Unverified Voracity Discusses Swoosh Stuff
I don't get it. I mean, I get it: when Seth said he wanted to do a post about what Adidas inflicted on us I was like YES THAT. A combination of incompetent Germans and a weak or nuts AD was literally not a pretty sight over the past few years. I don't get the WOO NIKE half of that:
"We certainly heard it from fans a fair amount, 'when's Nike coming back?' " says Scott Hirth, co-owner of the M Den, Michigan's official athletic retailer. "There's no two ways around it, and there's no way to sugar coat it. Adidas and football success didn't go hand in hand, and we can't dispute that.
"I think for a lot of fans, it's a feeling of 'Michigan's the best, Nike's the best, Michigan should be with Nike.' "
A shirt's a shirt to me. A jersey is a jersey until it becomes two halves of a jersey flopping in the wind. Nike is no stranger to fashion disasters itself. A lot of people are super happy about this because they owe brand loyalty* to a company that probably makes much of its stuff in literally the same buildings other apparel companies do. So it's a bit weird.
*[I reserve brand loyalties for places they really matter: tortillas. Mission forever. If you bring Azteca into my home I will bludgeon you with them and then kick you out.]
But whatever man, I'm happy you're happy. For athletes it's a different story, of course: the gear is important, especially shoes. And Nike seems to have reputation there that is worth something.
If it makes them happy and a bunch of other people happy, that is a good thing to do even if it does not grow the bottom line as much as possible. The athletic department isn't a profit-driven enterprise, so what should it drive to? Making its stakeholders happy. This appears to do that.
And it might not even leave money on the table. I wonder what metrics Hackett is using when he says this:
Jim Hackett has no problem saying that Michigan's new apparel deal is the largest in the country, topping any other collegiate apparel contract.
Hackett, speaking with a handful of reporters on campus Tuesday, said Michigan would have netted the country's largest apparel deal from Nike, Under Armour or Adidas, but ultimately opted to return to the swoosh.
I wonder because of that reportedly bonkers Under Armour offer to Texas, and reports that Nike was coming in under the other two companies. If other company X is willing to offer more to Michigan they will probably offer more to someone else as well. Not because they're worth more than Michigan. Because it's worth more to company X to have something approximating Michigan.
We'll find out soon enough, and I bet he's right in some way or another since they're going to release numbers next week. I mean, you'd think so. It's common sense. I am going to apply that now.
He's got an average of being excellent. Last April a mailbag post contained a rundown of the various negotiations Michigan executed during the Brandon era. The results there were not pretty:
- Brady Hoke was hired and then paid top ten numbers,
- Michigan was stuck in a different division than OSU (with a crossover game),
- Michigan got an unpleasant home/road split in the 14-team league,
- Notre Dame punked Michigan when they ended the contract,
- Mitch McGary did not have his suspension reduced despite the NCAA changing their rules about pot tests
- Al Borges was offered a 300k raise.
Since Hackett has arrived he has hired Jim Harbaugh for far less than he would get from an NFL team and locked down a Nike contract that can be plausibly called the biggest in the country. What do you think about THAT, Bastian Schweinsteiger?
I agree: not bad at all.
Maize. Maize is not blinding yellow. It is not regular yellow. It is an orangey yellow. It is like the image that leads this post. If Michigan actually starts wearing maize that would be nice.
A jumping man. Nike's Jordan thingy is part of their deal with Michigan. I made an offhanded comment about it in the news post about the deal and got several "NO, SERIOUSLY" replies in the comments and on twitter about it. More detail is available at MLive:
According to a Nike spokesperson, Michigan basketball will become the fifth program outfitted by Jordan Brand. The Jordan Brand currently outfits North Carolina, Georgetown, California and Marquette in men's basketball and North Carolina and Georgetown in women's basketball.
That is a weird—but exclusive!—grouping of teams to join. It includes a team that just locked down Jaylen Brown, who repeatedly said he'd play at an Adidas school. Good job, good effort, Adidas.
Anyway. If any logo on a thing can get recruits to sign up for something it appears to be this logo. I think cold, hard cash works better, though.
GAMBLING! ESTABLISHMENT! AND SO FORTH! Ole Miss is being investigated for hijinks in the recruitment of Laremy Tunsil, a five-star OL who walked right into their starting OL. Tunsil was just arrested for domestic assault against his stepfather, who apparently took whatever cash was on offer from TMZ for photos.
His stepfather says the incident happened because "Tunsil exploded on him for voicing his displeasure about the college star hanging out with sports agents," a story so implausible Michigan could have come up with it in the immediate aftermath of the Shane Morris incident. Dollars to donuts the stepfather has flipped on the kid after gently guiding his recruitment.
Minnesota, 1988. Via Wolverine Historian:
The weather was un-good.
Well, when you lay it out like that… MLive has a slideshow of Brady Hoke's old coaches and where they ended up. I'm sure we've addressed it before, but yikes man:
- OKAY: Greg Mattison stuck in Ann Arbor as the DL coach. Roy Manning is at Washington State. Doug Nussmeier is Florida's OC.
- IS THAT A REAL PLACE? Dan Ferrigno is at San Jose State with Al Borges. Darrell Funk is at Akron. Jeff Hecklinski is at Colorado State-Pueblo. Doug Mallory is at Wyoming. Mark Smith is at Florida Tech. Fred Jackson hasn't landed yet, if he's going to stay in coaching.
I am in favor of this. Former Oregon State AD Bob De Carolis retired a year ago and has been brought in as a "senior adviser" at Michigan. We are just Joe Parker and Bruce Madej away from The Expendables: Athletic Department Edition.
De Carolis brought in Hutch and was well-loved at Oregon State, FWIW.
Another guy. Former UConn OC TJ Weist has been hired at Michigan as an "analyst," which probably means he'll break down tape and help with gameplanning:
Weist is not a Michigan assistant, which means he's not an active recruiter and his coaching duties will be limited by NCAA rules.
"T.J. has a wealth of coaching experience and will be an excellent addition to our staff," Harbaugh said in a statement. "He has shown the ability to develop countless NFL caliber wide receivers over his career and has immense knowledge of the collegiate game. He will be a great asset to our program."
Weist is a former Jack Harbaugh guy and Michigan native, so this is an obvious fit. Michigan appears to be spending its money on having a good football program instead of… not that. This will help happiness, and help make more money.
Etc.: MI/WV SF Miles Bridges says he wants to visit Michigan again. Kentucky though. More decals with Sap. OSU LB talks trash on Twitter. "Split zone" from James Light. Also this is a really cool and sneaky coverage in which a corner plays man press for about ten yards before bailing on his WR in an effort to trap the QB into a bad throw.
I don't understand why some people want the color to be gold, or (worse) orange-y. If you put the color next to black and it is indistinguishable from Purdue's or Iowa's colors, it's not Maize, it's gold.
Nike had it exactly right at the end of their contract: a very bright yellow, with no orange notes at all and also without the "highlighter" aspect that it had for a few years after that.
Maybe it is just me being in Excel too much (that accounting life) but the default yellow highlight would be honestly fine with me. Or the font color on this site. The adidas one has been too bright and then this year they went the other way on the student t-shirts which are beyond mustard yellow.
But what could we possibly compare in the real world to an abstract color like "maize"?
. . . oh.
Well, the thing about corn is that it can be bright yellow, orangish yellow or yellowish orange (or black, or blue, or a bunch of other colors but I'm confident I can get a consensus that none of those are "maize").
So the "bright yellow" vs. "yellowish orange" debate is a bit silly in its subjectiveness, because the corn itself won't take sides. Now, as a personal preference I like the orangish yellow that sits between the bright yellow and yellowish orange, but FFS as long as we get away from that girly bedroom pastel crap Adidas foisted on us I can deal.
I wonder if Illinois or Syracuse fans get in debates over the proper shade of orange, and I further wonder if, during those debates, somebody posts photographs of oranges. I hope so.
There is no reason the two need to be related, so there is no real reason for literalism here. To those who suggest that historical maize was orange-y before Adidas, I would direct them to look at the player's numbers from that 1988 Minnesota game video in this post.
Yes, maize can be different colors based on the variety. There is no single color that represents maize.
Officially it is a bit orangy...
https://vpcomm.umich.edu/brand/style-guide/design-principles/colors
Personally I like the internet definition of maize better:
(251, 236, 93) or #FBEC5D
Any word on Hackett re-structuring management in the athletic department? Didn't Brandon oversee a massive expansion there? If so, where are those costs being allocated now? If expansion of coaching support staff (with roles like the one Weist is taking), great... Any ideas?
I'll take my answer off the air.
That's maize? If so, agreed, that is the best color. I thought maize was even more orangey.
Also corn tortillas, that goes without saying. Flour ones taste like napkins.
Have eaten a napkin. Can confirm.
you Brian on the whole apparel sponsor thing. The long running debate here on Adidas vs. Nike OMG who will it be just boggles my mind. I've been buying Michigan paraphenalia for about 20 years and will keep buying when stuff falls apart regardless of the designer.
But hey, if recruits care then it seems like Nike was the right decision.
It really doesn't matter who we sign with as long as we're not taken for a ride. The devil's always in the details.
We could've re-signed with Adidas for all I care, but what I DO care about is that the terms with Adidas were obviously shit. I worked in industry, not textiles but the Deming cycle has nice carryover here. I'm exaggerating only a bit when I say supply chain management works such that you could sign with the most reputable supplier in the business and still fuck it up (if only because your terms were so vague they had no idea what you wanted) or use Guanzhou SlumClothes Ltd. and get top-rate gear because your on-site QA manager is a rock star.* OK, reductio ad absurdum aside, yes it's much easier if you start with a reputable supplier, but in that sense there's really nothing wrong with Adidas as long as you put them on a short leash, which DB did NOT.
The problem with DB isn't that he signed with Adidas and signing with Nike will fix it. The problem is that DB is an upper-class twit who represented Michigan as well as Sparty after a five-day bender.
*Speaking of which, keep this argument in mind the next time your favorite retailer or name brand deflects a scandal by claiming to have no control over their subcontracted processes. They're full of shit.
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..and left at what's her name's place on S. Forest. Damn.
You mean shrinks to the size of a sanitary napkin after first wash why yes. But definitely constructed well and fluffy comfortable as heck. I miss mine too.
You needed to forego the dryer. Otherwise, you're correct.
Back in the day, a dryer machine set on 'delicate' produced the least distortion. Hanging in the bathroom or closet lengthened the garment else left the hanger's shape stretched into the piece forming a pattern at the shoulders, which was not cool. Blocking on a towel occupied days (unless it was winter) and left the thing smelling like bad cheese and whatever your roommates' herb of choice reaked of. And if you kept a drying rack in college, well, please say 'hi' to mom for us and BTW did she pack your daily lunches undergrad? Grad/professional school too? That's tight, as in mouth kisses on Mothers' Day. How I was raised, I preferred a dryer. j/k
"The athletic department isn't a profit-driven enterprise, so what should it drive to? Making its stakeholders happy."
Dave Brandon's head just exploded somewhere.
Somewhere in New Jersey, Dave Brandon is angrily lurking on this blog, and is seething right now.
Hi, Dave!
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then you'll just bleed money. This is why you need to generate enough revenue to get into the black to make the stakeholders happy with uniforms, travel, facilities, etc.
It is crazy how quick our fortunes can turn. Can you imagine last December being told about the contents of this UV??? In only 8 months, reading a post about Jim Harbaugh, Nike, opening up our pocketbooks to hire great football minds lining up to be "analysts." Still surreal.
I kind of hope that somewhere out there, there's a Michigan fan who went into a coma sometime around Christmas who comes out of it sometime around now. I'd also like to see his/her reaction on video when someone tells them what's happened since they've been out
Accoriding to the internet (never wrong!), the Jordan Brand also sponsors Oakland U, Fresno State and Wright State. Which seems very odd to me. They don't exactly fall in line with UNC, G'Town, D-Wade U and Cal.
Any idea how those schools got associated with the Jumpman? Are they buying their own stuff?
I went to Hillsdale and our basketball team had Jumpman jerseys... highly doubt they were sponsoring us haha,. I believe they do team sales. For Michigan they will be a sponsor however which equals free lots of stuff most importantly shoes. Actual Jordans (not their cheaper models) retail significantly higher than pretty much all Nike shoes.
That makes 3 Michigan schools sponsord by Jordan (Mich, Oak, Hillsdale) - but not MSU! Ha!
Seriously though - the wiki link (again, veracity unverified) says Oakland, Wright St and Fresno St are sponsored. So I would assume they are on a different level from Hillsdale. But not on the same level as UNC, Cal, Marquette, G'Town, Mich.
I guess I'm wondering how the levels work and why Jordan Brand gets out of OU, WSU, FSU? Because attaching those three names seems to slightly devalue the Jordan association.
You think that Magic Johnson's school would wear Jordans?!?!?!
Dream Team Interlude1: Be Like Mike
The Dream Team scrimmage in Monte Carlo before the start of the Olympics has become the Holy Grail of basketball games. A spirited practice turned into a battle between Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, and a symbolic passing of the torch. The final score: Jordan’s White Team 40, Magic’s Blue Team 36. But it was after the final whistle blew that Jordan really went to work. He first screamed, “Way to work, White.” as he paced up and down the sidelines wiping himself with a towel. Then he grabbed a cup of Gatorade and started singing, “Sometimes I dream..”, the lyrics to his famous “Be Like Mike” commercials with the energy drink brand that would earn him millions from endorsements. An excerpt from the book tells the rest: And as Magic looks on in this sticky-hot gynasium, sweat pouring off his body, a towel around his neck, there is Jordan, captain of the winning team, singing a song written just for him, drinking a drink that was raking in millions, just rubbing it in and rubbing it in, as only Jordan can do. And on the bus back to the hotel? Jordan kept singing and singing: Be Like Mike, Be Like Mike.
The copy writes itself.
Buy Mission: The Nike of Tortillas!
From the Baumgardner article you linked:
Nike's been cool for generations. It just has.
Somewhere a Nike marketing exec just got a boner.
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Adidas' fan gear is even worse than the uniform debacles. Even if the team continued to be outfitted by adidas (or Champion, or Bill's Jersey Hut), the switch to Nike is worthwhile just to have the ability to buy better stuff for ourselves.
Man, it must suck to have your tortilla options be Mission or Azteca. El Milagro, Atotonilco, Nuevo Leon, we have an embarassment of tortilla riches in Chicago.
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I don't care at all and agree with Brian's take ...I think the affinity for Nike goes back to an association fans make with the swoosh and the goneby era of Rose Bowls and BigTen titles ...
As for the definition of "Maize" as a color, that has changed as time has gone by. The new "neon" Maize is simply the style these days -- look at the Nike running wear and all the other companies.
And in a few years, super-neon won't be the trend and Nike will adjust the shade of maize ever so slightly ... I've had my #15 Nike M jersey since it was a Breaston jersey and wore it to games throughout the Adidas era. Never got any comments from anyone because nobody really gives a shit about this topic when it comes down to it and you're in MICHIGAN STADIUM at a game.
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IMO the Nike Jerseys just look more classic and fit better than the Adidias ones do. The Adidas jerseys always seemed to have odd sized numbers that were to large and too thin. The rear Adidas piping is horrible.
The Swoosh is just a cool logo and looks better on the side of the jersey than that stupid block triangle in the center that Adidas uses.
Highly recommend his site for those interested in a "Smart Football" type of site.
I've also written several (five) articles on the split zone and action off of it, from a basic zone stand point, a zone read stand point, and play action, for those interested.
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I don’t get your ambivalence here. In the Adidas post you referenced both basketball and football performance/supply issues with the apparel. Maybe it happened, but I don’t believe we had such egregious issues with Nike. So, a shirt is apparently not just a shirt to the athletes. Also, and I realize this is anecdotal, I have Nike M bball shorts that have far outlasted Adidas shorts in terms of quality. That could just be a product that things were made better years ago, so the jury is still out there.
And obviously there is brand loyalty in recruiting and it seems for vastly favor Nike when you look at the reactions. No one is picking a school based on brand, but one more feather in the cap never hurts.
Tony Boles in that Minn. clip. He was a huge RB who was very fast and very good. He has had a well documented battle with drugs since those days. I knew a couple of guys who went to HS with him, and back then they told me that he was in to that bad scene even in HS. Shame, because he was one of the most talented Michigan RBs ever.
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