Only 21 days to go until our Egyptian journey, as we also celebrate our second anniversary of moving to Venice, Florida. ‘May the fourth be with us’ as we board a Tampa United flight into Newark, fly across the pond to Frankfurt, and finally land in Cairo the next afternoon. We’ve waited a long time for this great adventure, while threats of war and Covid delayed our initial plans for nearly four years. 

“Matinee Monday” was moved to “Theatre Tuesday” and today will become “Feature Friday,” as we try to work in our weekly movie. We’ll couple it with “Date Night,” and make it a special outing. We hope to see the movie, “Air,” another story about our one-time Portland, Oregon home. This Nike tale happened long before we even thought of moving to Oregon, but shaped the future of the iconic company that now employs my wife’s daughter. 

Michael Jordan was never one of my favorite basketball players. He was the enemy of I.U. in route to a Championship and a rival of my hometown Indiana Pacers. I leaned more to Reggie Miller and Larry Bird and was therefore never attracted to the Air Jordan brand. I remember it being the most expensive and desirable shoe of my day. Many think of MJ as “THE GOAT,” but I don’t agree. He was certainly one of the greatest of his era, but records are meant to be broken. 

My Oregon friends recently attended the Nike Hoops Summit, a high-school All-Star game (USA vs. World) that I would have certainly attended with them, if I still lived there. We had already gone to the PK80 events at the Moda Center and saw our share of University of Oregon venues that Phil Knight built, including Matthew Knight Arena and Haywood Field. LeBron James has taken the shoe role of Michael Jordan, while his son Brony was featured in the Nike Hoops. I watched it on TV, and he certainly doesn’t have the physical prowess of his father, as yet. He also hasn’t decided on a college program, pro career, or even a shoe contract. 

My daughter-in-law took me on a tour of the Nike Headquarters in Beaverton. Only there are Michael Jordan and LeBron James forever teammates, each with their own building. MJ was LeBron’s favorite growing up and wears the #23 in his honor. His ‘Airness’ retired the year before James’ rookie year. However, in 2003, LeBron attended Jordan’s basketball camp in Santa Barbara where they reportedly played on the same team. Will Brony get a Nike campus building and shoe of his own one day? His future is in the Air!
 

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