#KoFBestOf2015: Jesus and the Jumpman

Like many of you I’m sure, I am a major fan of sports films. Especially good sports films. And especially fictional ones with great jerseys. “Hoosiers“, “Space Jam“, “The Natural”, “Bad News Bears”, “The Program”, “Varsity Blues”, “Slap Shot”, “The Mighty Ducks”.

From a marketing standpoint, I guess I never understood why no maker had capitalized on movie jerseys (I still want a West Canaan Coyotes Jonathan Moxon #4 jersey. Nike preferably). So many great looking movie jerseys and movie players warranted merch I thought, yet nobody wanted to partner with a studio. Toy makers have. Cereal companies have. So many people wanted to have their hand in the motion picture cookie jar, yet footwear and apparel companies stayed away.

In May of 1998, a little Spike Lee Joint called “He Got Game” released to the public. It was a star studded cast on so many levels.

Actors:

• Denzel Washington
• Ned Beatty
• John Turturro

Newcomers:

• Milla Jovovich
• Rosario Dawson
• Hill Harper

College Coaches:

• Dean Smith
• John Thompson
• Roy Williams

Broadcasting Personalities:

• Dick Vitale
• Stuart Scott
• Gus Johnson

NBA Players at Lincoln:

• Travis Best
• Walter McCarty
• John Wallace

NBA Talking Heads:

• Michael Jordan
• Shaquille O’Neal
• Reggie Miller

You’ve seen the movie. At least I hope you have. From a sneaker standpoint, it is one of the most comprehensive displays of Nike of the day. In fact, Complex feature writer Brandon Edler broke down the shoes in “He Got Game” in his 2012 article “A Complete Sneaker Guide to Spike Lee’s ‘He Got Game’“.

But this isn’t about the shoes.

It’s about a jersey.

Go to eBay on any given day and you’ll see hundreds of listings for Jesus Shuttlesworth jerseys. Lincoln High School white home. Lincoln High School royal away. Lincoln High School black alternate (is that even a thing?). Big State red away.

Honestly? The Lincoln Railsplitters jersey in the film is dope. Both home and away.

On Thursday, Fabolous x Villa released their “Watch Me Ball” collection of movie uniform remakes, replicating Motaw’s Birdmen jersey in “Above the Rim”, Willie Beamen’s Sharks jersey in “Any Given Sunday” and Jesus Shuttlesworth‘s Lincoln High jersey in “He Got Game”.

If you’ve seen “Above the Rim”, and please, I hope you have, you know that it had a HEAVY Reebok influence. In “Any Given Sunday”, we again had Reebok and saw what was perhaps our first pop culture look into what would be the juggernaut that is Under Armour. “He Got Game” was all Nike/Jordan, all the time.

Let’s look at some facts:

• Nike and Jordan Brand have a stronghold on the college basketball uniform market.
• Nike and Jordan Brand has an almost monopolistic grip on the swingman jersey market.
• Nike and it’s brands underneath, return to the NBA starting in 2017.
• Ray Allen has had a long standing relationship with Nike dating back to UConn, and with Jordan Brand beginning early in his NBA career.
• Spike Lee’s has a 28 year relationship with Michael Jordan, Nike and Jordan Brand.

With those in force I have to ask, “HOW HAS NIKE OR JORDAN BRAND NEVER RELEASED A LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL JESUS SHUTTLESWORTH JERSEY?”

In 2013, the Air Jordan XIII white/true red/black retroed, dubbing it the “He Got Game. Yesterday, the “Class of 97” pack featuring the “Pearl” Foamposite Pro and the black/white/royal Zoom Hawk Flight released which honors and really commemorates Shuttlesworth’s 1997 graduating class at Lincoln High School similar to the way the Air Jordan XI 72-10 commemorated the Chicago Bull 1995-96 season of that record.

I guess the easiest answer is that since 2009, Lincoln has been an Under Armour outfitted high school, and for the 5 years prior to that, had an Adidas deal for footwear. So when it comes down the use of the Lincoln name for product, I’m certain that the folks at /// and UA have had strict language in their contracts when it comes to how close the name of “Lincoln”, “Railsplitters” or their basketball program gets to the Swoosh.

Taking a page out of the earlier mentioned Villa x Fabolous deal, would UA create movie jerseys for Beamen and Shuttlesworth? Nope. That’s not their thing. Would Adidas? Nope. Not their thing either. The only maker who this would benefit would be Nike because of all of the previously outlined reasons, and they are plentiful and make sense.

I have to think there is an executive (or perhaps at this point a former executive) who is kicking himself for not securing the Jesus Shuttlesworth name and license in perpetuity for Lincoln High School. That is one jersey which could sell year after year. In fact, could Mitchell & Ness be standing idly by to pounce on this? I wouldn’t shut them out

The movie still lives on as one of the greats depicting all of the stereotypes of big time college recruiting, starring one of the greatest shooters in the history of the game, with one of the greatest alter egos of all time. Hell, even his Miami Heat nickname jersey in 2014 read “J. Shuttlesworth”.

Nike and the Jumpman really dropped the ball on being able to capitalize on this one thing, this one player, a fictional player no less, and making something as simple as his jersey. And now, it seems that Fabolous has boxed them out and gotten the rebound. But will his Villa collaboration gain the same traction it would if it had a Swoosh on it? My God no. You’re kidding right?

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