Today’s most important rivalry game for a number of reasons has been labeled with a number of storylines.
Ohio State and Michigan have met approximately 112 times on the football field but the hype around the 2016 edition is truly different from all the previous contests. Future Hall of fame head coaches and playoff implications aside for a moment this game has some serious star power tied to it. Michael Jordan and LeBron James two of the highest profiled stars on mega company Nike’s team have footprints all over this game literally.
James has been a long time supporter of Ohio State they can’t get enough of the king going as far as to reserving him a locker in the stadium and signing off on official buckeye LBJ jerseys. The Soldier 10 cleats don’t officially go on sale until next year so this stage will be a good test run for them in front of a big audience. It’s ten years later than the original LeBron cleat prototype created for Ted Ginn back in the 2006 national title game, but 2016 is as good a year as any to debut the Cleat of a king.
Since the beginning of the Urban Meyer era Ohio State has been more polarizing than ever they’re in title contention year in and year out. A culture and a certain standard has been established within the millennial era Buckeyes, Meyer is sending his players to the league in platoons.
Jordan and UM made history when both parties inked a deal for the Wolverines to exclusively sport Jordan brand gear on the playing fields. They are the first football program MJ has ever dressed. The new uni deal has blessed the Wolverines with some major upgrades in the style and apparel departments. Jordan Brand is legendary and provides superior athletic performance the Jump man is universal and embedded into society.
Harbaugh being who is has brought with him a new swagger Michigan hadn’t seen in awhile, and doing what he’s known for he came in and rescued his alma mater and their slumping football program. Michigan fell from title relevance once the Dennard Robinson era started to wind down and the men before Jim couldn’t help the Wolverines recover. In year two of his tenure the fierce and intense leader has his squad right in the midst of a debut in the college playoff.
The Shoe Has a packed house today for a crucial end of the year match up, LeBron and The NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers were spotted pregame tossing the rock around providing a little free entertainment for the home Ohio crowd I’m sure.
All eyes are on this physical and historic matchup UM playing in their fresh Jordan spikes and OSU rocking the new LeBron soldier cleats. LeBron V Jordan has set the stage today is win or go home there aren’t any second chances as both teams have suffered a setback a piece already this season. Both teams seem to be leaving it all on the field based on a intense first half but we know there can only be one to advance.
In the end the Juggernaut known as Nike will be a winner either way and this is just another ploy for the major shoe companies to sneak in some free exposure.