My homey is literally an alumn and has some connections through the athletic side (he played years back) in Columbus. He spoke to someone in the school and said what I shared. Apparently, the school (never said the athletes) is very happy with their relations with Adidas, thus far. I gave an example as to why. Perhaps, my info is bad. Perhaps not. All I know is given how important the connection between Columbus HS, Miami and Inter Miami are, I am not at all surprised to hear Adidas is giving them a lot of love and to make certain folks at all 3 places very happy.
I had no idea Columbus made the switch so all this news was a surprise to me when i heard about it today.
Either way, what exactly am I lying about? That Columbus isn’t getting the gear they requested? What can I possibly get out of lying about that? Hate to burst your corny “gotcha” moment but you got to do better, gang. Not everything is about Nike.
I got love for everyone. I got love for
@Rellyrell , I got love for
@Hurracanes .
I would imagine that what was INTENDED by your friend's comments is that adidas has been taking on the transitional elements thus far. Shipping the equipment (helmets, shoulder pads, balls, etc.) and doing all of the branding work (maybe repainting the locker rooms and the stadiums/gyms, etc.).
When I interviewed at NASCAR in December 2000-something, everything in the building and at the racetrack was Pepsi-Cola (and had been for nearly 50 years). When I started in January, everything was Coca Cola. A transition like that doesn't happen overnight.
In
@Rellyrell 's defense, a lot of the conversation in this thread has focused on this myth that in the last couple of years with Nike, the company "stopped loving Miami" because they didn't give us enough player gear. So in that context, a comment about a school "getting everything they want" EARLY might be viewed a bit differently.
I have seen these types of brand transitions before. Yes, it doesn't all happen on Day 1 of the effective date of the contract. At the same time, we should guard against myths being built up. Everyone knows I have shared accurate information in order to rebut the myth of "Nike didn't love Miami no more" from the dark days of 2013-2015.
At the same time, I'm willing to listen to logic and reason.
I can respect the arguments of "what have you done for me lately" and "but the 2025 uniforms are great" and "but adidas is offering more money".
Similarly, I would hope that others can respect the arguments of "Miami was the first Nike school ever and was legitimized by that 1987 deal" and "let's compare a few bad years in a 28 year deal to 8 bad years out of 11 when trying to figure out who to trust".
And it's hard to compare "what have you done for me lately" when one party has an exclusive deal.
So, yes, I see everyone's points. We all try to do the best we can with the information we have.
I'll leave it at this. At multiple times in my career, I've had to "fire" huge accounting firms. Make a change to another firm. And yet it's a small world, people change jobs and firms all the time, and it's a "Big 4" for a reason. I have tried to dance around the issue for a while, but I'll be direct. I think that a combination of butt-hurt feelings (Beta Blake) and pride (Miami Mafia) have combined to turn UM into Fonzie. Incapable of saying "I was wr-wr-wr-wrong". We didn't take steps to smooth over the past (and who gives a **** whether the blame was 50-50 or 75-25?). The point is, if you are going to create a situation where you have competitive bids in a duopoly, then it can't be a one-sided "just give me your highest bid" mentality.
That's what I've been trying to say (diplomatically) for a while. You can't just sit back and wait for someone to write a number on a piece of paper and then slide it back to you. You have to engage and make amends and figure out a way to potentially do business in the future.
Too many people on this board think The Godfather is the handbook on how to do business. And while The Godfather has many great and quotable lines, it doesn't work very well in real life.
And for the record, The Godfather WAS one of my textbooks in one of my Management classes at UM. No joke. But we used it selectively.
R.I.P. Professor Chester A. "Chet" Schriesheim.
miamihurricanes.com
legendsglobal.com