Professional athletes endorsing products for financial gain is so common place these days that we hardly ever bat an eye at it. And whether it’s maned NFL players hawking anti-dandruff shampoo, NBA players pushing video game delivery services, or a world-famous Frenchman little-known to most Americans selling us razors and shaving cream, it’s generally accepted that you’ve well and truly “made it” once companies start asking you to pimp their stuff. Well, most of the time anyway.

This week’s picture of the week comes to us via the Twitter feed of former US soccer prodigy, Freddy Adu. Once an incredibly active tweeter, Adu’s social media presence took a bit of a dive as his career went from full of promise to sliding off the edge of a cliff. Now back in the States playing for NASL’s Tampa Bay Rowdies, the guy who once was (foolishly) labeled American soccer’s Pelé is now being electronically social once again… including an odd #sponsored tweet for Hoover. And for some reason, it feels oddly sad.

I don’t mean to knock Adu; get that money where you can, son. But Freddy is also a guy who once had an endorsement deal with Nike and featured in prominent national television ads for Sierra Mist alongside the man he was (foolishly) compared to. Now? He’s doing fairly unprofessional Hoover endorsements on Twitter. At least we think, anyway.

I mean, we can’t rule out this being a desperate attempt by Adu to show potential suitors that he still has the marketer’s charm, can we? Or is he trying to send us a subliminal message? It really sucks down here in Tampa, ya’ll. 

Whatever the case, keep up the hustle Fred. Hoover’s not paying me to post about their cordless vacuums… though we can change that if you want, Hoover.