from the art supply closet. Never made the Pros. . .
I had to use lead. That's why they called me...
Airhead?
In the immortal words of Fat Bastard, "Everyone likes their own brand, doon't they."
The fact The Wizard of Oz is not available via Amazon is a reflection of beauty unforseen.
God Bless the idea, at some point, it was made clear The Wizard of Oz and Amazon are incongruent.
I was in a bar this evening and kept seeing on the tube (no sound) this guy getting hurt again and again. Now I know why.
It really sucks when your foot explodes. No known shoe can contain an event of this kind.
I have heard it can be even worse when other parts of your body explode, but don't ask me how I know this.
Althouse there isn’t a single team in the Big Ten, the ACC, the Big East, the SEC, the PAC 12, where all five guys are wearing the same model shoe.
I watched that game last night. Most of it, anyway. I did not see the first minute when Zion got hurt. But I watched some of the first half and all of the second half (in between bits of the Syracuse game, where Boeheim’s son Buddy played and made some significant threes, before Jim drove home and killed a man wandering out into traffic on an icy highway). Who wouldn’t want to watch a blowout of Number 1 ranked Duke in Cameron by double digits? With Obama in attendance? By a team that Michigan dismantled (N. Carolina)?
So I watched with more than usual interest. Other than Zion, I think that only one, maybe two other Duke players wore the same model Nikes as Zion. The others were obviously different.
Althouse; Zion has worn four or five different shoe models himself at Duke.
How much does Nike have left over after paying Kaepernick to cover quality control of its slave-labor-produced shoes?
In the video the guy said the next time he plays he has to wear that *brand*. I don’t think he had to wear that shoe. Nike makes a lot of shoes.
The closer back we go, the further back they reach.
The next time he plays he should be the one getting paid to wear the shoes.
I SPRAINED MY PENIS PLEASE CARE
I'm also seeing that the terms of the contracts the schools have with the shoe company (is it always Nike?) are kept secret. The players are required to wear the brand — and particular shoe? — but the school gets the money.
Althouse, depending on the school and the state, you can usually FOIA the contracts that schools have with Nike. Or adidas. Or UnderArmour. Et cetera.
So here is the decidedly not-secret contract between the Regents of the University of Wisconsin and Under Armour, a Maryland corporation:
http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/host.madison.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/6e/a6e8e0eb-2965-53a9-a2dc-7837031a0a13/5908b09d785a5.pdf.pdf
You can FOIA Michigan’s contract with Nike/Jordan, or Ohio State’s Nike contract too. As well as the coaching contracts of everyone from Paul Chryst, and every one of his assistants, to Greg Gard.
And of course the schools get the money. Are you new to NCAA amateur student-athletics?
Uhmm, aren't there lots of people in the NBA that fit that description? Is he moving or doing something that's never been done by someone of his dimensions?
Williamson is unusually heavy for his height. His athleticism is amazing, but he will need to drop 20-30 pounds to play in the NBA. Otherwise, he will have constant leg injuries.
There are guys in the NBA that weigh as much as Zion.
There are guys in the NBA that move like Zion.
There are NO guys in the NBA the size of Zion that move as well as Zion.
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