In the 1980s, Nike ran a series of famous television commercials where movie director Spike Lee would try to figure out, in a Thomas Dolby "She Blinded Me With Science" kind of way, how Michael Jordan is able to perform the physical acts that he does on the basketball court, concluding that it has got to be the shoes, because Michael Jordan is just a regular human being just like everyone else, right? This amazingly fun and wickedly clever ad campaign is one of the key components in Nike becoming the fabulously wealthy and productive company that they've become, and it's especially funny because the ad campaign essentially just comes right out and tells you, in a read-between-the-lines kind of way in one spot, and just spelling it out in another, that of course it's not the shoes, but it's Michael Jordan, obviously, himself, who is responsible for his amazing capabilities through natural, raw talent, drive, and good old-fashioned hard work. But it was fun to think it may have been the shoes, and that sentiment, in addition to an awful lot of (actually deserved for a change) hero-worship, helped Nike climb to the top of the athletic shoe/apparel heap.
But during the BCS Championship of College Football the commentator said that Alabama had missed more points from kicks than any other team in college football, or in their division anyway, and that's something that's been dogging Alabama for a long time. It has even denied them national titles game appearances within the past decade. So I think maybe in an effort to get Alabama to prioritize recruiting good kickers, it might make sense to run a television ad campaign where we have Nick Saban this time in a scientist lab coat saying that it's gotta be the shoes that are making them miss so many points kicks. And we see with every missed kick it dawns on him that there is nothing else wrong, and so it has got to be the shoes that are making the Alabama kicker miss all those kicks. Because you know that Nike has a contract with the NCAA to be the official sportswear and shoes, and so if it's gotta be the shoes that are to blame, then yes, sorry, ironically it is actually the Nike shoes which are responsible for all the lost points, and not Nick Saban's responsibility to recruit the best kickers.
