These Nike Air Mocs were one of the first shoes that got me into Nikes, go figure. I worked in a childrens’ shoe store the better part of three summers, with a sneakerhead owner. - He had one of the first Nike accounts in Ottawa, wore Jordans to his wedding, and was in such good standing with our fav company that they sent him grips of good sneakers in his size, for himself. I wore some III’s to work one day, and my boss mentioned how he had “every Jordan ever, including the metal ones”, but gave them all away to the guy who had my job before me. Cool. At least we were the same size. Cooler.

We were a children’s store, but we carried some bigger sizes - half the Ottawa Lynx’s roster, then the Orioles’ AAA affiliate, bought their VC3s from us - mostly in Mocs and Alpha Project shoes. Whatever Nike was pushing, they sent to us. I remember coming in to work one day and the whole floor was covered in boxes - it was a small store, but did a lot of business - mostly baby Terra’s (not the good kind), but with 3 pairs of Kukini’s in a size 10, in obese orange boxes, staring out at us, daring us to c0pe. None did. I bought a pair of Mocs that summer to add to my busted ass collection. I returned them a week later, not being leisure enough to pull off this look. I have since regretted it, but not in any real way.

ACGs, they’re my shit. For a while, if you saw me in the street, and you would, I’d be arcteryx’d and ACG’d out, something orange, or grey/brown, nutty on my feet. “That’s me dogg, on my block I didn’t have to play the big shot”, is what Brad meant when he’d post up in houston rocking Goadomes and a light fleece, ready for any weather. Then I moved back to Canada where everyone wore the hell out of that look, only their jeans had raisins (raisans? shout out to J Mascis’ Witch playing a secret gig tonight that I’m not connected enough to get into), peanut butter stains, dust from their little bag of chalk hanging off their jeans, tousled (knotted) hair. If not for some of these details, it might as well have been me. So I just ran a pair of 97s into the ground, trading an OG pair of Okwahns for a TV (which was not cable ready), selling beat-ass wildwoods for $30, spending the money on basketball magazines, bus tickets and feta burgers, etc etc. I was free for now I thought, with less clutter in my sneaker sanctuary, just an X minus 1 pair situation.

But man.. I don’t know what’s worse. That feeling I’d get when I’d leave the house with nothing to wear* or the feeling I just copped while looking at these. Such a sick color combo. Just enough black and white to make it totally look sleepy, and a highlighter yellow swoosh (and lacelocks) to set off your faded ass steep tech, or purple Theta AR, or whatever. I’m not sweating it too hard, because they’re way too large for my feet, but hey, to see a 1999 shoe - any shoe, screw an ACG - on sale, on the cheap, even with a bobo box, is bittersweet unless you cop it. I guess I just know what I like, but don’t always get it.

*worst feeling for about 5 seconds. Sometimes you don’t want to wear your beaters, no matter how icy.

The Air Bakin was a pretty wacky shoe. If you ask me, they’re almost unwearable. They’re high, about a foot off the ground, and are either burgundy (I think they’re burgundy) or puce. They’re air, but they’re an old model, so they won’t feel resilient or anything. This was the shoe, or one of them, that got recalled because of the Arabic script on the “Air”. Fair enough I say, send these shits back to the stone age. The only dogs who can pull this off are either packing trail mix or a gun.
Otherwise, it just doesn’t click. I have to hand it to this pair, though. They are quite spanking, clean and fresh. I haven’t seen many with this gum rubber outsole, or even in yellow. Stay away from those reds, they are played out, man. This shoe, at its best, is a waterproof, sturdy, high top air max 97? Up to you if you think you can pull it off.

PS peep this guy’s other auctions, esp. his prices. $2K for a pair of IIIs? $250 for a rookie Garnett jersey? All right. If I was wealthy beyond my means I would definitely buy only overpriced stuff on the bay, from guys like this, just to ruin it for everyone.

PPS Gasol looked good last night. Kobe’s points dropped down real low… Is this a sign of things to come? How are they going to handle those weird twin towers come late March? I’m sure the triangle offense contains some sort of answer, even if it is just kick-out. There are onions in this sauce though…

No big deal? Yeah you might have seen me on the streets, oh, never? Yeah hi my name’s Jeff and I’ll be doing your groceries for you and driving you to work and sitting on your lap and doing your job. After keeping me on staff for ten years you might be lucky enough to see a pair of Jordan 1 lows in white on the street. I don’t care, not even the Beastie Boys could make these shoes suck.

If I saw a pair of these on the street (say, on the US east coast) my stomach would be in my throat, and if someone reached over to me, with this box, and motioned for me to take it, my knees would buckle. And I’ve been wearing Wallies every day since July. But this is what this site is all about, reporting true motha fockin heat units. I would wear these in Ed Koch’s NY and fully expect my throat to be slit - EAR TO EAR - and on the table, I’d lay facing my inevitable and all too sullied eternal slumber, I would grin, looking down at my feet in white Jordans and black socks, dark purple blood on my shoes and a bunch of teeth on the ground, but both of them on, I can’t see my toes or feel my face. You could have corkscrew curls and look cool in these. Jordan 1s look cooler on your feet than ANY other shoe, rare or otherwise.

Honestly man.. I don’t know what I can say about this shoe besides:

1. Good luck finding it on this continent.
2. Good luck finding it not shelled by zhieep, total POS ruining jay bil’s good time. wah jaybil.
3. Good luck finding it period.
4. I don’t even understand. Take a look at the scheller’s (hi sheller) other stuff. Hi, i’m a bernie kosar shirt, you might remember me from your UPS’ guy’s college dorm (starting bid $20). Oh dont mind me, just an all over print wolverines shirt with a wolverine on it. No big deal. (Not to mention the other stuff he has, lightning jersey, stussy rasta letterman jacket - xxl, some old ass champion tees… I love America)

These days everyone’s a sneakerhead but the oldest heat you see is from March. Oh wow, this year’s Jordan Vs? So you’re telling me you have $120? Cool. Sweet. Rare airs, where you been? Everytime you think the last deadstock (this isn’t ds, but its close) pairs only belong to Marc Jacobs’ life coach and 3 dudes in Japan, you see a pair up on ebay, just hanging out waiting to be plucked in the American heartland. It’s already been a great week for
vintage jordan ones, not the least of which i will be buried in. Like, damn. And whether your budget can cop any of these, it’s nice to (hopefully) know that these are going to real people somewhere (although I’ve been convinced that half of ebay are celebrity buyers for like, Stephen Dorff).

Wear in good health, always: