What’s needed right now are a few words from you. Words like “People, at the end of the day, the Air Jordan shoe is just a shoe.” And that word needs to come from you because, well, your name is on the darned thing.
Surely you must have heard of the shenanigans that occurred on Dec. 23. That number should be significant to you, Mikey. After all, you wore it for years when you played for the Chicago Bulls.
On Dec. 23, Nike — with, we have to assume, your support and blessings — released a “limited edition” of what are called Air Jordan XI Concords.
By releasing the shoe in a “limited edition,” Nike honchos pretty much assured that what went on would indeed go on. And what went on was this:
Violence — including one incident of a New Jersey man being stabbed — and vandalism as people were in a frenzy to buy what, in essence, is just a shoe.
To hear your Nike overlords tell it, Mikey, they were aghast and shocked — shocked, I tell you! — about what occurred.
“We are extremely concerned to hear of the reported crowd incidents around the launch of the Air Jordan XI at some select retail locations. Consumer safety and security is of paramount importance. We encourage anyone wishing to purchase our product to do so in a safe and respectful manner.”
That statement came from Nike spokesman Brian Facchini. He emailed it to USA Today, and I’ll tell you, Mikey, a more meaningless, mealy-mouthed piece of drivel you’re not likely to read for the rest of your born days.
I’m not even going to get into Facchini’s problem with basic subject-verb agreement. Yo, Brian: That should be “consumer safety and security are of paramount importance,” pal.
No, a much better statement would have been one from you, Mikey. Now I know some of my fellow journalists — and yes, I’ll be very specific here: They would be the black ones — have criticized you in the past for steering clear of controversial issues.
Translation: They wanted you to be some kind of basketball-playing Malcolm X when it came to racial matters. They wanted you to spout what their opinions happened to be on controversial issues involving race.
Believe me, they wouldn’t have wanted you saying something like “Any black parent who has a $200 pair of Air Jordans on his or her child’s feet and no books in the house can’t complain about institutional white racism as a factor in that child’s lack of education.”
Had you done that, you’d have been public enemy No. 1 with black journalists. They’d have demanded your head on a platter — most figuratively, but some literally.
You’d have been called an Uncle Tom, a Sambo, a handkerchief head, and a sellout. You’d have been accused of “blaming the victim.”
So I applauded you for steering clear of controversial issues. Addressing them wasn’t your job. Playing basketball was, and you did that better than most who’ve come down the pike.
I’m fond of saying that I was a fan of the National Basketball Association from the years 1980 through 1997 for three reasons, and three reasons only.
The three reasons were named Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. With all those reasons gone, I’m no longer an NBA fan.
I’ve never been a fan of overpriced, overhyped athletic shoes. The conduct of some people who tried to buy those shoes on Dec. 23 isn’t your fault, Mikey.
But you should be concerned about that conduct, Mikey. After all, the darned shoe has your name attached to it.
If that fact doesn’t inspire you to say something, to say anything, then what will?
Examiner Columnist Gregory Kane is a Pulitzer-nominated news and opinion journalist who has covered people and politics from Baltimore to the Sudan.
