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Gentry, get money, eff and do you
Yeah. G is gonna do him. G is really gonna be doing himself when he and the rest of JB sees their company go through their version of Black Tuesday...
BRAVES BASEBALL....yeah right
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Its funny how people want to crucify Gentry yet the guy has been with Nike since 1989.
Seniority and longevity with a company are cool and all, but the way I look at it, if you can't make sound decisions in the present, and you don't come up with a clear, solid, well thought out vision for what the future direction of your company should be, then you obviously don't belong. It's clear Hump doesn't have his "ear to the sidewalk" so to speak. Sheesh, as it stands, seems like dude couldn't HIT sidewalk if he tripped over a curb. Longevity alone does not a successful executive make.
Same dude:
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I find it funny that someone that has dedicated their life and help make Air Jordans the phenomenon it is today and everyone hates him.
That's a pretty laughable point of view. That's like saying an overstuffed pencil pusher such as Jerry Krause, who wouldn't know a basketball from a medicine ball, helped make MJ's ON COURT skill into the phenomenon IT became. Seeing as how Hump didn't join Brand Jordan until 1997, and the NIKE Air Jordan line was established at "mythic" status by, oh, the late 80's, I'd venture to say that Hump had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the evolution of the Jordan line. But thanks for the chuckle.
Thinking about it, Hump probably wouldn't shy away from taking credit for all that the Air Jordan line became. Legend in his own mind, he is. Sorry Hump, but the die hards will ALWAYS remember the history. Didn't MJ himself once say (in SLAM magazine's original "KICKS" issue from July 1998, to be exact), "Never forget where we came from, you know? Yesterday's how we got to today. And today is how we determine how tomorrow's going to be."
Now, I know I'm getting up in age, and I've been hit in the head a few times over the years, but I think it went more or less like that. I guess they ALL must have forgotten that quote when they sat around the boardroom discussing ditching the NIKE Air logo back in '01.
Anyways. Next.
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Sorry to say but WRONG. No one ON NT gives a damn about the team line. however, the general public loves these shoes. How many people do you see rocking team J's? I see mothers, dads, children, babysitters, everyone rocking team J's. They're afordable and these people get to be wearing "jordans". There have been plenty of times while I'm out people will say "hey you rock J's too!!!" and they'll be wearing a team J. The public does not make the distiction of the team line vs. the flagship models. Hell they don't even make the distiction of retros vs new J's. We here at NT might not buy the Dubs, teams, or 8x colors of the IV but the mass market does. When consumers who are looking to go buy shoes go to footlocker, footaction, finishline, or whatever they see team J's and see a jumpman on them they think to themselves "oh these are Jordans, YEAH! Oh snap only 79 bucks!" and they buy them. They don't care if its the XXII, XIV's, teams, trunners or whatever as long as they have a jumpan on them.
Dude has a very valid point. The general public naturally is not going to be as discerning as your average NTer. We are the "die hards," and admit it or not, we're generally a minority. But a "general public" consumer can just walk in your run of the mill Foot Locker, find a pair of Team Jordans complete with the Jumpman slapped on the heel, and at a reasonable price, that looks cool in a colorway that they like, and voila. They've just bought a brand spankin' new pair of "Jordans!" And if that makes someone happy, hey that's cool. More power to 'em. Like it or not, there is a market for the Team line. That being said, if I were in charge of MARKETING decisions for a NEARLY billion dollar leg of a MULTI billion dollar corporation, I'm not so sure I'd hedge the entire future direction of said company on just a Team line of shoes, considering where today's proven record of success came from.
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I'm beginning to believe Gentry is either:
1. A mentally challenged individual
or
2. A mentally challenged individual
Word. Preacher, choir. Choir, preacher.
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Air Jordan came from NIke. Period.
Amen, brother.
One last quote:
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07 blk/silver 5s. no NIKE AIR id buy 1-2 MAX, NIKE AIR id buy minimum 4-5. multiplied by 1000, that raises sales from 1-2 thousand pairs to 4 or 5 thousand. at $135, thats $135,000 to $675,000 dollars. all because of a simple logo that belongs there in the firest place.
When someone speaks about my favorite shoe, you know I'm going to throw my dime in the mix. There's a reason I have ten pairs total between OG's and Retros of the black/silver AJ V. And rest assured, that reason had NOTHING to do with a Jumpman being slapped on the heel. The AJ V was a NIKE Air Jordan, not a JB Air Jordan. What's coming out in January is NOT the same shoe, therefore it's an easy pass for me. This coming straight from the "Mr. AJ V" of Niketalk himself. I won't get into WHY NIKE Air means so much to us OG's and die hards, because I've been flogging that dead horse for over 3 years now, and besides that there would probably be 10 noobs waiting in the wings with gasoline hoses and matches. I'll simply say that what JB is giving us in January is straight garbage. And don't EVEN get me started on what the Fire Red III's look like. End of story.
So the way I look at the big picture here is this. Hump made this bed, now he gets to lay in it. Simple as that. I'm not bashing and hating on Hump just for the sake of jumping on the bandwagon of bashing and hating, which as I write this is snowballing to a size even larger than Brian Billick's ego over in Baltimore (my hometown). It hasn't quite reached the size of the "Hang Kerry Collins" congregation that had assembled out here in Oakland up until recently, complete with rope, pitchforks, torches, and Glocks, but I digress. This whole mess that is JB presently, Hump had a bigger hand than most in creating it and letting it boil. I've been thinking and stating for a few years now (AND been getting flamed for it from time to time) that the JB bubble would burst at some point. They've been watering down the market for years with a combination of too much releasing too closely together, with quality generally on the decline, and core customer dissatisfaction now steadily and visibly on the rise. Not the best trends to have. Well, it seems as though the time has finally come to pass where we're all going to actually watch this happen. How the mighty do fall. There was Death Row. Enron. Charlie Sheen (every other year). And now, JB looks to be starting down a similar path. We're about to see desperate times, and I'm sure some desperate measures to go along with them.
I have absolutely NO sympathy for Hump. However, I must say this, and it may surprise a few. I also don't have sympathy for MJ or for what his brand may be about to go through. He's the main person, possibly besides Larry Miller, that gives Hump his power. Come on, if MJ said "make it so," NIKE Air could be back tomorrow. But honestly, I feel the man's way out of touch with his own company. He's basically letting all these other people run it. Does MJ even give his input anymore? The man is who we've all looked up to for the past 20 plus years. He's been an exemplary figure in most areas, and he's displayed an exceptional level of excellence in pretty much every area. *EXCEPT* that is, the areas of being either an executive OR a baseball player. I feel ultimately HE'S the one who has forgotten where he came from, and forgotten the magic that made "Air Jordan" what it is today. Otherwise, he'd be doing something about issues such as quality, butchered Retros, distribution, etc. And he'd be doing something about those responsible for creating and perpetuating said issues. Sorry Mike, but you're gonna learn this one the hard way.
Yeah, I joke, and I may try to add a little humor here and there, but in my heart I think it's sad to watch a real titan on the decline like this. Brand Jordan was supposed to be about preserving and continuing the legacy of the greatest basketball player who ever lived. Everyone in this post who has pointed to the fact that all this negativity is eroding and slowly destroying that legacy have been on point. Whatever opinion any of you may have, one thing is for certain. It's an interesting time to be in the shoe game, and JB is at a crossroads. The next two years are going to be interesting to watch.
Anyways, I've said what was on my mind. My kitchen/computer room is at a humid 85 degrees right now, however I have an ice cold kiddie pool in the back yard with my name on it. Before I go swim, though, here's something I don't think anyone has asked yet. Will the Black Toe I's be "Jumpman Air" Retros?
So until next time, this has been...this time.
