When Lyles was negotiating an Adidas contract extension last year, the company, he says, threw him what it thought was a bone. Adidas invited him to the shoe-release event for Anthony Edwards, the rising Minnesota Timberwolves star who’s got plenty of talent but, unlike Lyles, isn’t a six-time world champ. “You want to do what?” says Lyles. “You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe? No disrespect: the man is an amazing athlete. He is having a heck of a year. I love that they saw the insight to give him a shoe, because they saw that he was going to be big. All I’m asking is, ‘How could you not see that for me?’” (Adidas declined to comment; in February, Lyles signed a new deal with the company, reportedly the most lucrative track-and-field contract in the post-Bolt era.)
This slight represents the problem with track and field in the U.S.: the sport’s low visibility outside the Olympics. Lyles can go to an Applebee’s or Texas Roadhouse in Clermont unrecognized. And the Texas Roadhouse even has a picture from the 4 × 100-m relay at the London Olympics, the Games that first drew Lyles’ attention, on the wall.
Lyles has designs on fixing this issue. He swears he can be bigger than Bolt. “Yeah, why not,” he says. “That’s my plan.” While Bolt is an icon, by dint of hailing from Jamaica, he couldn’t—or at least wasn’t willing to—grow track and field in the U.S. “I have the personality, I have the speed, I have the showmanship,” says Lyles. “I have the marketing mindset. I’m willing to be uncomfortable.” In March, he did a pair of shoots with Adidas, filmed a spot for Visa, and did another shoot for Omega, between training sessions and running in a meet. He wants to host Saturday Night Live.
by Goosedukee
42 Comments
Bruh lame as hell lmao
Ok so bro was actually pressed when he was talking about the world champion thing lmfao
“You want to do what? You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe?”
He tries to give Ant his props after but cmon even if you thought this why would you say this?
Being this jealous of other people when you’re literally labeled as the fastest man alive is crazy lmfao
I would say that Noah has accomplished more than Ant. Being the fastest man in the world is harder than being an NBA star without a championship. So I understand where he’s coming from.
But the NBA is more popular than running. That’s just the case.
Lyles must be an r/nba user lmfao. generational hating talent
This dude is insufferable
He doesn’t have the personality to carry track, he comes off like a dick
This guy sounds like such a miserable asshole lol
I don’t think Noah Lyles could be more unlikeable
Gotta win to be bigger than Bolt. Covid is obviously a bummer but this is big dollar sports and Bolt ALWAYS delivered.
>grow track and field in the U.S. “I have the personality”
Yeah idk about that one bud.
Why is he so pressed about the nba. He entertains for 10 seconds once every 4 years. Never gonna be as popular as basketball.
Yeah you could tell from the get go that he was just salty that guys he deems to be fake world champions are more popular and richer than him, a “real” world champion. Glad to finally have proof that he’s a lame.
fucking cornball
Common Loah Lyles L
🤧 boo hoo
I was kind of defending bro with the world champion thing but nah this isn’t good lol
He’s got some deeper issues where he is yearning for some larger scale validation that frankly an athlete of his discipline rarely achieves. There have been many 100m Olympic gold medalists yet in the last 40 years other than Usain Bolt I’m not sure if any really hit the peak of the cultural zeitgeist.
Who cares what this lame, hating, Covid excuse having, failed Usain Bolt wannabe says?
Who cares what this lame, hating, Covid excuse having, failed Usain Bolt wannabe says?
Talked for years about winning the 200m gold and instead got bronze, just stfu
i didnt even know who this guy was before he said world champs of what lmao
What’s this guys problem.
You wanna be bigger than Bolt, simple just beat his world records
Hell nah. Ant Man shits on this weirdo
This dude is just salty about everything. Just hard to root for someone like that.
This dude is an absolute jealous clown. It was never about the “world champion” thing, I agree with his take on that. Dude is just jealous that basketball is way more popular than sprinting and decided to clout chase by name dropping the NBA on some irrelevant shit to get some attention on him.
Absolute 🤡
This dude is such a bum. Stop being jealous of NBA players bruh. They get more attention because they have an exponentially larger audience than you do.
Well i’m a pretty forgetful guy so if I don’t hear about Lyles for four years, I won’t hold it against him.
>while Bolt is an icon, By dint of hailing from JAMAICA, he couldn’t-or at least wasn’t willing to-grow track and field in the U.S
I wonder why? What a ridiculous line, there’s a world outside of America, especially for none Americans.
Oof that’s the fastest I’ve gone from learning who someone is to rooting for them to hoping they never win another gold. What an asshat.
The more I hear about this dude the less I want to hear about this dude
TIL you can be a total asshole and call it personality
> I have the marketing mindset.
Ugh
Nobody is the world is as popular as Niah Lyles thinks he is
He’s so mad that people only care about running for like a week or 2 every 4 years
Noah is better at his respective sport than Ant is as well as 99% of the NBA. He is justified in feeling this way
Did he get bullied by a basketball player????? why can’t he just enjoy his championships and medals damn lol
this guy is so talented works so hard. i have a lot of respect for him as an athlete and champion.
but damn this guy gets on my nerves. for someone so successful and talented he just oozes envy.
I know this is an nba sub and might have some bias opinions but I could give a fuck about a Noah Lyles. Amazing athlete, the spirit of USA is to come off as a little arrogant. This dude is just a talented asshole. No ones lining up to buy his sneakers.
Seriously never heard of this dude until the Olympics lol
Yeah ummm dont know how to break it to you but no one gives a shit about track and field bro its just running