Shane Battier Sells a Lot of Shoes in China

We've mentioned it before, but one of the perks of being one of Yao Ming's teammates is that Chinese companies shower you with offers to endorse their product. That's how Shane Battier not only ended up wearing PEAK shoes but also becoming something of a national icon (at least in the Jared Fogle kind of way). From Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune:

Battier said every NBA game broadcast in China goes to break with a Peak commercial starring himself and returns from break with the same commercial a second time.

"I'm much more famous in China than I think I ever was in America, which is kind of cool," Battier said.

Rockets forward Mike Harris, who played in China earlier this season before signing with Houston last month, can attest to how sick he grew of the Battier commercial.

"The commercial plays over and over," Harris said. "It got kind of repetitive. I got tired of watching it, so I just stopped watching TV. I started watching movies."

Yeah, I could see how that could get annoying. If they're going to re-play a commercial ad nauseum, the least they could do is make sure it has a catchy hook (ie, that Dockers commerical that plays at every break featuring Marlena Shaw's California Soul). In any case, hearing about Battier's rock star status in China makes sense, and certainly explains all those All-Star votes he gets (more than Kevin Durant, Josh Howard and Grant Hill this past year.)