Chapter 734: Chapter 1 Shadow
The bathroom reeked of urine.
In a US military base gymnasium in Germany, where there was no dedicated changing room, the plain bathroom doubled as a makeshift changing area.
Inside was a long bench, and not far from it, an old-fashioned metal trough urinal, with uric scale left by the soldiers relieving themselves.
The pungent smell of urine emanated from the uric scale, the ammonia stinging the nostrils, making it difficult to breathe and almost bringing tears to one’s eyes after a mere moment.
Yet Michael Jordan sat quietly on the bench, removing his jacket to reveal his metallic-gleaming black muscles, his body devoid of an ounce of excess fat.
His hands were dribbling a basketball, the ball moving back and forth beneath his legs with a pounding echo, but his upper body did not move an inch; he simply used his large hands and strong fingers to flick the ball, letting it swing back and forth in a regular, repetitive pendulum motion.
There was another person in the bathroom, Sonny Vaccaro, Nike’s director of sports marketing; it was he who had brought Jordan to this godforsaken place.
Jordan was now going through his pre-game preparation; soon he would be playing an exhibition game with the US Army stationed in Germany, which was part of his European tour that summer.
Vaccaro paced back and forth in the foul-smelling bathroom, scratching his face with an expression that looked cramped and anxious. In contrast, Jordan was as calm as if he had lost his sense of smell.
Convincing Jordan to participate in this summer’s European tour was not easy, as the shadow of war loomed over the Middle East.
In August 1988, the eight-year Iran-Iraq War ended, leaving both Iraq and Iran battered and their economies devastated.
Iraq was once an ally of America, and under the assumption that America would not intervene, the economically troubled Iraq turned its attention to its small neighbor, Kuwait.
In July, Iraqi troops amassed at the Kuwaiti border and began negotiations with Kuwait, demanding Kuwait reduce its oil and gas production to stabilize international oil prices, ensuring Iraq’s economic recovery.
On August 1st, the negotiations broke down, and in the early hours of August 2nd, the Iraqi Republican Guard crossed the border into Kuwait and launched an attack. By 7 p.m., Iraqi forces had occupied the capital of Kuwait.
On August 8th, Saddam, the President of Iraq, announced the annexation of Kuwait as Iraq’s 19th province, making it an inseparable part of the Republic of Iraq.
However, Iraq had misjudged America’s reaction. President Bush abandoned the previous strategy of not sanctioning Iraq. US Navy aircraft carriers were deployed to the Persian Gulf, and the operation known as "Desert Shield" transported large numbers of US Army troops to Saudi Arabia, with war on the verge of breaking out.
After a vote by the United Nations Security Council, it was decided to sanction Iraq. The two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, reached a consensus and issued a "joint declaration," demanding that Iraq withdraw its troops and simultaneously stopping the supply and support of weapons to Iraq.
In the 1990s, the Soviet Union was already militarily incapable of contending with America, and Iraq, equipped with a large number of Soviet-style weapons, was unwilling to give up the prize of Kuwait. It planned to rely on so-called "third-world" military equipment to fight the Americans to the end, intent on making Iraq the second Vietnam.
War made Europe and the Middle East restless, and it also meant that traveling there for business activities was fraught with risk. Jordan was initially reluctant to join the European tour.
He wanted to go to South America with Ah Gan, to Argentina, Brazil, Puerto Rico, but Vaccaro believed they couldn’t further dilute their influence together with Ah Gan.
Vaccaro laid out a detailed business plan, including adversaries at each stop, the scheme of activities, and security measures for the trip. Of course, he never mentioned that the gym didn’t even have a locker room and that they had to change clothes in the bathroom.
Jordan agreed to Vaccaro’s plan, trusting him; after all, it was Vaccaro who, with a five million US Dollar contract, had secured Michael Jordan for Nike, and now Nike needed Jordan for this event.
Vaccaro believed that Jordan also needed the European tour, especially to visit the US military base and offer comfort to soldiers who might be deployed to the battlefield, benefiting greatly in shaping Jordan’s public image.
For Jordan, 1990 was a pivotal year. They lost again in the Eastern finals to the Detroit Pistons, and then Ah Gan grabbed his career’s fourth championship title — the gap between Jordan and Ah Gan was growing.
Beyond the gap in championships, Jordan also faced a significant crisis in public opinion over his identity as a black man.
During the summer, Nike got into trouble with an NGO called the United Organization of Human Salvation, whose executive director, Dillon Clyde, attacked Nike.
He criticized Nike for rarely engaging with black people, although their consumer base was primarily black, yet there were no black people on their board of directors, no black vice presidents, and few black department leaders.
Clyde believed that Nike, while flying the flag of a black sports brand, was actually exploiting black culture for white people, and he then initiated a boycott against Nike within the black community.
This legal battle has reached the courts, but regardless of the outcome, it’s a negative image blow to Nike.
In this verbal fight, Jordan made a statement saying, "All American companies should provide job opportunities for black people, but to blame Nike simply because they are at the top of the industry is clearly unfair."
