Brian Feener

What’s up with this shirt? Why is it getting so much airtime on the US Open these past two weeks?

The adidas answer to that question is because they want to sell more of the shirts. But then I notice that, I can’t even buy this shirt on the webstore.

Well - - I kinda can. The only thing is that the YOC shirt looks nothing like the one Mr. Djokovic is wearing.

All in all, the result is a lot of carbon-copy athletes with (Sorry there aren’t more pictures. USOpen.com has their pictures locked down pretty tight.)

Why does the adidas basketball department have it so right while the adidas tennis department have it so wrong?  Where’s the connection? (Problem 2 - it’s near impossible to link to the adidas basketball site.  You’ll have to go there yourself.

John Isner is having a good couple of months. First, graduates from the University of Georgia, majoring in talking speech communication. Then he makes it to the final round of the Legg Mason tournament in DC, then he gets to round third of the US open where he lost to some chump, now he’s Prince’s main man.

Isner, besides having a ridiculous serve, is a dynamic personality who was letting it all out during the US Open. He even did a fist pump.

This is significant because, as Darren Rovell describes on his Sports Biz blog on CNBC.com, Prince does have any of the top names in tennis. Federer and the Williamses are with Wilson, Roddick and Nadal are swinging a Babolat (good USA Today article, BTW), Sharapova and the Bryans are the only names you’d recognize with a Prince racket (and the Bryans aren’t selling any tickets). If Isner can keep winning like he has been and keep this hot streak alive, this is a coup for Prince.

Wayne Campbell: So, do you come to Milwaukee often?
Alice Cooper: Well, I’m a regular visitor here, but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers began visiting here in the late 16th century.
Pete: Hey, isn’t “Milwaukee” an Indian name?
Alice Cooper: Yes, Pete, it is. In fact , it’s pronounced “mill-e-wah-que” which is Algonquin for “the good land.”
Wayne Campbell: I was not aware of that.

One of the great quotes from one of the great movies of our generation… Wayne’s World.

The reason for the sudden “Good Land” love is that Dwyane Wade and Converse have agreed to terms with Marquette University (Wade’s alma mater) to provide sponsorship for the uniforms, warm ups and shoes.

A couple of details that I was not able to get from the press release astute journalism:

1. Is this going to be Converse-branded or Wade-branded (bad pic, but it’s the player on the front)? This is fairly significant because it is the only college (at least that I can think of… use the comments) that will use either a Converse or Wade brand logo. If Converse is looking to get into college game more, then I think you will see the “star and circle,” the Chuck Taylor, or the “carrot-star” (on the side of the shoe) logo popping up on more and more college campuses. If we see the Wade brand on the jerseys, it’ll be only the second player-based brand in college basketball (Jordan-look at the shorts).
2. Nike owns Converse (in case you didn’t know). Is this going to be a test to see if it’s worth specifically branding colleges as player-specific (ex. Carmelo, LeBron). I think the company would be better served taking these types of opportunities on a case-by-case basis. The more times you throw names/people into an equation, there are more places to screw up or get in trouble.
3. Converse doesn’t have any warm-ups in their product lines. In fact, most of their stuff is fashion-based. Considering retro-look of all their clothes, I wonder what direction they are going to take the uniforms. Will it look more like this or this? I’m hoping that Converse gets it right and goes to a totally classic look (because a jersey change is inevitable).

What’s your worst fear when you go to a social networking site? (Use the comments.)

Mine is that all my information gets uploaded to this internet and I say “goodbye” to anything I wanted to keep private.

Well, thank you, Quetchup (NO! I’m not doing you the service of linking to you!) for making all of those fears come true. From Mashable.com:

The issue lies with their “check for friends” form: during signup you’re asked to enter your email address and password to see whether any of your friends are already on the service. Enter the password, however, and it will proceed to mail all your contacts without asking permission.

Ugh. I am disheartened every time there is a “service” to help people and all it does is take a giant step backwards in terms of social responsibility. With so many options out there, you can’t screw up once. When you do, it’s lights out and good night.

Quechup… we hardly knew ye. R.I.P.

External Link:
Are You Getting Quechup Spammed?

James Blake lost in five sets yesterday to Germany’s Tommy Haas (4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 7-6). Blake has never made it to a grand slam final, (wiki link) but , if you watched the match yesterday, you would have never known it. There was a J-Bl0ck section of the crowd (complete with branded t-shirt) and these people were going mental for the cue-balled one.

Though relatively new to closely following the sport, I am familiar enough to know that Blake’s been around for a while and been around enough to get some good television exposure. You may not recognize him now, but he had a good run as with his dreadlocks back in the day (not a great pic, but you get the idea).

He’s a good looking guy, mixed heritage, strong game, young, safe… seems like a perfect formula for pitching products.

But, if you look at his profile on his website…

(…wait…)

(what? ok.)

James Blake does not have a website. The only sponsors I can see in his portfolio are Nike and Dunlop (racket). He is a truly inspirational fellow (read the summary on his book) and has a great story to tell, but no one to tell it!

If you ask me what Andy Roddick’s brand is (and YES, this is part of the reason that he is not as likable as Blake), he personifies exclusiveness, from the premium shirt and trucker hat, watch (warning: Flash), car, software (really!), to credit cards (YouTube), shoes and equipment.

The point is, James has a great opportunity to be a foil to Roddick, and create a brand that represents everything that Roddick is not. He just needs to step up and make it happen.