As a sneakerhead, this story is likely to elicit a wide range of emotions. At a superficial level, we’re a little jealous to see Michael Jordan’s son, Marcus, wearing the ‘Rising Sun’ Air Jordan XII (12) even though we couldn’t get them last month as expected. Take a look at the headlines, though, and you’re sure to be confused by what’s going on down at UCF’s Orlando campus.
Signed to a multiyear contract with adidas, the University of Central Florida first told MJ’s ‘rising son’ that he could either drop his daddy’s kicks or face serious consequences. Since the Jordan family assets likely exceed UCF’s endowment, the lil’ Jordan kept right on going. Clearly, that didn’t sit well with adidas. Here’s the email adidas spokeswoman Andrea Corso sent to the Orlando Sentinel:
The University of Central Florida has chosen not to deliver on their contractual commitment to adidas. As a result we have chosen not to continue our relationship with them moving forward.
Simple enough . . . or is it? Apparently, regional adidas officals had told the young Jumpman that he could rock his namesake kicks, a decision later repealed by executive management. The Rising Suns look awesome with UCF’s home unis, so should adidas care that people are going to associate the team that includes Michael Jordan’s son with Jordan Brand?
Marcus even went so far as to white-out the tongue Jumpman, leaving the only logos visible on his feet a small ‘23′ on each heel (dwarfed by the broad Three Stripes crossing his SpeedWrap ankle supports). This controversy begs the question, could adidas have ever prevented Marcus from drawing that kind of attention, even in a pair of their kicks?
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November 5th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
he tried
November 5th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Never seen him around campus.. game was wack, i mean i hoping him the best but…. tryin to live up to ur pops legacy, dont kno about that.. good luck
also why would u wanna wear anythin else on the court. Nikes or jordan period.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Great exposure for Jordan Brand. Way to go Marcus!
November 5th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Hilarious! I used to go to UCF… Maybe they will get the Jordan Brand to back them now. I mean, come on, if you were MJ’s son, would you REALLY rock a pair of three stripes? NO!!!
November 5th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
if my dad waz micheale jordan i would wear jordans any day plus he showin some love to his dad by wearing the rising sun 12s
November 5th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
W.G.A.F?
November 5th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
i dont see why adidas is bein a lil bitch about marcus wearing Jordans. He’s MJ’s son why would we wear adidas? You cant force someone to wear a certain shoe brand.Fuck adidas
November 5th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
marcus jordan is a fuckin clown
November 5th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
ALl he had to do was ball in them adidas, I mean if your gonna go through the hassle of whiting out the jordan logo on the tongue and wear an adidas ankle wrap why the fuck dont u just wear the shoes and help your team keep their million dollar contract??
Thats like wearing a KKK white sheet suit but refusing to put your hood on….
November 5th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Marcus must’ve forgot how much his dad loved Adidas before signing with Nike
November 5th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Dude is a cornball. How about all the other players who are surviving each semester that cant afford to buy shoes. Now because he wanted to wear those ugly 12s everyone else has to suffer. And why all this commotion at a school that isnt a d1 school.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
haha, well i kinda think retro boy and some others are right, he is jordans son so i wouldnt really expect him to wear another shoe. and yea i dont kno if adidas has anything of a pair of nikes/jordans on the court. it also says he whited out the jordan on the tounge and u see it in the pic too, so i mean haha most normal people that just enjoy watchin bball wont know the difference. only sneakerheads, who already kno a jordan is better than adidas no matter how many pairs of adidas u see around the court. so um… yes adidas needs to quit bitchin
November 5th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
If you notice it was the executives who decided to push this. Because it would have been a marketing coup if they got MJ’s son to wear adidas or maybe adidas just needed to drop the contract and was just looking for an excuse. State of the economy you know.
November 5th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Not a big fan of Adidas but I do understand. Sneakers are big business and teams are advertising for it. Who gives a fuck who your dad is?
November 5th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Wow, I guess it was kinda good that lil Jordan wore those 12s Cuz if he would have worn adidas instead then he would have scored 0 points instead of 1 for the entire game. Those 12s helped him out alot!!!
November 5th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
^^^jay
there a d1 school… there in conference usa
November 6th, 2009 at 1:37 am
sure…he’s jordan’s kid. but why go to UCF knowing that there might be a controversy? why not go to a nike or jordan brand school. anyway, if it was the final year of the adidas contract with UCF, the athletic dept. will just get another sponsor. so jay…the athletes will get their shoes.
November 6th, 2009 at 2:26 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D3gfWxX_OY
November 6th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Marcus needs 2 stop being an individual. If you’re on a team, u have to be 1. Honestly, if I was on that theam I’d feel disrespected, unless he was supplying the whole team, which we no he’s not. Rule #1 he gotta learn, the kicks don’t make the man. I’m sure MJ could’ve played in chuck taylors and still have been nice.
November 6th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Marcus Jordan is an idiot and that goes for Michael as well. Your son who is in no way shape or form a replica of yourself just lost a school a endorsement contract. I feel that if a school is willing to give your son a chance to show his talent the least your egotistical self can do is make the boy wear Adidas. Jordan brand should provide the team with uniforms even though it isn’t a big market school. It’s your fault fix it bitch.
November 6th, 2009 at 11:08 am
maannn yal are retarded. he can go anywhere he wanna go. atop of that what is he trying to live up to MJ cuz he plays ball?!? WTF?! sounds like ppl hate… he just probloves ball just as much as his dad hell if MJ was my pops i’d believe i could fly too.
he prob wanted to go to UCF and not to some place else. any other player would not be able to wear anything that isn’t ADIDAS at the school so why did he get a break… bcuz he is MJs son!
November 6th, 2009 at 11:39 am
His tatoos suck!! If Im his dad, I would sure give him a good spank.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
dude stupid, point blank. I undertstand MJ yo pops and yo gotta indorse yo pops merchandise but you gotta think about yo team first before yourself, even MJ knows that.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
all you dumb ass people that are saying he is a clown and he spoiled and that he shouldve went to a school such as Goergetown and Uconn or whatever other school has a jordan contract you should learn the whole story. 1st off when he was recruited they explained their contract with Adidas and they also spoke with an Adidas rep and they said that they understood that Marcus will play in his fathers brand of shoe being (Nike / Jordan Brand) and that it would be ok than the vice president and corporate heads went back and said no after Marcus already signed to play at UCF so obviously he wouldnt have signed to play there if they werent willing to allow him play in those shoes and alot of yall must just be jealous because u sound dumb by saying he should just play in the adidas why thats like saying u should eat Ramen Noodles when you have steak and shrimp in your freezer his dad is Jordan he grew up wearing and playing in Jordan sneakers. oh well Adidas is real dumb because by going through all this they are giving NIKE theyre competitor a bunch of advertisement and im sure the school will have no problem getting sponsered by Nike / Jordan dumb ass Adidas if they wouldve just let him play in the jordans theyre sneakers would still be worn by 13 other players now they wont im sure they will have some nice Team Jordans for them and Marcus will have some dope retros
November 6th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
and im pretty sure he didnt white out the jordan logo id go with they were prob stitched white just for him
November 6th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
i would have benched dude if he felt he must wear jordan shoes. c’mon, wear jordans to class, to bed, to where ever but when you are on that court you are wearing addidas. and i hear people saying “he’s mj’s son” and blah blah blah. yall are also saying that jb could do this and that. well… why hasnt jb stepped in and said they will pick the team up? think about it, if this kid is any good then he will be there 2 maybe 3 years then off to the nba. do you think mj will want to support a team that his kid doesn’t play on anymore? no. think about the future dumbasses. this kid is selfish. he will prob get a lil twat from his name but will not even reach 25% of what his dad was b/c his dad earned everything and had nothing given to him. this kid will be like vick’s brother…. never hear from again after he’s done playing. im out