Ode to Jordan.

The 1984/85 NBA season marked a pivotal turn of events in basketball history. “Upper-echelon talent was in abundance in this draft, including . . . Michael Jordan.”* Jordan had just come off a tremendous season, earning the title of College Player of the Year and leading the USA to a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics.  His marketability was higher than ever before. 
 

Black With a Red Swoosh

When Jordan and Nike agreed to debut the new line of "Air Jordan" basketball shoes, the original design did not meet NBA guidelines for uniformity of jerseys. Jordan's infamous shoes, black with a red swoosh, somehow didn't match the Bulls' jerseys to NBA satisfaction. Three games into the season, the NBA banned the shoe and fined Jordan $5,000 for every game he wore the shoe. The ban caused a great stir and generated Nike and Jordan unimaginable amounts of publicity. Now, easily the most recognized basketball shoe ever designed, the Air Jordan campaign is a primary example of successful sports marketing.

Worth Their Weight in Gold

Nowadays, top athletes are multimillion-dollar brands, coveted not only by teams, but also by agencies, companies, and committees, because of the major influence they have on consumers. Companies are willing to spend incredible sums of money on athlete endorsements. Tiger Woods, once seen as marketing gold, made more money through endorsement than any other athlete. In 2009, Forbes confirmed that Tiger Woods earned over $1 billion in his career through marketing alone.

Brand Loyalty

Several companies use sports marketing to associate attributes— such as success, performance, and passion—with their brands.  From minor league baseball to the World Cup, marketers spend millions trying to obtain brand loyalty and success. As is evident by Nike’s Air Jordan campaign, a well-known athlete can add substantial value to a product. Without Jordan as a sponsor, Nike would not only have lost a product but also brand loyalty. Top performing athletes, like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, have become an integral part of marketing strategy and a wise investment for sports marketers worldwide.

  

* Weixlmann, B. (2008, May 30). Air Jordan: The Best Sports Marketing Campaign Ever. Bleacher Report. 

...where were we?

Baseball digression aside, it is now time to highlight the first trip I took without my parents. Coincidentally this trip was one of my first traveling experiences outside of California.

Who: mature, poised, and ever-so cultured...8th grade students
What: learning?
When: Spring break, 2004
Where: Nation's capital (Washington D.C.) and surrounding area (Williamsburg...oh and Jamestown)

As part of the cultured group of students that attending this pseudo study abroad program--or maybe it truly was a study abroad, details are fuzzy--I had the opportunity to well...how about I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. To be honest most memories from this trip have culminated in a sort of haze that is filed in the back of my mind, only to be opened upon reunion of the members of this trip. The two memories, however, that I most vividly recall are the following:

1. Writing Mia's 7-digits on a piece of notebook paper and plastering it against the mega-bus window as we drove away from some sort of student convention (Why 13-/14-year-old girls/boys found it necessary to distribute any form of digit-ness is beyond me, but I did it regardless).
2. Desperately locating, in Williamsburg, some form of warm beverage to relax my shivering, near frost-bitten fingers and upon purchasing said promising cup of hot cocoa, placing it on my lips only to discover that literacy is indeed necessary for survival. "Caution: Hot" gained a whole new meaning.

All other memories, like previously mentioned, are basically non-existent. But never fear, I documented the travel fairly well thanks to my trigger-happy index finger. Observe.

An homage to shoes at a very young age. Who do these slick leather boots belong to? Five bucks goes to whoever knows the answer.

at the John Wilkes Booth exhibit...or was it Abraham Lincoln's? Regardless, here's a boot.

Posted against my better judgement, this is the only picture where my super awesome Chucks can be distinguished in any way. I loved these Converse SO MUCH that I owned about five pairs of the same shoe in different colors. Yeah, I still wear them, and yes, I still love them. Oh, and...so I was a chubby kid, sue me!

A much better representation of my 8th grade shoe of choice =)