Kevin Garnett is making a big mistake by leaving Nike and going with upstart shoe and clothing company And 1. Sure, he's probably getting more money and his own clothing line, but in the long run, it's gonna hurt him. Nike is the biggest brand name in all of sports (put there primarily by Michael Jordan). They are bigger than any individual player in the NBA. They sponsor the right events, they paste pictures of their featured stars all over the place, their ad-buying budget is huge (they get the primo spots during big sporting events), their shoes are cool, and, most importantly, their advertising is of excellent quality. With all these things going for them, Nike can significantly elevate the status of even a superstar like Garnett. And 1, unable to match Nike in any of these categories, can't really do anything for him other than throw lots of money at him.
...is a weblog about the liberal arts 2.0 edited by Jason Kottke since March 1998 (archives). You can read about me and kottke.org here. If you've got questions, concerns, or interesting links, send them along.
