Black And Tan

Nike has put its foot in a bear trap. The bear trap is the centuries long conflict between Protestants/English vs Catholics/Irish. Nike has marketed a sneaker in Ireland called the Black and Tan Quickstrike. Nike intended Black and Tan to be a reference to the drink where one pours half a glass of Bass (a personal favorite of mine) though any pale ale can be used, and then fills the rest with Guinness. The densities of the two beers differ with the Guinness being less than the Bass creating this effect.

You wouldn't think a sneaker named after such a heavenly concoction would be controversial. However, if I was in the meeting when the names for the sneaker were being bantered about I would have shot Black and Tan down without thinking much about it. Having earned my big-boy drinking pants in and about Boston, home of a vibrant Irish community, I know that ordering a black and tan can be a political as well as religious statement. Because the Black and Tans was a nickname for a British force that fought against the Irish Independence movement in 1920-21. The Black and Tans were typically veterans from WW1 and Protestant. The battles they fought against the IRA are reminiscent of internecine conflicts that we see today: civilians slaughtered, towns targeted for punishment and religious leaders killed. I wouldn't order a black and tan in the Republic of Ireland. (I've only been once and had my fill of Guinness.) Marketing a sneaker by that name near St Patrick's Day in said republic...

"would be the American equivalent of calling a sneaker 'the Al Qaeda'" - President of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, Ciaran Staunton

As Hitchens stated, "Religion poisons everything."

Even beer and sneakers.

This is Purgatory.