Measuring Up

Take me out to the ballgame…

Late last week, I spent three days and nights taking in different major league baseball games with my dad and oldest son. This was the first time we embarked on such a trip. We visited Baltimore’s Camden Yards, Philadelphia’s new Citizen’s Field and then watched the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium. I thought the outing would be a fun bonding experience between three generations of Moed men (well, one is still an 11 year old boy), but it proved to be much more than that.

For starters, one reality that smacked us in the face pretty quickly is the high cost of attending any baseball game these days. I really didn’t have to worry too much. To be candid, many of the tickets were given to me through business acquaintances. But, I can see how the average middle class family could have some real issues with all the costs involved in going to the ball park. Seeing their favorite team play live just isn’t really affordable anymore. Between parking (in Yankee Stadium it actually cost $35), the price of tickets and then food, I bet that a family of four would have to spend upwards of $250- $300 per game in any major city. That’s really a shame.

Even with those prices (and on and off again rain showers) it’s amazing that all three stadiums were pretty full…mostly with families. I guess there is just something about the professional sport of baseball and local fan passion that keeps these families coming back, regardless of how much the cost of admission rises every year.

Which brings me to the main point of this post. While the three of us enjoyed traveling together, the experience we had in the ball parks was truly “priceless,” because it served to create a new bond between a 70-something year old grandfather, his middle aged son and an 11 year old boy  that had never been established before.  All of us like baseball and we certainly enjoyed watching the games. But, during the hours spent in our seats, we found new common ground talking and cheering about a great play in the field, a clutch homer in the last inning and lights out pitching that was simply remarkable. And, that isn’t something I entirely expected.

You see, my oldest son doesn’t say a whole lot in general. I didn’t expect that personality trait to change during this trip.  Conversely, my father does. But, it’s typically focused on history, wars, the latest book he is reading or what’s happening with his group of close friends in Florida. Usually, I just try to serve as a go between on any topic that seems interesting based on who I’m with. All of this background raised the question in my mind – I wonder what we’ll talk about during the 72 hours we’ll be spending together?

Thankfully, none of that came into play after the first pitch was thrown in each game. And, that’s what was so cool.  Instead, all three of us just sat back appreciated the games and talked baseball. My father delighted my son with some great stories of visiting his favorite Brooklyn Dodgers and Yankees teams of the past. Josh opened up a lot by calling out many plays in the games we were watching and I jumped in to each conversation pretty naturally, while soaking in the camaraderie  and the connection that  the three of us were now living. That made our trip truly special.

The morale of this story is that for all the reasons wrong with professional baseball (like steroids, over paid athletes and overpriced tickets), there is one magical reason why a grandfather, father and his son should still take in major league baseball games together. In our case,  three different generations of Moed men found common ground in the most natural of ways. And, I don’t think any of us will ever forget it.

Playing chicken with fans' loyalty is dangerous

NFL owners and players are dancing with the devil right now. The end result could be ugly.

The latest: the owners are giving their all to lock out players. Now, the players union has filed an anti-trust suit right back at the owners to block this move.

There are dozens of issues on the line and none make for easy compromises. Among them, owners want more games added to the schedule and a bigger slice of revenues. Players are pushing for better free agency rights, more guaranteed money and a host of other benefits.

In the end though, the fan doesn't care. He is lost in a sea of legal mumbo jumbo and a lot of "He said, he said." And, when we simplify all the issues, the average Joe just sees the players as rich and owners as even richer. Place these issues next to the reality of our current world back drop which includes scores of jobless Americans, revolutions in the Middle East and complete devastation of life in Japan, and these two opposing football groups look pretty darn superficial and silly. Average Joe is calmly saying, "Shut up and just play the game."

Collectively, players and owners all exist in a lifestyle that is typically envied, looked up to or even romanticized by fans everywhere— that is, when the season is in full stride, players are making exciting plays and owners are providing great entertainment value. Allow for a strike, work stoppage or anything else which takes the fans' focus off of the actual week to week game and instead shines the spotlight on just how much ‘easy’ wealth these participants have, and the NFL has created recipe for a  brand disaster. At that point, I can guarantee you that Average Joe won't be calm anymore.

This is nothing new. We watched Major League Baseball nearly kill itself numerous times in the 80s and 90s with various strikes. In the worst of these, it lost many disheartened fans for years (some have never returned). Looking back, one can see how these strikes take their toll. Baseball ultimately lost its prominence as America's favorite sport. Now ironically, football has taken over that envious number one position.

And in my estimation, football has a lot more to lose. These quirky fans live and die knowing that from October until early February, they can count on Sundays for one thing. Through good or bad weather, work, play or rest, it doesn't matter. On Sunday, football always reigns.

Fans will lose patience ever so quickly after one or two missed games. Take away half a season or more, and an entire group of outraged fans will take their viewing loyalties elsewhere. The NFL brand will take a hit that won't easily be recovered from.

Legal maneuvering is fine right now. But, if this battle becomes an outright war, with no end in sight, in September, beware NFL. You'll be sorely testing your fans patience and loyalty.

 

NBA = National Bankruptcy Association

Everyone’s heard hundreds of stories about professional athletes going broke. They spend as if money grows on trees. And, they trust far too many friends, managers and agents. Many eventually steal or betray them behind their backs and suck them dry.

Sports Illustrated’s Rick Reilly wrote this interesting, tongue-in-cheek post highlighting many more sad realities on this topic. One startling and sobering statistic got my attention, though. Over 60 percent of NBA players go broke within five years of retirement. Wow.

The first question that runs through my mind is… why won’t they ever learn? The stories are always in the news. So, how many rags to riches to rags examples do these stars need to see or read about before they actually change their behavior? Then it occurred to me that one’s behavior can only change if that person understands he is doing something wrong/harmful and then is taught how to do it better (or not at all).  Understanding that point, I wonder if the NBA needs to step up here and take more of a leadership role with its players.  While the league has no legal responsibility to make sure its employees don’t throw away their lives, I think an ethical example still needs to be set.

I did a little research on the NBA. This league does some great work helping kids become more educated about staying in school and away from drugs. And, it also plays a pivotal role helping players with various maturity and emotional issues they inevitably encounter as they jump from high school or college into a celebrity life in the NBA. But, I’ve yet to find any literature, information or media coverage about how the league helps on the financial literacy front. That’s really a shame.

The image of this league has consistently fallen over the last decade or so for a variety of reasons. Attendance at games and viewership has also greatly waned as the fan base demographics are now limited to more inner city, lower income consumers (versus a healthy mix of middle class and more affluent fans as well.) It’s clear that this fan base still admires these talented basketball players and views them as bona fide heroes because of what they can do on the basketball court and the image they personify. Here’s food for thought: If the NBA actually took a position by teaching its players how to save the millions of $$$ they earn, then just maybe this new found personal financial responsibility would be emulated by the fans and spill over to a part of our society that really needs this help the most. 

Here we go again…

Can you believe it? I certainly couldn’t. Isaiah Thomas came within inches of being hired back on the NY Knicks staff. The man fits into New York City, like Rush Limbaugh would in ultra-liberal San Francisco. No one likes him. No one respects him and certainly, no fan ever thought he’d see the day when Mr. Thomas would be welcomed back in any capacity.

Let me correct myself. One man does love him. That would be Cablevision and MSG owner Jim Dolan. But, for what reasons, I haven’t a clue. Just review the facts. Isaiah is a Hall of Fame basketball player. No one can argue that this tiny point guard was undoubtedly one of the top 10 point guards to ever play the game. He showed moxie and unbelievable determination to win. And, that’s exactly what he did by leading the Pistons to two championships. Now, let’s separate his playing days from everything else he’s accomplished since.

-          Almost bankrupting the CBA

-        Losing with flair in Toronto

-        Losing with flair in New York City

-        With the exception of one winning season in Indiana, not many positive stops in between

-        A host of very public personal/professional screw ups, in between

So, Dolan’s thought (if you can believe what is in the funny papers) is that Isaiah is a natural at scouting talent. That’s why he momentarily hired him to be a part time scout for the Knicks. My feeling is that his track record on this point is a mixed bag. On the positive side, he did draft future stars like Tracey McGrady, Damon Stoudamire and David Lee. But, he also negatively exposed himself and the Knicks organization by racking up huge long term salaries in trades for colossal failures like Eddy Curry. Those miserable trades created serious salary cap issues for the Knicks that took the better part of a decade to extricate from. That also was a major cause of why the Knicks could not assemble a high level group of winning talent for so long.

Still, anyone who knows basketball can argue both sides as to whether Isaiah knows talent. But, what is so hard to fathom is just how naïve the Knicks owner is to think that hiring a college coach wouldn’t be a major NBA or NCAA infraction. The scary thing about this decision is that it continues to show just how bad the judgment is at the very top of the Knicks organization. Of all the bad calls we’ve seen since Jim Dolan took over the team reigns, this clearly has to be the worst. For any Knicks fan, that’s incredibly frustrating because most people learn from their mistakes and as time goes on their decision making improves. With Jim Dolan, it appears that the opposite is the reality.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I don’t believe that this Knicks team will be any good until (or if) a new owner takes over. Mr. Dolan had to understand that 99 percent of the New York City fans would go nuts over this bizarre hiring. If that doesn’t matter, or he simply doesn’t get it, what hopes does his team really have to change its losing ways…

All hail the king

Which NBA team will LeBron James (or King James as he is often referred to now) ultimately sign with? That’s the big question most professional basketball fans want to know. I have to admit that although my interest as a fan of this sport has waned over the years, the daily hunt (or rather incredible courtship) to win LeBron over has become an outright spectacle. And, it’s really fascinating to watch.

For those who aren’t in the know, LeBron is the most coveted free agent in the game today. And, no less than six teams (including his Cleveland Cavaliers) are vying for his attention and commitment to sign a long term contract. Just in the New York market alone, the Knicks (my team) and Nets have created a three ring circus atmosphere, by dangling the richest of jewels and the swankiest of celebrities and VIPs to influence “the King’s” decision. Although both teams are simply God awful, it simply is unacceptable to New York fans (including this blogger) that the Knicks have continued to lose for an entire decade. The hope (maybe prayer) is that this human highlight film can turn our team’s miserable fortunes around.

In a weird way, I feel like I am watching a riveting adventure movie (with bag of popcorn in hand), just waiting to see what the ending will be. Each day (or actually every few hours) something new transpires as one team decides to raise the stakes. It leaves you wondering if there is really anything left to offer. Just in the past month, we’ve watched Knicks court side fan Spike Lee go head to head with Nets’ owner Jay Z to win “the King’s” love. Spike did all he could by creating personalized commercials to woo LeBron into the city that never sleeps. While Jay Z simply turned on his charm by showing His Highness that nothing can compare to spending quality time with the hippest music stars in the business (Jay Z and Beyonce, of course) across the Hudson.

Not wanting to be out maneuvered by their Jersey counterparts, none other than Knick fan Billy Joel offered up his own rendition of a love ballad to “the King,” all while he went on a personal tour of Joel’s Greenwich Village Townhouse. (Yes, it was suggested to James that this colossal, four story home could be his with a wink, a handshake and a signature.) And, in a reversal of territories, Tony Soprano traded in his Northern New Jersey Italian roots to come back to New York and stand behind his Knickerbockers as well. Yes, James Gandolfini upped the ante significantly by creating a new open ended Sopranos last episode for “the King” (hearing that this was LeBron’s favorite HBO series) in which King James could actually become a character in the final plot. Wow!

It didn’t end there. Both the Knicks and Nets fired their biggest guns next.  Cablevision (and Knicks owner) CEO Jim Dolan flew out to meet LeBron twice to convince him why he can turn the woeful Knicks into perennial winners. At the same time, the newly minted Nets ownership/management duo of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov and his always smiling celebrity coach Avery Johnson brought LeBron to Newark (where their new arena is). He was then promptly handed the keys to this lovely port city…

All of this continues to transpire while these teams and five others diligently woo a couple of other highly sought after perennial all-star free agents as well (including Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire). The Knicks, Nets, Heat and Chicago Bulls have opened up enough salary cap room to sign two mega stars. This strategy is key for a bad team (like the Knicks) because it shows “The King” and the other superstars that the franchise won’t live or die based on the effectiveness of one great player. And today, it actually looks as though the Knicks signed Amare Stoudemire first.

The irony of this entire manifestation is that most of the teams in the LeBron ‘hunt’ would gladly mortgage their franchise’s future, and, if need be, build their team solely around him if that’s what it takes. Yet, history shows us that one mega superstar alone cannot bring his city a championship ring. Cleveland (LeBron’s current team) is the best example of that. To say the team is/was “LeBron-centric” is an understatement. That system has never had any other stars. And everything, from the team’s marketing, to who the media focus on, to how the Cavaliers are positioned, revolves completely around LeBron.  There’s no doubt that if he leaves, Cleveland will lose just about everything it built and that means it will end up in the NBA toilet for a long time. That’s the exact opposite of what the Boston Celtics created three years ago when they were fortunate enough to trade for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, allowing them to build a core nucleus of four great players to win with. The same philosophy holds true for Kobe’s Lakers, as well as Michael Jordan’s Bulls of the 90s.

This has to be an incredible ego rush for LeBron James. He isn’t just the king of basketball, but is treated like actual royalty from the golden ages. Personally, I think that all of this is just so over the top and plain silly. But more importantly, I’m very skeptical that any team will reach the Promised Land with a king that is placed head and shoulders above teammates (who in this scenario will probably feel more like peasants than lords).

How will they “Spin” this?

There’s a cool, new club in New York City called Spin. Much like cigar bars and pool clubs took off five to ten years ago, Spin is making a big bet that ping pong will become the next craze among the New York club crowd who are quick to find the newest progressive and creative themed venues. 

Right now, Spin’s near term future looks pretty bright.  I attended a special charity tournament a few weeks back and was a little surprised to see just how packed the place was (on a Monday night.) It was fun to see how dozens of seemingly normal club goers became competitive and talented table tennis players once the jackets and ties came off and the paddles started to swing through the air. Naturally, ping pong isn’t the only activity of choice at this club. The crowd hanging at the chic long bar was just as rowdy as the players they were watching.

I’ve heard from friends that Spin is on fire right now. The place continues to pack ‘em in. That’s not surprising because Spin’s owners were smart enough to catch a rising trend in America… the growth of ping pong as a cultural sport.  And, they’ve created a nice formula to tie it into a real club scene. Unfortunately, it seems that the organization doesn’t understand (or simply doesn’t care) that success can be ephemeral. Especially, when the business is solely based on the fickle and ever changing wants of trendy consumers.

Which leads me to discuss my issues with Spin. For the last three weeks, we’ve tried to book a day time birthday party for my 10 year old son at Spin. (He’s an avid ping pong player.) The responses from the club have ranged from indifference, to rude, to plain idiotic. The women who are functionally charged with booking these types of events have lost our file, given us the wrong email addresses, told us they’d call back and then never did so, and have plain forgotten who we are (after multiple conversations.) I’ve spoken to two other friends who both shared the same type of experience as I.

In my mind, Spin’s staff either doesn’t give a damn, or is so confused and disorganized that they have no idea how to create customer loyalty. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. My belief is that it might happen tomorrow, next month, a year or even two, but Spin will fail if it doesn’t change its modus operandi pretty quickly.

I’m not writing this post to bitch about a business that frustrated me. Spin is but one example of a very real business issue that exists today. Trendy restaurants, clubs and other consumer facing businesses come and go for the reasons I highlighted above. Once that frenzy is over, only the really customer focused, savvy businesses that can provide superior products/services then survive. To do that, these businesses have to focus from the onset on how they can build a solid base of loyal fans who will provide the core sales revenues (to stay afloat) when all the hip and cool early adopters move on to the next trendy theme.

My guess is that the heads of Spin’s management are ‘spinning round and round’ right now in a state of euphoria and confusion. They are probably ecstatic about their new found success and have no idea that it’s time to shake off that feeling that they are conquering the world and start looking at the basics of how to build a business from the ground up. Of course, that all starts with delighting the customer.

Put that in your pipe and chew it!

Yes, I realize that this headline is both foolish and a mixed metaphor. But, when I heard a Cleveland Cavaliers basketball player exclaim this line last night in an interview, I laughed so hard that I decided to write about it.

Professional athletes and their coaches (many of whom used to be professional athletes) are notorious for butchering metaphors, analogies and clichés in media interviews.  I’ll admit to flubbing a few of these well intentioned lines in my day, as well. But, some professional athletes are in an entirely different league when it comes to the succession of incongruous or ludicrous comparisons that come out of their mouths each and every day.  Here are a few of my favorites that I’ve recently heard:

-    “Left hand, right hand, it doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious” --  Professional basketball player
-    “Can’t let one bad apple spoil the whole ball of wax” – Professional baseball manager
-    “I don’t want to shoot my mouth in my foot, but those are games we can win” – Professional football player
-    “I can see the light at the end of the tightrope” – Former professional basketball player. Now team president.

What’s my point (you might be thinking)? I’ll tell you.

When athletes make the jump from amateur to professional levels these days, they have a thousand and one counselors/coaches/mentors available to them. These experts try to teach them everything  from how to save and invest their new found money (that is still a tricky one for many), to quickly become more mature and professional  in how they handle themselves in the public (off the field or court), to dealing with the mental and physical grind of long, tedious seasons that they’ve never experienced before. But, are they ever coached or provided any guidance on how to become better public speakers… especially during press interviews?

Probably not. And, this reality is a real mistake. When these celebrities come across so poorly in the public eye, it only reflects negatively on them. Sure, they might have high paying jobs now, but, on average, most will be looking for a new career in two to four years. Whether they want to use their notoriety to move into a public broadcasting job or something else, those who speak as if they are uneducated, will probably face much longer odds of ever landing that next job they really want. It also becomes problematic when that first “crisis” strikes and those naïve and often inarticulate athletes are now in a panic situation, but have never been properly trained on how to communicate beforehand.  Instead, irony hits hard after the crisis hits when dozens of “close confidants” come to their side, offering lots of advice on what to say and how to say it. Unfortunately at that point, it’s often too late.

This post keeps bringing me back to one of my favorite movies, Bull Durham. Remember when Kevin Costner’s character (Crash Davis) started to mentor “Meat” (the highly uncivilized pitching prodigy that Tim Robbins played). After Costner witnessed Meat’s horrendous interviewing skills, he said to him.”You’re gonna have to learn your clichés. You’re gonna have to study them. You’re gonna have to know them. They’re your friends. Write this down -- we gotta play it one day at a time.”

If only every professional athlete had his own Crash Davis, the sports world would be so much better off (at least better spoken).

Have you recently heard any mixed metaphors or just plain bad quotes that are hilarious? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Is any sponsor safe anymore?

As the Tiger fall out continues (I think it's something like day 17 or 18 now), the business stories have begun to focus on which of Tiger’s many multi-million dollar sponsors will terminate their relationship with him. Of course, now that the shock of his transgressions has worn off, this is the most natural issue to turn to. Today, Gillette announced that it will severely limit Tiger's involvement with company endorsements. No surprise, Accenture has removed him from its Web Site and pretty much every other sponsor has stopped promoting Tiger in any way.

That's all par for this course. Yet, I believe there is a larger, more significant issue that all marketers need to be thinking about:  If Tiger Woods, the ultimate gold standard role model for kids and adults alike can fall from grace like this, then is any athlete or celebrity sponsorship safe anymore? And, should the sponsorship industry make wholesale changes to its strategies now when it comes to focusing on singular celebrity endorsements to build brands?

My answer is no... and yes. Here's my deeper explanation.

Tying a brand (or company's) image so closely to one (or even two) celebrity endorsements(s) has always been a risky proposition. Over the last 20 years, I've heard many a client tell me that his/her worst fear is to receive that call (or email) from some reporter who has the scoop that their corporate sponsor has been caught using drugs, abusing his wife or living out some other illegal or unethical act that will surely create big customer/investor problems. Still, in the past, the reward has clearly outperformed the potential risk for some very smart marketers like Nike, Gatorade and Accenture (which have achieved major business gains through singular endorsements). I believe that part of the reason for their success is because they seem to be highly selective with whom they allow to represent their brand (one would think an accounting firm has a very sophisticated risk analysis process for vetting endorsement candidates). And, when their celebrities got themselves into real troubles (think Michael Jordan as Nike's face when he had serious gambling issues), this 24/7 digital landscape (which never allows for stories to die) either didn't exist, or wasn't nearly as powerful as it has become today.

The latter point is what marketers should really be concerned about. For the heck of it, I googled the words 'Tiger' and 'Nike' just now. Something to the tune of 1,700 stories, blogs, tweets and other discussions/articles came up. Many have threads of content which question Nike's decision making behind associating Tiger as the "face and ethics of its brand." Unlike what happened in the "old days" of Michael Jordan, Nike's stock and sales have now taken a real hit because it's so closely associated with Tiger. The power behind digital communications is that it allows for anyone to push out opinions (like me), create more gossip and in this case, initiate a continually growing "mob-like," virtual attack that has clearly played a major supporting role in hurting this sports apparel company's core business.

Tiger stood for all those wonderful qualities (commitment, professionalism, can do attitude, winning, pure and ethical, etc.) that its sponsors believed would never fail them. In many ways, Tiger was a no-brainer...the ultimate safe sponsorship.  So now, there is no one or nothing that truly is a safe bet.

Corporate marketers need to change their "bet everything on the farm" endorsement strategies now. They might want to take a page out of the pharmaceutical industry's drug development strategy play book instead. These giant companies invest billions of dollars on dozens of drugs with the hope that just one or two might eventually make it to market as a block buster seller. They have to hedge their bets across many drug investments because each one has such a low risk of ever baring real fruit. And, the risk is simply too great to place a company's future behind one miracle cure.

In this same vein, corporate marketers cannot look at one beloved athlete as its "miracle cure" anymore. Instead, they should create many, smaller, but equally focused endorsements which allow for brands to achieve more modest benefits from attributes that each celebrity brings to its products or company. And, they can bypass all the unavoidable risk and eventual disasters that one endorsement will probably bring someday. Remember, one face associated with a company or brand completely ties the two together in almost every way. On the flip side, any one of 15 or 30 faces which are far less promoted with said company or brand, can be extricated so much more painlessly should the need arise.

Oh, to live the life of Tiger Woods...

Tiger Woods was in a car accident. It was serious enough that a neighbor had to call 911 and an unconscious  Woods (lying in the middle of his street) had to be rushed to the hospital.

Over the last few days, the police have tried three times to interview Tiger about the accident. This is normal protocol for any U.S. Citizen. But apparently nothing about Tiger is normal because he is above our law. Er... that's at least what Tiger seems to believe.

Wouldn't it be just peachy if we could all pick and choose which laws we want to follow, like Tiger does?

From what I read, Tiger is upset with gossip reports questioning his fidelity. The latest statement on his Web site asks for privacy during this personal time and does a fair job of lashing out at the media who have covered this fairly typical celebrity tale.

I have no idea whether Tiger's supposed affair has anything to do with his accident or not. But, the world's number one golfer looks like a big, spoiled brat right now. And by the way, everyone (even those who don't like golf) have now tuned into this bizarre story because Tiger is stonewalling the authorities. And, we all want to know why.

Talk about creating your own public relations disaster. The man's image is sinking by the hour because in the absence of information from Tiger, (any details would be fine,) he is leaving himself wide open to all kinds of speculation. And, this makes little sense coming from a living legend who has spent many years carefully sculpting his professional image for kids and adults alike.

Is he simply frustrated and needs time to stomp his feet and cool off? Or, is there something more insidious to this fire hydrant car wreck story?

Either way, I have a few basic public relations suggestions for Tiger that might help to stop his image from crashing and burning. (Sorry for the pun, but i couldn't resist.)

For starters, I’d recommend that he immediately remove his lawyers, agent and managers from being his mouthpiece. This entourage comes across as cold and too calculated. More to the point, it makes us feel like Tiger can't deal with every day crises or problems at all (which is clearly the truth.)  I'd also tell Tiger to break his silence now. Speak to the police and let the world know that you don't truly believe celebrities (like you) can live by a different set of rules than all the regular Joes who watch, root for and adore you. Sure, rehearse what you need to say and have a lawyer present to protect anything that needs protecting. You've already had three days to get this part right.

Tiger, the clock is ticking and your reputation is on the line.

Made in the USA

This is the line that the powerful senior senator from New York is harping on loudly these days. Specifically, Senator Schumer is accusing Adidas of being unpatriotic because it plans to cease manufacturing NBA uniforms in its upstate New York factory.

Instead, this well known sneaker/apparel company is moving its manufacturing operations to Korea where the labor is cheap and its profit will undoubtedly grow. Of course, the good senator is upset because a few hundred constituents in his home state will lose their jobs.

It's unfortunate when anyone has to lose work these days. But, Schumer's logic is kind of laughable for how hollow it rings.

For starters, how can Adidas be viewed as un-American when it is a German company? Sure, it has a U.S. subsidiary and wants to build a strong bond within this country (largely to sell more products). But, the fact remains that it can't or shouldn't feel the least bit of patriotic guilt because there is no sense of American nationalism that can possibly exist.

The Senator is also trying to tie his guilt rhetoric around the neck of American basketball, a pastime in this country. He implies that the NBA is as American as Chevy, apple pie and mom. And, anything connected to this U.S. institution clearly needs to remain on this domestic soil or.....it would be anti-American.

Hogwash, I say. The NBA has been touting its international moniker for almost a decade now. It recruits heavily from Europe and China. Has wholly-owned farm leagues in countries there and (in case anyone has forgotten), includes a team in its league that is based in another country known as Canada.

For all intents and purposes, the NBA has become an international phenomenon. Therefore, if we subscribe to the senator's philosophy, then the NBA should have been derided many, many moons ago for expanding outside our borders.

With all of this said (or written), the distinguished senator is no dummy. He understands what negative, anti-American jobs publicity can do to any company based here. And, I'm sure that Adidas is now feeling the heat from those Lou Dobbs-like activists.

Still, based on its own merit, this story shouldn't be one. And, in this case, the senator has very little to gripe about.