Maybe this is a ploy cooked up by Yao and JVG to get out of a contract with a sh--ty shoe company. As some here have pointed out, Yao is under contract and I'm sure he is obligated to not say anything bad about the shoe. If Yao jumps to Nike, he will probably have to pay some contractual damages or give up a ton of money. But if JVG keeps up his rants, Reebok will have no choice but to release Yao from his contract. There's no way Reebok will stand JVG's constant criticism about their shoes. This way, Yao can get the shoes that makes him comfortable without paying a penalty for breach of contract. I love it when a plan comes together. P.S. Maybe Yao is allergic to JVG's orders regarding chasing guards around the perimeter.
While your post may have cleared up any confusion as to whether or not the agent was being literal about Yao not "likeing" JVG, one item that troubles me is that the agent seems more concerned about protecting his relationship with Reebok, almost trying not to say certain things and relieving blame frome the shoe maker. It seems that he is passing the buck in this situation, looking out more the the business side of things. He sites that these are "his favorite shoes" as his arguement to combat the notion that the shoes might be causing harm to Yao's feet. But what he is failing to realize is that there is an obvious problem here where this man has very sensitive and unique feet in that they are put under duress constantly. Shoes are for protection of the feet, but since Yao has an unusual situation, there needs to be unusual approach to putting his stompers into some products that actually do the job. Reebok has invested millions in Yao, so it would only make sense for them to produce a shoe that would increase the longevity of the endorser. They should be applying the advanced technology they claim in their advertising. It seems that they are trying to modify a larger version of a shoe with the same specifications of the ones they mass produce. Why cant they use some digital sensors that can produce visuals of the all the exact pressure points Yao exerts and produce a shoe specfically for him? Or are they already doing this? He may need to change brands if the problem cant be solved.
WOW, unbelievable misinterpretations. "Maybe he is allergic to JVG" was meant as a non sequitur...The agent was basically saying JVG statements were complete fallacy...an illogical conclusion. So to illustrate that, the agent makes an equally illogical conclusion. actually, i don't even know why i wasted a post on 'splaining this...and that is not an illogical conclusion.
Either way, Yao needs to be more demanding of Reebok. If someone can explain it to him in terms that he'll understand - i.e. if your shoes suck, your career will be adversely affected, and china's basketball team will suck during the olympics, I'm sure Yao will be jolted into action. And John Huizinga needs to cool it with the blatant Reebok nut-hugging.
If NASA could get the Apollo 13 crew home safely in 1970, you'd think someone could develop a motherf#cking shoe for this guy in 2006!
Yao should just wear a steel boot. Who cares he cannot run up and down the court or jump out of the building? He is not going to do that any way.
and further...if they can send a man to the moon, you'd think we could figure out a way to win a championship with Yao. grrrrr
I couldn't help but think about JVG getting find $150k by Stern for comments about the officials and wondering if Stern will call JVG on the phone regarding not repeating these comments about an official sponsor of the NBA. Both instancy are clearly JVG trying to use the media to his advantage. I certainly would not be surprised if Reebok's lawyers have already called Stern to remind him how much money they give the league. Of course, Reebok needs the league more than the league needs them. But Reebok might have a slander case against the league if they continue to allow a coach to bad mouth their product.
oh, and btw vwiggin. You might want to take that blatant promotion of a poker web site out of your sig before Clutch notices it.
3 weeks ago i would have shoes do not make too much of a difference. i had been using same fila bball shoes for about 2 years they were in good shape since i used them just for bball but they were cheap shoes. i bought some t-mac 5s two weeks ago and the its a world of difference. my feet used to hurt like crazy after playing ball and during ball but with the tmacs its perfect. i dont feel any pain in my feet after ball (the rest of my body is a different story though) but shoes do make a difference and esp for yao who has had a toe problem its even more so. i can see how jvg is upset. he is a stickler for details and little things and it is inexcusable for a shoe company to not provide one of its star endorsers proper shoes in a timely fashion. i think i remember adidas makes new shoes for tmac for every game or something.
regular readers of the old kicksology website know how piss poor reebok's shoes graded out in performance tests. apparently, positive changes to the corporate culture by new owner adidas have yet to materialize. maybe adidas bought reebok, but decided to leave their crappy design team intact?
Yes, but that's a very recent acquisition, not to mention that Adidas has said that they will preserve Reebok's autonomy somewhat, which I don't think is a good idea. Adidas is far superior to anything that comes out from Reebok, it ain't even funny. IMO, Adidas might just want to take over this issue and design a shoe -- labeled Reebok, of course -- specifically made for him. As the new owner, Adidas has a vested interest in maintaining the brand image of Reebok. Moreover, I am proposing an anti-Reebok rally in downtown Houston...We must protect our big man, by any means necessary.
Bottom line....Nike makes better BASKETBALL shoes. It might help if he wore J's a half size big. Jordans = the BEST basketball shoes ever. Im not sure if someone stepped on his toe (this was reported) but I had problems when i balled when my big toe nail wasnt cut short enough. My big toe would ram into the front of the shoe and my toe would look a lot like Yao's. It was all bloody (dark) and then it would fall off.
1: Regarding "slander": pretty difficult law suit to win, especially if JVG actually has the factual part of his rant right or honestly believes he had the facts right. First Amendment protects his freedom os speech as long as he's not intentionally spreading lies, whether his conclusions are right or wrong. It's totally different than the referee rant from 2 years ago. There we are talking about a contractual situation that involves JVG and the NBA and the league is entitled to either fine him or maybe even void his contract due to their contractual arrangement. It's the difference between your boss firing you for calling him an ******* (not protected by First Amendment) and your neighborhood dry cleaner suing you for calling him an *******. 2. Yao and Yao's agent can privately yell at any Reebok exec or employee as much as they want, but they can't come out and say it to the media. Again, it's just how endorsement deals work.
Instead of a hard cover, how about a impact absorbing cushion to take away some of the initial damage? They will have to make the toe area larger to fit the cushion.
