Tripling Down?

As the NBA quickly moves towards becoming the National Basket Association, many of its corporate partners are keeping solidarity with it. ESPN was mentioned the other day, and now Nike has bravely decided to hide all of the merchandise from the Houston Rockets in its mainland China stores. The offensive tweet that began the whole mess, of course, came from a Houston Rockets manager.

You remember Nike, of course, the corporation that bravely hired a guy who hadn't played a down of professional football in almost three years to be a spokesman, then rolled over and ditched an entire line of shoes for him because he'd heard the symbolic "Betsy Ross" flag on them was used by some white supremacists somewhere. They did this because their new spokesman was a man of character who stood by his values even when it cost him. If they were right then he ought to be disgusted with them now.

Fans at two NBA preseason games with small signs referencing Hong Kong and, in one case, the persecuted Uyghur minority, had them taken away at games in Washington, DC (you know, where the leaders of the free world go about their business) and Philadelphia (you know, where some of that freedom stuff got started).

The Rockets themselves, through a representative, clammed up when a CNN reporter asked superstars James Harden and Russell Westbrook about the matter, saying "Basketball questions only." The most amusing part of the video is when the camera switches back to Harden and Westbrook after the reporter is cut off and gives up the mike, as they sit stone-faced. To its credit, the NBA says the team rep shouldn't have done that. Perhaps because Harden's already spoken his lines, via Twitter, and they don't want to risk Westbrook going off script. Steph Curry mimicked his coach's "I dunno?" shrug about the matter but did manage to laugh at President Trump's juvenile tweet mocking Warriors coach Steve Kerr.

Understandable. Probably his fault anyway.