Are you tired of Lebron James yet?
Already itching to find out what the next big thing is before the next thing is big? Well, ladies and gentlemen, the next amateur phenomenon in the basketball world is Mark Walker, Jr.
He is three-and-a-half-years old.
While many felt it was ridiculous that the 18-year old James signed a 90 million dollar contract before he played a single game in the NBA, Walker's story is even more far-fetched. Before ever playing in an organized basketball game, before being able to do long division, and before being able to ride a rollercoaster, Walker claims in an advertisement: "I am the future of basketball. I am Reebok."
In a marketing campaign designed to create more hits on its web site--in addition to boosting apparel sales--Reebok, the nation's No. 2 athletic equipment company behind Nike, is encouraging families with remarkable young athletes to send in video tapes of the phenoms. The winners will be displayed at Reebok.com alongside of Mark Walker's video at http://markwalker.reebok.com.
Reebok decided to use Walker as a marketing tool after his parents, Mark and LaShawn of Lee's Summit, Mo., sent in a video to the company of the three and half year old connecting on 18 straight jump shots. While many persons of similar age would have trouble just counting into the high teens, Walker casually counts the number of baskets he makes in a row before he exclaims "Aw, I bricked it," after his nineteenth shot.
While Walker's talent is undeniable, I think it is officially time to say things have gotten way too out of hand. Tom Julian, trends analyst with Fallon Worldwide, disagrees to an extent: "I like the idea that it's real and about talent--as long as they keep the talent focused in the right way," Julian said.
But how can forcing a child to say in a scripted advertisement "I am the future of basketball. I am Reebok," be "the right way" to use a child's talent? While it is hypnotically interesting to watch the pint sized sharp shooter make shot after shot, who knows if this kid will even be good enough to play on his varsity basketball team in high school? There is no way of telling if he will develop the considerable size and athleticism that is needed to excel in the most difficult sport to obtain professional status.
Puffing up a kid's ego to the point where he is saying he is "the future of basketball" is creating inevitable and unnecessary heart break for the class of 2018 prodigy.
Just think if he develops into a reasonably good player: He makes a competitive high school basketball team, becomes a regional high school star and gains a scholarship to a lower Division I college team. For any other person in the world, this would be a considerable accomplishment, fueling pride for a lifetime.
For Walker, this would be a major disappointment.
The only long-term for Walker is that Reebok is paying for his services with a college trust fund. This means Walker will be able to retain his amateur status for high school and college athletics despite his marketing.
And Reebok is not stopping with Walker, they are encouraging every pre-schooler in the land to be labeled as the "future." I know Reebok's slogan in the early 1990s was, "Life's short. Play Hard," but this is ridiculous.
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