Ron Artest, uh, Metta World Peace, uh, The Panda’s Friend — you know who we mean — either really takes his name-changing seriously or has struck marketing gold with this one: panda athletic shoes.
World Peace, who’s calling himself The Panda’s Friend while he plays for the Sichuan Blue Whales of the Chinese Basketball Association, unveiled the new kicks to courtsideaccess.com in a press release.
” … before every game, I will be wearing the white or black shoes. The top part of the shoe has a panda on it. I will be throwing it to a friend in the crowd. The person who catches it will be the Panda’s Friend of the day,” the former Bulls forward said in the statement.
World Peace tweeted on Tuesday, “The bear is not detachable. The Teddy bear is a permanent and is the pandas friend! The ears on the side are also not detachable.” He later tweeted an Instagram video of his arrival in China: “No announcement to keep crowd at a minimum.”
Not to quibble, but as World Peace pointed out, the toy bears on the shoes aren’t pandas. At least they come in black in white, which is panda-themed.
