Tag: In the News

Quick hopes TP will help them catch McDonald’s in France

Tony Parker is a marketing dynamo in France with deals for everything from shoes and watches to food delivery and clothes.

But if you ask anyone this side of LeBron James or Michael Jordan, the best way to build extreme broad-based public recognition is by doing a fast-food commercial.

You can look at Parker and see he doesn’t eat fast food very often. But he’s a natural spokesman because his game is predicated on speed — almost as quick as getting those burgers and fries to you through the drive-through window.

Parker has just hooked up with  a Belgian company that operates more than 400 restaurants in Belgium, France, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Andorra, Luxembourg, Spain, Russia and Armenia. It is considered one of Europe’s top competitors to McDonald’s.

Their most popular product is their Belgian fries and their gimmick is that they don’t salt them. It’s left up to the customer to decide exactly how much salt to place on the potatoes.

When it started in 1970, Quick became the first European fast-food restaurant basing most of its business on selling burgers. And it’s still popular as the company ranks first in Belgium and Luxembourg and No. 2 in France behind McDonald’s. 

Quick marketers hope that by linking Parker to their restaurant will boost their market share as they challenge “the golden arches” across  the continent.

Here’s a look at awith Quick, courtesy of You Tube.

Sapp, Rose aren’t buying LBJ as NFL player

It’s an image that LeBron James has helped cultivate over the years.

Back in the day, James was an All-State wide receiver at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, as a  sophomore.  He helped lead his team to the state semifinals in football as a junior.

Those performances, his 6-foot-8, 255-pound size and his 44-inch vertical jump have led some to believe he could have been a standout receiver in the NFL if he .

If the lockout continues for an extended period, who knows? Seattle coach Pete Carroll even had James’ name stitched on a .

Despite those indicators, there’s a big difference from thinking you can play NFL football and actually thriving in the league. It’s why former NBA player Jalen Rose and NFL player Warren Sapp both doubt that James could really play in the NFL.

He’s a tremendous athlete, probably the best physical specimen you’ll see in sports,” Rose said earlier this week while serving as a guest panelist on the NFL Network’s No Huddle. 

“The one thing about football — you can go up for the football — I don’t think his feet’ll hit the ground on the way down because they will take him out. I think that game is too physical, I think it’s too demanding, I think that it’s hard to block defensive ends — it’s more to that job of being a tight end than just running routes.”

Sapp was even more forceful, wondering if James was competitive enough to play against the NFL’s best.

“How about LeBron do one-sixth of what Jordan did, let’s see him go win a championship,” Sapp said.

“Go do that. Go see if you can conquer your sport before you come over here because them boys on defense, we like pretty boys like that. We want to split them.”

But it’s also interesting to consider that basketball players a lot less accomplished than James — Tony Gonzalez, Jimmy Graham and Antonio Gates — have had a lot of success after leaving basketball to become NFL tight ends.

None of them have the combination of size, speed and explosive athletic ability that James has. Given time, he might be able to develop into an accomplished tight end.

But whether he could morph into an NFL contributor is a big, big stretch — particularly when there’s so much money for James to make in the relative safety of the NBA.

Odom headed to Besiktas during lockout

Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom will join Besiktas Istanbul during the lockout.

Sportando.net reports that Odom, the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2010-11 willthat already includes New Jersey Nets guard Deron Williams.

Besiktas originally had targeted Brook Lopez, who decided against playing overseas. Odom instead became their target.

ESPN.com reports that Odom will join the Istanbul-based team as early as next week if the NBA lockout continues. Their first target, ESPN.com reported, was.

Sportando reports that Odom will make about $2 million during the contract.  

Odom averaged 14.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 32.2 minutes per game for the Lakers last season.