By Ben Joravsky
At the heart of the matter is whether Nike has exclusive rights to “Air,” as in Air Lucas, the title of Chapman’s book about a basketball-playing dog who winds up on the Bulls. Her inspiration was the Chapmans’ family dog, Luke, a high-jumping mutt with a remarkable ability to snatch food from the kitchen table. “I started writing it around the time when Michael was playing baseball and everyone was wondering who’s going to be the next Jordan,” says Chapman. “One day Luke jumped up to grab some food off the table, and my nine-year-old son Ross went into the standard play-by-play–‘He sneaks, he leaps, he scores.’ That set a lightbulb off in my head. I thought, ‘My gosh, what if the next Michael Jordan was a dog?’”
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“The boy in the family contacts Phil Jackson, who visits the house and checks out the dog’s moves and tries to cut a deal with the mom–the dog’s narrating the whole story, by the way,” Chapman continues. “You know how Phil Jackson’s always giving books to his players. In the story, he tries to win the mom over by giving her The Hidden Life of Dogs. But the mom’s hardheaded. Her objection is that playing for the Bulls would only encourage the dog’s bad behavior. Finally Jackson offers her a spot on the Luvabulls and she goes for it. I guess everyone has a price.”
Chapman thought she had a deal with a local publisher. But he raised a sticky issue: Did she have a deal with Nike? “He pointed out that the dog’s named Air Lucas and I have references to people wearing Air Jordans,” says Chapman. “He wanted Nike in on the deal.”
Then Ziemann dropped a bombshell–the Bulls might sue. “She said it’s possible they would drag me to court for using their symbols,” says Chapman. “I know that sounds ludicrous. Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, the Bulls–these are all public figures or entities. But Sheri said the threat was there.”
You mean there’s a principle here?
So would you advise Chapman to publish?
