Nike Gaye's it up for Olympics promo

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We're not against a company exploiting a deceased musician's rendention of the National Anthem for its own commercial purposes.
Wait, we are.
Especially after seeing Nike attach itself to the 1983 version that Marvin Gaye performed before the NBA All-Star Game at the Forum.
This is either genius, or bound to backfire. We suspect at first the euphoria of seeing it again will be cool, but then the heart of the song will be challenged as the 30- and 60-second spots start hitting the airwaves, cutting the original 2-minute plus version down into a convenient package.

Here's the new entire Nike clip, interespersed with the 2008 Olympic basketball team footage:

And one last time, the Gaye performance in full, in context:

And as the NBA tried it again for L.A., at the 2004 All Star game at Staples Center with his daughter:

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Tom Hoffarth writes about sports and sports media for the Los Angeles Daily News.

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This page contains a single entry by Tom Hoffarth published on August 8, 2008 10:46 AM.

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