Nike drops Sharapova. They said no matter what

Finally someone understands the value of pics!

Star wrote:

Who's more marketable?

Maria Sharapova-

https://www.google.com/search?q=maria+sharapova&biw=1920&bih=955&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiTqr7nvLHLAhUX6GMKHR4nC-MQiR4IqQE

Or Galen Rupp

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/2844231701/cb68eea7d44f76adef7c8e02640750c6_400x400.jpeg

Cis Co wrote:

conspiracy theorists wrote:

Yes, Nike would protect Rupp and sacrifice Maria Sharapova. Because as we all know, Galen Rupp, an obscure long distance runner with no charisma, is more valuable to Nike than Maria f***ing Sharapova.

Post of the day.

Except every four years, Americans tune into T&F to find some American probably in medal contention this time. It's a ratings win. The Olympic sports get their part of Olympics revenue based on the amount of viewers.

So, yes, an obscure American long distance runner trumps Sharapova at least once every four years.

Somebody should show this thread to the guy who started this one: http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=7079684&page=3

Vilgax wrote:

How does Nike reconcile their stance towards Sharapova with the fact that they re-signed convicted PED-user Gatlin?

I'll explain.

Sharapova, whilst banned, will be out of the public eye and thus not promoting the Nike brand. Nike don't want to pay her x million dollars/year to her when she is on her enforced sabbatical.

It's either that, or Nike - sponsors of Gatlin, NOP, and some British runners - have decided that enough is enough and it is now time to make a stand against these naughty drug-takers.

I wonder which is correct?

Thank you, Sir wrote:

Finally someone understands the value of pics!

She is with IMG NY and IMG Milan modeling agencies I wonder if they can book her now.

pop_pop!_v2.2.1 wrote:

Cis Co wrote:

Post of the day.

Except every four years, Americans tune into T&F to find some American probably in medal contention this time. It's a ratings win. The Olympic sports get their part of Olympics revenue based on the amount of viewers.

So, yes, an obscure American long distance runner trumps Sharapova at least once every four years.

Well, just based off Twitter followers, Sharapova is about 70x more recognised than Rupp. Unfortunately, as much as we love athletics, tennis is a LOT more popular. And stars like Sharapova are household names all over the world. Here in England Rupp is incredibly unknown, Olympics or not.

Attention Brojos: Our good guy Rawson uses the line: "now go down to your local track"... Individuals, schools, clubs etc. can go down to the local track essentially for free

Sharapova is about big business in certain areas you have Nike's tennis market going down to the local racquet clubs for thousands$ from youth camps to the 45yr+ weekend warrior who joins a $20k club for the massages and prestige...like golf its a country club sport and that demographic spans the widest range.

Indeed! post of the day.

Just wondering, have they dropped Kenya yet?

Sharapova was getting close to retirement before the positive test. Her brand was waning. Her endorsement deals were massive, making the richest female athlete in the world, even though she was eclipsed competitively by Serena Williams and others. The return on investment for her sponsors was not very good recently. Millenials are not big on sports figures.

The doping positive probably came as a relief to her sponsors. They can get out of an extremely expensive contract that probably promised her substantial sums for years even if she quit tennis. The return on investment with Sharapova would not have been good even if she never tested positive.

She is SUSPENDED by Nike, her contract is not terminated at this point. There was a tweet from Ben Stanley, saying Nike is a business and not a moral guidance entity; if it paid them to keep Sharapova, they'd keep her.

In your main page story, you said "While we don’t condone trying to get to the top of sport by taking a pill, we are pleased that Sharapova did what very few track and field stars do – admitted everything.

What makes you think she was using it to improve performance? She said she was taking it for a medical condition. And it was only just banned Jan.1

She has amazing skin for a Russian tennis player growing up in FLA.

is this the image of a cheat wrote:

Thank you, Sir wrote:

Finally someone understands the value of pics!

http://www.1meee.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/MariaSharapova6.jpg

She is with IMG NY and IMG Milan modeling agencies I wonder if they can book her now.

Taking it for a Medical condition? Despite the fact that the drug was not available in the USA and there are probably many other alternatives that a medical specialist could have prescribed to her. With her $$ resources she or someone associated with her should have been aware the drug was on the watch list and not being available in the US where she has lived for so long should have raised some red flags (oops pardon that). Beside most of her endorsements lately were derived from her run-way model looks and not from her "dominating" game.

She does claim that she was aware it was on a watch list but in 10 years it hadn't moved and she overlooked this time around.

Sleepy wrote:

Taking it for a Medical condition? Despite the fact that the drug was not available in the USA and there are probably many other alternatives that a medical specialist could have prescribed to her. With her $$ resources she or someone associated with her should have been aware the drug was on the watch list and not being available in the US where she has lived for so long should have raised some red flags (oops pardon that). Beside most of her endorsements lately were derived from her run-way model looks and not from her "dominating" game.

If you actually believe she's been taking this drug (that a whole hatful have been recently busted for, generally in endurance sports) for 'medical reasons', you should be given a ban from the internet of a similar length to the ban Sharapova should receive for this infringement.

I appreciate it's rather draconian, but I feel that people with a semblance of intelligence should be protected from such debilitating stupidity. Recent studies show that it could be contagious. There is a real danger that the internet could implode due to reaching a moronic critical mass.

DDR too wrote:

Half wit, it's a heart drug for serious illness, it isn't even registered in the US so she was taking it illegally.

Hahahaha what serious illness? You'd think she would mention.

Vilgax wrote:

How does Nike reconcile their stance towards Sharapova with the fact that they re-signed convicted PED-user Gatlin?

Because they have no moral backbone.

Next question?

trollism wrote:

If you actually believe she's been taking this drug (that a whole hatful have been recently busted for, generally in endurance sports) for 'medical reasons', you should be given a ban from the internet of a similar length to the ban Sharapova should receive for this infringement.

Or added to lolcats.com for sheer innocent cuteness.