I took Callum to see Air at the weekend, of course I did, I was a basketball player in 1984 at the very start of my career and a guy who wore Nike.
I told Callum about the story that Nike made tennis shoes and it was only tennis shoes you could really get in Nike shoes in the little town of Gourock in Greenock where I lived.
I had a pair of court force.
They were cut off tennis shoes that basketball players wore, and I was one of the first people in my group to have a pair of high-top Nike basketball shoes.
That's not to say that nobody had basketball shoes.
That is to say that nobody had the Nike basketball shoes because they were not that cool.
The cool guys had Adidas and Converse.
The really cool guys had Converse Mavericks.
But slowly over my basketball career, Nike became the thing and that's because in 1984 they were brave enough to sign Michael Jordan and bet the house on it.
Air is a magnificent movie.
It's inspirational mostly because Michael Jordan’s mother, as played in the movie, is utterly stunning in her insight and her inspiration but they knew that they had the ability to change the world and they were brave enough to change it.
What they did was put the power in the hands (and the feet) of the athletes, much more than it had ever been done but they also allowed young people who were buying the shoes to buy into a dream that they were not able to buy into before.
The greatest bit though about the film is the rules (I am so down on myself because I have never seen these before, what have I been doing?).
The 10 Nike Principles that were allegedly written by Rob Strasser (a big part in the movie) in 1977, seven years before they signed Jordan.
I pretty much love all of the rules, but these are a few that are my favourites.
- We’re on offense. All the time.
- Perfect results count - - not a perfect process.Break the rules: fight the law.
(That would be me then).
But finally, the last one and probably the most important one and the one that people get wrong all the time.
- If we do the right things we'll make money damn near automatic.
Go and see the movie. You won't be disappointed.
Blog Post Number - 3417
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