Nike rep: "Greeeaaat Britain! We present to you England’s next athlete to bring your country awesome glory and fame. London’s very own, the one, the only…LUOL DENG!!!"Yes, the two most popular words in Britain are Luol Deng.
Yes, Deng and his inactive basketball 6’7” frame are receiving the full intensity of the limelight. Yes, we’re talking about the broken wrist, hasn’t-played-ball-in-the-last-couple-months Deng.
There’s one reason why the man who’s been out of the news is now making some:
He’s British!
Deng’s English heritage in cooperation with Nike’s superlative global influence successfully created a worldwide buzz as quickly as five golden tickets and a bunch of candy bars.
And why not? Deng’s on tour in his home country at the exact same time when the Olympic committee announced the 2012 Games will be in London.
Nike’s eating the whole situation up!
Then Deng confirms that he wants to play for Great Britain in the 2012 Olympic Games. The whole ordeal seems like a joke out of the funny pages.
Who knew the former Dukie and seventh pick in last year’s NBA draft was from Great Britain? Heck, who knew Britain had a national basketball quad?
If you asked me a week ago, I would’ve told you Deng was Sudanese. I knew his family moved around a lot in his formative years in search of political asylum, including brief stints in Egypt and London. But I always assumed he and Manute Bol were brothers from a different mother, in a matter of speaking.
He later attended Blair Academy in New Jersey for four years with classmate and fellow seventh-overall pick Charlie Villanueva before heading to play college ball.
This I knew.
But hearing Deng’s comments like, "We already know what great players we have now, and who knows what young players will come through by then?" and "2012 is a great opportunity to represent," you’d think he never left London until Draft Day 2004.
Heck, when you look into it further, Luol spent a grand total of only four years in the UK! He supposedly represented England at junior level and wants to revive his international career at the senior level.
Excuse me, what international career?
Dude played for the Brixton Topcats while he was in junior high!
And with basketball being about as popular in the UK as soccer is in the US, how would Britain have any clue about an NBA rookie who started in only 45 games?
The answer is, they don’t. But the British do have a clue about Nike. And with Nike’s promoting Deng, he’s become Britain’s overnight celebrity.
Now all of a sudden newspapers are running touting headlines like, "Deng’s gonna be like Mike". According to the presses, every young English boy is hand-dribbling his football to praise the next Mike as he criss-crosses the country.
Britain doesn’t care that Deng’s lived only four years in London. If Nike says he will bring victory, by all means, let him play!
There have been Nike clinics in Manchester and Birmingham. Oh, and of course, the Nike crew has to receive the plaudits (and payments) in an all-night event in Brixton later in the week.
"I think by [2012] we should have three or four players in the NBA," Deng told the country.
What’s next? By 2012, will Britain will be favorites to win it all?
One reply on “The Nike brainwash effect”
nicely done good story. I don’t think that soccer is as poorly represented in the US as basketball is in the UK, though. But that’s just me. Loved the story. Nice change from TO. His story is starting to get a bit ripe.
Cheers