It wasn’t clear from photos or video of the Georgetown-Chinese basketball brawl if the members of the Chinese pro team, the Bayi Rockets, were wearing Nike shoes while they were stomping Georgetown players. If so, can we expect Nike — which does billions worth of business in China — to use the video sometime soon in an ad campaign?
Why not? After all, this trip to China by the Hoyas’ men’s basketball team — called a “goodwill tour” — is really about selling Nike shoes, jerseys and products. Or didn’t you notice the Nike T-shirts that are for sale that say, “Georgetown Basketball 2011 China Tour”?
It’s all part of Nike’s “Festival of Sport” in China, which is part Nike’s latest “Just Do It” advertisement campaign launched at the start of the summer, according to Nike officials. It’s designed not to “just speak to, but directly engage sport fans.”
Those Chinese fans tossing full bottles of water at the Georgetown players and coaches looked directly engaged to me.
Would it be tasteless for Nike to sell the violence on the court we saw in Beijing? That’s Nike’s modus operandi. They specialize in controversial and counterculture marketing.
Earlier this year, Nike received criticism from anti-drug groups and public officials for selling T-shirts stamped with “Dope” and “Get High.”
So don’t tell me it is tasteless to even suggest Nike may try to make money off the brawl between the Hoyas and the Chinese pro team that saw the benches cleared and fights erupting all over the court with about 91Ú2 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Georgetown coach John Thompson III pulled his team off the court and got them and Hoyas supporters safely on the bus. From there, they should have gone to the hotel, packed their belongings and headed for the airport to get out of the country.
Instead, they are trying to save face, and the kids are being put in the middle of it.
Reports out of China are that members of the Chinese team who attacked the Hoyas players went to the Beijing airport for a reconciliation meeting.
Chinese vice foreign minister Cui Tiankai said team members went to the airport to see off the Georgetown team and the sides exchanged souvenirs. “My understanding is that it’s all cleared up,” Cui told reporters at a briefing on Vice President Biden’s ongoing visit to China. “We’re pleased about this outcome.”
The two teams were scheduled to play each other again on Sunday in Shanghai.
That’s a game that should never happen. Those young men should have been taken out of the country because the goodwill tour became the tour of terror with that riot on the court.
You have to wonder — if Georgetown simply wanted to get out of the country, would someone have stopped them? And who would it have been — the Chinese government or Nike?
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
