Woods also was portrayed by nike store online IMG, Nike and the media as the fellow who would strip golf of its exclusionary fences, someone whose name and presence would give America’s poor kids especially African-American kids cause to play golf. That, too, sounded good, but Nike, as a golf retailer, played the Air Jordans status-symbol hand. Woods’ signature clubs, shoes and shirts became the most expensive on the shelves. In the end, Nike’s golf division operated off the same marketing plan that would stoke the desires of 15-year-olds with little sense of proportion and no sense that they’re being had.

But most amateur, weekend golfers played Nike clubs, wore Nike spikes and swung at nike air max men Nike balls because they, for the moment, liked them, and in the case of Nike balls, because they found them. And those who didn’t play with Nike gear played with the gear they liked, and there were and are many good brands from which to choose. Swoosh status was never an issue. With Tiger Woods, Nike cranked up its golf gear business without bothering to check two things: Adults aren’t as easily conned as kids, and street cred on golf courses, even among the young, is worthless. Missed the anthem? Here’s an ad. Friday I was told that famed violinist Itzhak Perlman, wearing a Mets jersey, no less, played the national anthem before Monday’s Yanks-Mets. Really? How did I miss thatOh, neither SNY nor YES bothered to show it that’s how. Did that mean that after again not hearing the anthem on Yankee radio, Suzyn Waldman again gave the anthem’s commercial sponsor credit, then simply added, “It was performed by nike women uk Itzhak Perlman”?

Think Golf Channel would have it? For those who took a shot, they scored! If you were fortunate enough to know that Jim Furyk was doing something sensational, yesterday, then guessed that NBC-owned GC might break into taped European Tour coverage, you saw CBS’ unadvertised, unplanned, live break-in coverage of Furyk’s PGA Tour best-ever 58. With five holes left in Furyk’s round and long before CBS planned to be on the air from near Hartford, Conn.,CBS scrambled, placing Jim Nantz and Peter Kostis in the main tower to cover the rest of Furyk’s historic round. It was a great day for Furyk, a great day for heads-up, on-the-fly cooperative TV and, because of both, a great hour for viewers. Looking to cloud an issue? They’ve got a stat for that. The Yankees’ Mark Teixeira celebrates as he rounds first base after hitting a walk-off home run in Game 2 of nike running shoes women the 2009 ALDS against the Twins.