Add Adrian Peterson to the stable of stars who've had the swoosh ripped off their chest.
Nike severed ties with the star of the Minnesota Vikings after his recent arrest for injury
to a child. I guess stuffing leaves in a kid's mouth while he screams from the 30 lashings
he received just doesn't measure up to their personal conduct standards. The running
back known as All Day is all done with Nike.
Peterson, like many of stars Nike has invested millions of dollars and supported over the
years have been magnets for trouble and scandal. The punch seen 'round-the-world knocked
Ray Ray from the list of Nike clients. Oscar Pistorius got stripped of his swoosh
after he killed his model girlfriend. Nike said buh-bye to Michael Vick after he killed
his killer dogs. Good Lord, killers and child beaters. Now, that is embarrassing. You
can't exactly endorse athletes to just do that.
Oh, yeah, then there are the liars, cheaters, and philanderers that Nike signed up in thepast. Remember Marion Jones. She was the fastest women in the world fueled by the
cream, the clear, and everything else that Victor Conte was pumping into his body. Nike
kicked her to the curb. Lance Armstrong? Yep, a Nike client. He was a true hero for
beating cancer and beating everyone on the planet in the Tour De France seven
consecutive times. He turned out to big one of the biggest frauds in the history of sports.
Nike just said take your bike and disappear because we are. They said the same thing
to Ryan Braun who turned out to be Lance Light: a liar and cheater in baseball spikes.
And then of course, there is Tiger Woods, whom Nike has paid a fortune to since
he broke onto the scene in 1996. "Hello, world" he famously said upon joining the
tour. Soon after he was saying to hello to every porn star, playboy pin-up, and waitress
at Perkins. The best player in the world got caught cheating on his wife with dozens
of women. Nike sold Tiger as the squeaky-clean family man. Turns out he was a
dirt bag.
Nike stood behind Tiger because he still had some earning power and while he
may have cheated on his wife, he didn't cheat to win at his game. (As far as we know)
He didn't kill anybody or beat his children, either. So Phil Knight stayed loyal
to him.
Hard to believe that Nike would sink so much into keeping Kevin Durant (more
than $200 million in him) and others in the future when there's no guarantee the
future will be free of inappropriate behavior. We think we know these athletes,
but we really don't.
Nike sure doesn't.
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