Once upon a time, professional sports were popular entertainment free of political correctness. Fans and players could be themselves and say whatever they liked. Rivals were friendly and communities came together to cheer on their teams. Energetic basketball stars like Dennis Rodman spoke their mind on and off the court, and fans loved it.
All that changed when Nike stepped in. Nike is a liberal corporation based in Oregon, but now it looks like they essentially took over the National Basketball Association. The $8 billion business of the NBA is now completely beholden to the $40 billion business of Nike.
Nike makes sports shoes, but don’t be fooled into thinking that’s all they do. They are so well connected that they became one of 30 companies invited to join the prestigious Dow Jones average on the stock market. Nike also isn’t afraid to jump into politics when it suits their interests. They heavily promoted the Trans-Pacific Partnership even though it was horrible for American interests. They even got Barack Obama and Joe Biden to line up in support. Obama didn’t even try to hide the fact that he had been bought out. He went to Nike headquarters to announce his support for TPP. Then Donald Trump won the presidential election by campaigning against the TPP and phony free trade. He wouldn’t be bought out by Nike, but their influence over the NBA is still a big problem.
Fortunately Jason Whitlock, of the Fox Sports’ program Speak for Yourself is speaking out against Nike’s manipulation of the NBA. He explained “This is about a President that won’t cooperate with what Nike wants done. Nike is using the NBA and its leverage over the NBA to go after this guy because they disagree with him about his policies as it relates to trade in China. It’s very simple.”
Whitlock is right to call out this attack on American sovereignty. This whole thing stinks worse than a pair of old Nike gym shoes. Nike shouldn’t be able to manipulate our politicians or our sports stars just so they can use cheap Chinese labor to make their overpriced footwear. I’m glad we have a president who won’t be beholden to these corrupt interests.
