Newsletter ep. 113: is it time to boycott Nike?

November 13, 2019

Newsletter ep. 113: is it time to boycott Nike?

The Nike Question

When I was a kid my mom had a list of companies she was boycotting at any given time. Literally a list that she’d written out. It was long. One time she cut up her Blockbuster card and mailed it back to them. I don’t remember the specific offense, but if you think she doesn’t take some credit for them going out of business because of her boycott, then you haven’t listened to her voicemails on the podcast.

The reasons for a boycott varied. Sometimes it was a personal insult; sometimes an outrageous societal ill that needed righting; sometimes a combination. I’m pretty sure she quit Nextdoor (and wrote the CEO an email outlining why) just because that company hella sucks.

But it’s hard to maintain that many personal boycotts at one time. It’s hard to remember. It’s hard to continue to justify who is worse than who. It’s just simply hard to never give Amazon any of your money; do you know how much stuff they own?

I thought about this in the wake of the Mary Cain video this week.

Mary Cain was one of the best high school runners in the country, arguably ever. And then she went pro with Alberto Salazar and Nike, and it was devastating. Genuinely, kudos to her for going public now with her story. You need to watch the video and read the details, but in sum: She was subject to emotional and verbal abuse; Salazar was fixated on her losing weight, even pressing her to take diuretics and birth control and weighing her in front of teammates; unsurprisingly, this led to a massive decrease in health, broken bones, and ultimately deep depression and self-cutting.

It’s both terrible and also not shocking. I don’t think there are any top-level athletes who doubt her. It’s a story that we’ve heard so many times. But maybe it’s one that hasn’t broken through to the mainstream yet. Maybe this will be the story that finally gets people to start changing the culture, the coaching. Maybe this will be the story that finally changes Nike. Good for her.

Which brings us to the question at hand: Is it time to boycott Nike?

I’m going to tell you upfront: I don’t know. I think you have to make that choice for yourself, draw your own lines, write your own list. But I can tell you why you might.

Nike has done some pretty messed up things for awhile: the doping, what increasingly sounds like systemic bullying, the discrimination within the company. And it is, after all, a company. That means its goal is to make money and if it makes money then it will keep doing whatever it’s doing. If money is power, then the only way to change something truly is to cut off the money.

But, no, I can’t tell you Nike is the worst company ever. Yes, there are a lot of companies that do a lot of messed up things. And Nike is a big company with good people too doing good work. And they make good shoes.

I, honestly, don’t know what people will do about The Shoes. It’s one thing to stand there in a store and think, ‘OK, I’m not going to buy the Nike shorts, I can buy shorts from another company instead, one I respect, who does good stuff.’ It’s another to think, ‘Am I willing to give up a minute, two minutes on my marathon? Because I think it’ll make a difference?’

Here’s an example of exactly how complicated it is to make these lists for ourselves, to decide who we’ll buy from and who we won’t:

Someone I know posted on Instagram that they saw Mary Cain running through Central Park this week decked out in Nike gear. They were all pissed about this, as if it was hypocritical. And I understand the argument, I do. It is, to a degree. But, honestly, did you think she was going to just throw out all of the gear she has? She has no sponsor right now, she’s going to college, she’s trying to get her life in line. And she’s also asking us to fix girl’s sports.

No one can stand for everything, not even her. There is no such thing as a perfect environmentalist or a perfect feminist or a perfect choice. We can’t always make the best decision or do everything right in everyone’s eyes. We can’t fight every fight. But we can try.

A few more things about Mary Cain

There were a lot of responses to Mary Cain coming forward, mostly amazingly supportive, mostly how hard and how brave of her. This was one of my favorites.

I thought a lot about Shalane Flanagan’s response among those, which was also incredibly supportive and apologetic. Shalane is doing good things for women’s sports and wants to make a safer space for female athletes, to create a better culture and fix girls’ sports. She’s doing that with the backing and sponsorship of Nike.

I also saw a writer I know, who wrote the NY Times’ Magazine story Mary Cain mentions, apologize. So I went back and re-read the old story, and I don’t know.

It is true, too, that the story should have been in the sport section, not the opinion section. By all means, run a first-person video or op-ed. But also report it out as an article. Why didn’t the New York Times report the story themselves? Why didn’t they think it was worth regular sports coverage? (The answer is because Lindsey Crouse works for the opinion section of the paper and has a supportive editor there. Which just goes to show why it matters who tells stories and who’s in charge of deciding what is a story.)

The new ITU stars

Now let’s back to triathlon again, yo.

This weekend Ashleigh Gentle won her first ever 70.3. On the men’s side of that race in Xiamen, another 70.3 rookie and ITU star took the win. Throw in Gustav Iden’s win at 70.3 Worlds, coming off a the ITU Grand Final, and it feels safe to say a new generation of ITU stars have emerged at the longer distances. After the Tokyo Olympics, I expect we’ll see even more people move up to 70.3 too. Who doesn’t want to see how Katie and Flora fare?

We’ve come a long way now from when people seemed to think ITU was just a wet run. They’ve proven their capabilities across distances. Yet, for every Holly Lawrence or Daniela Ryf (who were OK at ITU but great at longer), there have been plenty who just never lived up to how good it seemed like they were going to be. What makes the difference?

_________________________________

Challenge Daytona has been lining up quite the list of stars. And now all of you who said you’d pick Lucy Charles as your swimmer for your pro-am relay can start bidding. She announced she’ll be going too. (Instagram)
Seems like Gustav Iden’s weird Thai hat he found is paying off. Now that he’s become huge in Thailand, he signed Giant as a bike sponsor. (Live Feisty/Instagram)
No, the triathlon marshals aren’t trying to screw you. Here’s a look inside their heads. (Triathlete)
Draft-legal collegiate women’s nationals is in Tempe this weekend too. They’re getting close to the 40 schools they need for NCAA status. (AZ Central)
On sort of the other end of the spectrum, Diamond League announced it’ll be cutting the 200m, steeplechase, triple jump, and discus. They already cut the 5,000m and are replacing it with a 3,000m. (There also already isn’t a 10,000m at most races.) Allegedly, this is to make the TV broadcast more exciting. Seems like if the solution to make sports exciting is to have less sports, then you need to hire a better producer and editor. (Flotrack)
Obviously, this has a big impact on professional steeplechasers and discus throwers. And so Christian Taylor announced the creation of an athletes’ association. Good for him. (Twitter)
What is your age in running years? Maybe part of the reason Masters women were able to dominate the New York Marathon was because some of them are still young in terms of their running age. (Outside)
More pro riders are leaving for gravel racing. Peter Stetina is choosing gravel over the World Tour, but don’t call it a retirement. (VeloNews)
There could be a genetic test for doping in time for the Olympics. Which I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, awesome. On the other, ugh, I’m nervous about getting it right. (The Guardian)
In the least shocking news ever, Salazar will appeal his doping ban. (NBC Olympics)
Some tips on sleep research for athletes, like stop stressing about it. (Outside)
Personally, I’m all for the five-hour workday. Really that’s as much actual productivity as most people have in a full day. (New York Times)
Here’s a really good counter-example to everything we’ve been hearing about the female athlete triad and energy deficiency: cyclist Ruth Winder was able to make nutrition and training adjustments and win nationals. So. (Bicycling)
I’m not even sure I totally understand what “dopamine fasting” is, but that isn’t stopping trendy people in the Bay from doing it. (New York Times)

________________________________

Comments & thoughts

– Pretty much everyone wanted to pick Tim O’Donnell for their beer mile team, though Heather Jackson was a good choice too. And, sure, most of us would just choose Lucy or Lauren Brandon for our relay partner, but I appreciate Jason’s choice of Angela Naeth. “She’s a battler.”

– There are also a lot of thoughts about whether you should go all in or not. Everyone seems to think you should.

__________________________________

‘If We Were Riding’ is a weekly triathlon-ish newsletter written by Kelly O’Mara and produced by Live Feisty Media. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning. You can also read past issues. This episode is from Nov. 13, 2019.