To be fair, you've probably already got your own reasons for not buying Nike products. Their open support for Colin Kaepernick and his modus operandi of causing racial divisiveness might be one reason people have openly called for boycotting Nike, for example. Their reputation for allegedly using sweatshops and abusing child labor to produce their products, if true, is another excellent reason. But do you want to know the very best reason not to spend $100 on a pair of horribly overpriced and crappy Nike tennis shoes? They can literally fall apart on you during a match. Here's the evidence. Notice that other than the sole coming completely unglued, the shoes don't look like they are in bad shape. That's because they sat in my closet for a couple of years after I bought them because I needed surgical repairs on my elbow. Sitting in a closet unused does not qualify as normal wear and tear on the product, in my opinion. Yet as you can see in the photo below, the soles are still in very good, "almost new" shape, except for one little problem...they literally came unglued, when my partner and I were in the middle of an intensely competitive playoff doubles match. [Note: The stuff that looks like fuzz on the outside of the shoes is actually dog hair that stuck in the glue residue. The fur babies have been shedding like crazy in this heat, and I accidentally stepped in some dog hair when the soles were not in place.] Notice that the heel pads are also detached. I didn't even realize it until I got home. I had four different, moving surfaces under my feet … [Read more...]