Nike has an amazing way of making professional athletes into portraits for idolatry. Never was this more famous than His Airness, Michael Jordan. But while the recent reverence for LeBron James can be attributed to his new championship hardware, he’s also churning out some of the best Nike commercials in years.
There’s no statue scene or running up the stairs, but LeBron has been known to ride a bike to home games at American Airlines Arena, and his Bike-A-Thon in Akron is a big deal every summer.
In the new Nike spot, James finds a group of kids waiting outside the gates of his mansion waiting to ride with him when he hops on his bike to go training. The trailing kids are eventually joined by thousands of others as LeBron goes to the beach for some swimming, stops off at the arena to get some shooting work done, and finally arrives at a local asphalt court. Once at the playground, he scrimmages with some overjoyed fans before returning home on his bike, caked in perspiration, with thousands in his wake.
It’s Rocky-esque, and we mean that in the nicest way possible. If only they’d been able to use “Eye of the Tiger.”
What do you think?
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