Nike has outfitted Bullets forward Chris Webber with his own
model of basketball shoe. Webber joins Michael Jordan, Charles
Barkley, Penny Hardaway and Sheryl Swoopes as basketball players
with their own custom Nike models. The Air Max CW was designed
with the help of Webber, and will retail for $140. He began
wearing the shoe this week, but it will not be available in
retail outlets until June 1 (Richard Justice, WASHINGTON POST,
3/24). Webber is also the latest Nike athlete to be featured on
a building-sized urban mural. In downtown Detroit, Webber is
shown dunking in his Michigan uniform, with the words, "Before
Washington. Before Michigan. There was St. Cecilia's." Nike
has contracted seven other giant paintings, including: Deion
Sanders in Atlanta, Rod Strickland in Portland, Ken Griffey Jr.
in Seattle, Scottie Pippen in Chicago and Steve Young and Jerry
Rice in San Francisco (WASHINGTON POST, 3/24).
HAPPY HOLIDAYS FOR NIKE: Nike has made a line of Michael
Jordan apparel "a central component" of its 1995 holiday
merchandise (Portland OREGONIAN, 3/24). ABC's "Day One" examined
the Jordan phenomenon. Ad exec Jerry Della Femina: "Michael
Jordan really is an industry, he's a country, he's a state of
mind" (ABC, 3/23)
