Nike designer Jason Petrie mocks Derrick Rose for choosing adidas, later apologizes
The entire NBA world was left in grief on Saturday once Adam Schefter, of all people, confirmed our worst fears: Derrick Rose tore his ACL and was done for the playoffs.
Well, almost the entire NBA world.
Meet Jason Petrie. Petrie is a senior footwear designer at Nike and also the brains behind LeBron James’ signature Nike kicks. While plenty of the tweets about Rose by NBA fans on Saturday resembled something like this, Petrie, on the other hand, decided to comment on how Rose, an adidas guy, “chose poorly” with his shoe endorsement:
You got one guy only getting stronger, and one guy breaking down before our very eyes. You chose poorly Pooh…#shouldasignedwithNIKE #GWS
— Jason Petrie (@sevenzro1) April 28, 2012
“Pooh” being the nickname of Rose, who you may remember in February inking a fat, 13-year endorsement deal with adidas that could be worth upwards of $200 million. Following Petrie’s timeline, you could tell he was getting heat from his 3,000-plus followers for that initial tweet, what with follow-ups like, “Y’all take sh#t too serious! Never want to see anyone get hurt- I hope DRose comes back stronger than ever, he’s too good” and “Just to set the record straight- if you ain’t with me you against me, and if that’s the case I don’t give a F about you!” (that one’s since been deleted). Eventually, he saw fit to issue an apology early Sunday:
Wow!Twitterverse I do apologize.It was really just tongue n cheek! Never meant any harm or disrespect!
— Jason Petrie (@sevenzro1) April 29, 2012
Petrie is one to talk. After all, it was his own employer’s Hyperize sneakers that were contributing to so many twisted ankles a few years back that the Pistons’ athletic trainer prohibited players from wearing them. But we’ll accept Petrie’s apology because you can tell he was a victim of hyperbole being misinterpreted (that still doesn’t excuse what he said).
Shoes don’t cause ACL tears, and Petrie would probably be the first to tell you that, given his background in shoe design. If you believe Rose suffered that injury because of the brand of sneakers he was wearing, then I wouldn’t recommend gong on WebMD’s symptom checker every time you have a headache or a rash, unless you enjoy being terrified.
But maybe Petrie was on to something, albeit in a different sense. Of the guys done for the playoffs, Rose, Iman Shumpert and Dwight Howard are all adidas peddlers. Might there be an adidas hex? Perhaps? Better call Miss Cleo to confirm.
H/T Ball Don’t Lie
Photo credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-US PRESSWIRE
