let me just be a little clearer, the problem is yao's foot, not reebok imo. I just can't believe all these people have jumped on the bash reebok bandwagon because of what jvg said.
I hate to be a bandwagoner, but for the first time this evening I thought about the two pairs of sneakers I have. One pair is Rbk and (big coincidence) it is by far the more uncomfortable pair. I probably would never wear it if it didn't look so nice. Is Reebok really that incompetent at shoemaking, or are these just a whole lot of coincidences?
The key is wether Reebok made a pair of custom shoes after the mold of Yao's feet. It shows how much they commit to Yao. If no, Reebok deserves every ounce of blame.
BREAKING NEWS!!!! L.A. Gear just bought out Yao's shoe contract!!! The blinkling light L.A. Gear Yao shoes will hit the stores in a few days!!! Problem solved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
While I think there is something to be said about the mob mentality of jumping onto Reebok, they do have a bad reputation of making making basketball shoes. I remember reading kicksology a lot back in the day when it was running. The Allen Iverson shoes were the only Reeboks that rated well. I'm sure Yao's feet have a lot to do with it. I'm sure other people stepping on Yao's feet have to do with it to. But I also wouldn't be surprised if Yao's shoe didn't protect enough. He is getting knew ones (this is a fact) for some reason. The relative hard tip (this is a fact confirmed by T-Mac) combined with Reebok's heel slip design fault (my opinion backed up by other sources and also backed up by my own bloody toe injury caused by X-beam franchises), makes it very possible that it could be a factor in a addition to the other reasons of hurting Yao's toe. Seriously, has anyone here had such a heel slip problem with any other shoe before? I'm one of the 10% of the population that has longer big toes than the other toes, so I'm a weirdo like Yao in that sense. So it's totally weird looking back at my toe injury due to those X-beams and reading the same stuff happening to Yao's toe.
I smell a class action product liability law suit... Weirdos withs Mutant Feet v. Reebok. Some creative lawyer might make it work and make a pretty penny from it.
I am with JVG and TMac on this one. Reebok, captalist pigs!! They should be doing backflips to solve this problem not having press conferences. Ming should void the contract and go with another company.
Even if it is the shoe I don't understand why everybody thinks it's cool JVG went to the press and made Yao and Team Yao look bad: Yao because he's "such a nice guy" that he didn't demand his new shoes be ready for training camp and Team Yao because they didn't step in and neither they or Yao identify the shoe as a problem. Ergo either Yao is negligent or naive. From Yao's perspective that's got to hurt. Any other All-Star would be throwing JVG and TMac under the bus just because of the humiliation. Worse, Yao says he's not hurt, hasn't been hurt and before the nail removed it was completely Rox management that didn't allow him to practice. Man, if this were Dream or Shaq at 26 our management, coach and owner would be terrified right now. Yao is not a child. He's not a negligent unworldy fool. If I were he I'd feel like I've been portrayed that way in this. And if I were Reebok I'd hit back with a vengeance. They still might.
The best thing for Reebok to do is to: - Fire their representative who works with Yao - Apologize - Fix the problem - Move on if they do that, I'll give Reebok a lot of credit. If they keep denying the issue, and especially if they try to sue JVG or Yao, that brand will be so tarnishes, Adidas will seriously think about killing the brand.
Uh yeah, what's Reebok gonna do? GO TO THE MEDIA? Yao humiliated? Please. JVG might be a little overprotective of Yao, but I don't recall anyone claiming Yao was "humiliated" when JVG was fined for calling out the refs for poorly officiating him in the playoffs. Van Gundy has never had a problem opening his yap about whatever's on his mind, and he's protective of Yao. I don't see that as being humiliating. If his frustrated outburst in some way helps Yao's foot situation get resolved, great. If not, so what? What was it supposed to accomplish? He was just venting. Much like Yao vents to the media when the CNT gives up in the first half of another game.
OMG, you are such an idiot. So, if you buy a shirt that doesn't fit you, is the problem with your body? Should you then get a replacement body so you can keep the shirt?
Dude, you're totally out of line. I might not agree with Pgabriel 100%, but his point isn't that off. Yao has never said the shoe doesn't fit. Even JVG in his article didn't claim that the shoe caused the injury. The debate is all about whether the shoes are doing everything possible to maximize protection and prevention of injury. Take those personal attacks to D&D. Actually, take em to another forum. Not only is it uncalled for, but your analogy is not applicable either.
You are right, Kim. My apology to Pgabriel and I take back the name calling (too bad I can't delete the posting). Also, I have a lot of respect for you and your analysis on other threads. But in this case, saying that the shoes are not the issue is ... let me find another analogy ... like saying an unsafe car is not a problem, it is the accident that kills the person. OK, one can make that argument. But doesn't that say a lot about the quality of the car?
You have your opinion but you don't understand the argument: Yao, Reebok and Team Yao deny the problem has anything to do with the shoe because they believe it's not. Or at least Yao doesn't, and I'm inclined to take the man at his word over JVG and TMac and ballers here. Why do people think Reebok can make Yao say something and Adidas can't shut TMac up? This forum often treats Yao as if he were a sweet kitty, and revels in JVG as a lion tamer. And TMac and JVG put together wouldn't have 1/2 the weight of one pissed off Yao in a news conference.
Problem is, what if Yao isn't the type to get pissed off in a press conference? It's not a stretch to say that Yao doesn't want to cause any controversy, even if he has legitimate issues. Maybe it's then the prerogative of Yao's coach and his close teammate to step in for him and try to help him out especially when Yao's so-called agent and Reebok are more interested in deflecting blame (tastelessly, I might add) than trying to address the problem at hand.
If i am not mistaken on 610 today they mentioned that Yao's doctor stated that he is part of only 10% of the population who's Big toe is a lot longer than his second toe causing a lot of pressure on his big toe. This is one of the reasons leading to his lingering problem... I know it's sounds funny but that's what they were talking about...either way im sure with all the technology and money they make, reebok can come up with something to counter that problem.
Perhaps he can get some custom made socks as well. Socks that are normal throughout 90% of the body but are much much thicker surrounding the toe area.
A little background in Yao and Chinese upbringing/culture will do the trick. In the Chinese society, you are taught since you are born to be obedient and to stay out of trouble. In fact, there is a saying there: the nail that sticks out get hammered. You can see from Yao's history that he consistently takes the low-key, conflict avoiding route. Have you ever heard Yao complains about not getting the ball, for example, even when it was obvious he should have gotten more touches because his teammates didn't shoot well? Have you heard him complain about officiating even when it was obviously bad? JVG and Tmac had to do the complaining for him - in fact, causing JVG the fine last year. For that matter, have you ever seen Yao getting pissed off? In fact, he hardly ever gets emotional when he pumped his fist last year I got so excited I almost pissed my pants. So, based on that background, it is natural that we think Yao is avoiding conflict with Reebok and is trying to keep it low key.
Umm, he blamed Reebok for not taking care of the problem quickly (Yao ordered shoes and they hadn't been delivered on time). If my star player, who's had foot problems, had ordered shoes and the company, for whom Yao should be A-#1 priority (well, him and AI), had a delay in delivering the goods, hell yeah I'd be pissed. I run a business, and although I treat all clients equally by meeting their deadlines, you'd better believe that my executive clients from GE who refer high-dollar clients to me have my extra special attention if there's a problem with their order. Hate to say I play favorites, but it's the truth. Reebok needs to up their priority level with the big guy.
