What are these? I can’t really tell. They have an all white sole, which can be the sign of a fake, but it doesn’t look like the case here. The top is a weird eggshell/tan patent and the tag and the heel look fine. I don’t know how these would work out in the street.. they look like a weirder version of the Easters that dropped a while back. Maybe it needs a little bit in the outsole - maybe not. Still, I have never seen this shoe before, so it’s worth writing about.

I feel like they’ll go for either $70 or over 150.  I can’t really get behind his other auctions, but I can get behind his pricing scheme. I love a private seller with low starting prices - you’ll always find some heat.

I saw Boris tonight, it was OK.  

Please, someone buy this. You don’t even need to be into sneakers. Maybe you surfed over here from bidhardcore, and came over here for weightlifting tips**. Maybe you’re my dad and are reading this website. Maybe you found it searching for valentine tips, or cro-mags info, or something. Just buy the old girls, wear em every day and get them filthier than a runaway.

Taiwans baby.. If you know, you know. For the rest of yall, this might be the single best pair of air forces Nike did up since switching to bad leather five years ago - and no coincidence it was released seven (smh) years ago. The Taiwans number at 3000, and I believe there are about a dozen out there in working condition, with Jay Bil rightly owning two pairs. This pair is beyond icy on the top, but with a piss yellow sole. It doesn’t matter because it looks better. Taiwans dropped in 2001 and are all over patent, with the swoosh a light gradient (not a coincidence that the best Year Of Force does the same thing) going from lighter to darker, like most things in life.

While the original run of the Co.Jp’s languished on the shelves for years and by the time they got resurrected, they were worth double retail of whatever was out at the time. If you were smart, you’d have bought the gums at $5, and sold them for $400 only a year later. Unfortunately Taiwan retail lore doesn’t seem to exist. Not rightly, but unsurprisingly so, this is a white air force, which, even after all these years, self-nominated sneakerheads don’t mess with. But most likely, you can’t inflate a ghost. This aint no sneaker you see on the street* or on most of the feet at a gig, or on your weekend trip to Flight Club. This is a man’s shoe, boy. You see one of these in the street, play lotto, because 9 out of 10 times you gonna win.

*Not in this shape, anyways, fuck it, it’s yellowed.
**I’ll sell you that Venom LP, I don’t want that thing.

Hey girls… Today is your day, at least as far as Nike is concerned. While your man may be planted in front of the tube watching LOST, or worse, the Miami Heat, someone out there hasn’t forgotten about you*. Ever since Brand Jordan started fucking mostly with black and whites, the best red nikes for the last few years have been the valentines, shoes in women’s sizes released a week before Himself’s birthday. Mostly air forces, mostly air force lows, with court forces as of late (I do not approve) and air max 95s and others hence**.Women’s nikes are generally better than men’s: they’re wider (I’m not sure why***), cheaper, and have flyer colors. More room for your dogs, $10 less, pastels on the 360s, blue swooshes on the 97s, and patent on the air forces. Thanks to our boy Rasheed, who I love, hasn’t dropped a dime on the game since the red patents in ‘04, these are the closest we’re going to get to good freaking patent air forces.

Let me break it down:

These came out in 2005. They are air forces, they are low, and they are nubuck. I am listening to Anthrax and I wish I had a pair of these - I do not. The heart on the heel is tiny, and the sole might have a bunch of candy hearts on the inside, etc. The seller is also selling a Sixers jersey for girls. I couldn’t be bothered to check, but I assume it’s a Kerry Kittles swingman.

These came out in 2006. They’re pretty similiar to the red pair in that they’re both low air forces that aren’t patent, but these ones have a weird back tab (like the Chinese New Year ones) and no little heart. If it makes you feel better though, the candy hearts remain to be trampled under foot. Yum.

These came out last year and are a hefty departure from the other valentine air forces, mainly because they are at this point adhering to other nikes, instead of circling in their own valentine heat orbit. These were real similar to those Japanese air forces that came out in early 04, they were japanese exclusives but I copped them at Clientele, they were yellow and black, and white. Every time I wore them I would get props, not sometimes, but every time I put them on my feet, I’d get a commendation by someone who also had their afternoons free. I’ve never to this day had a pair of shoes that’s given me that, or known anyone else who has, so go figure. I sold them shits. These are the exact same shoe, but with a heart outline on the corner. Kind of feels like a put-on to me, to be honest. It’s not like during the Clinton administration they stuck a rose on an air force and called them Valentine’s; they didn’t, they wouldn’t think to do it. These aren’t Valentines, they don’t even have a heart. They shouldn’t have done this transparent a Valentine’s day shoe.

These came out a long time ago and are great. They’re mids, which are harder to wear, but they’re definitely the better of the cretaceous period of valentine air forces.

Click there, take notes, and cop some similar, or better yet, relisted heat! Happy valentines day to all the girls and skinheads out there! Who loves you

*Phil Knight.

**As always, my favorites are what they were last year, the year before, before, etc.

*** Could be because the women who rock a 12 have some strong feet

PE crazy, crazy PE… Player Exclusives’ - one offs the sneaker companies make for actual basketball players - are always incredible, from the tan XVIIs they wear at Brown to whatever Ray Allen decides to put on this week. That these sheeds are in my size is even more outrageous. Doesn’t he know I don’t have $1000 immediately (4 days and change) available on something I need? I’ve written about sheeds below, so I’ll only mention how “both teams played hard” is the best way I imagine they describe successful marriages (it is Valentine’s day, the shoes are red). But it’s because it’s V day, and why wouldn’t someone put my dogg’s shoe up, in my size, for money, today?

PE sneakers’ values are barely defined by eBay prices, inasmuch that anything collectible can avoid eBay. There are always PE’s on ebay, sure, but more often than not, it’s the same guy selling the same pair of size 14 Bibby XIIs. The market itself is pretty hard to crack, as PE’s number in the handful. This one isn’t even Sheed’s number, it’s some guy named 30. George McGinnis? I wouldn’t be surprised. Some are so rare, you will never get them, the five dozen people who have all of them will never trade you. Sorry. After the rare eBay pair, your best bet would be to make friends with B1LLY HOYLE AINT NO CHUMP off niketalk, or someone off the grid. Good luck with that, too.

Happy Chinese New Year!

These are not the new forces for this year, but are the 2005 Year of the Rooster model. As with the rest of the years - especially the monkeys - the roosters are great. The Rooster, Monkey, and my personal favorite the Horse are fine alternatives to those who want to wear all white air force low tops, but aren’t fly enough to rock jewels, or patent, or are too poor to buy taiwans. The little things make these forces: the odd choice of leathers, the colors - never exactly white, the script on the back of the tab on the Horse ones. The Monkeys’ swoosh goes from tan to nut, and is patent, there’s a little monkey in the corner. Great shoes, great new, great as beaters.

The year of the rat is represented by free wildwoods, as well as vandals (with a cute lil beb rat) and court forces (of all things), for girls. Nike might just be giving up on this year for that part of the world, what with Yao’s presence at the Beijing Olympics and everything.

Here is a pair of vintage, OG - for our purposes - Nike Air Force One High’s, in purple and white, from 1992. This shoe is excellent for several reasons. First, it is monochrome. Only purple, purple stitching. There is some white, a swoosh, and the outsole is white. Most air forces with white outsoles can look fake; indeed, most are*. This instance is pretty real though: the quality of leather on this shoe is unbeatable. Nothing on a $700 Italian shoe I don’t mess with, but for a basketball shoe, it’s pretty damn good. These were made in China, yes, but the MIC Nikes are a little better than wherever they’re made now. This concept is nothing new, though. $2 Levi’s from Sears were sounder than any Swedish jean today, just like these dusty leathers spank a Lux out of the park like that.
You have to hand it to this shoe. It’s purple, it’s a high top, but it looks harder and tougher than a Timberland. I, myself am impressed. It should be noted that AF1s are very high, true high tops along with the AF2 and 3 High. I know my man Jay Bil has this exact pair. Reason enough to buy it, to be sure.

I suggest adding this seller to your favorites. He always has some serious heat, and those photos remind me of random stores in Delaware or Connecticut. Kind of a slip through the crack powerseller. One offs of not so much quikstrikes, but random small run shoes from the last few years you might have missed out on. I tend to have at least one of his auctions, active or otherwise, on my list at all times.

*One notable exception to this is the very fine Nike Hong Kong Air Force from, I believe, five years ago. I personally do not own a pair, but it is on my fairly short list of shoes I wish to buy, and maybe look at for twenty minutes when they come in the mail.

Here is one Lebron that’s fly. The low of the II. IMO the best low Lebron out there. It tends to look a little beat, but that’s because doggs haven’t been wearing them icy in a minute. But with some black socks, you’d be killing it. Cheap, too!

The illest of the forces. Coach Leather! Not as good as Gucci or LV, but good enough for two feet, if you ask me. Plus, a rare colorway (not the shoe, but of shoes in general), make this ragamuff a winner. Are these really a $200 shoe though? Come on.

What does everyone think of Chris Paul being in the running the MVP? Considering how odd votes are drawn to the trophy, it might be possible. But I’m not quite sure it’s his to win. First of all, Mo Pete is why that team is doing better, you know I’m a Raps fan. Paul IS nasty though, but he has a pretty good team. And PG’s should be their team’s MVP to begin with, but that’s me. It’s probably Lebron’s or KG’s to lose, in my opinion Lebron because his team is so putrid. I mean, they’re behind the Knicks in FG%. SMH. As for Garnett, I really feel like he’s doing more coaching than playing.. and he’s doing a lot of playing. They’re like a hot dog away from messing with a 1950s Indians or 70s Canadiens vibe, player coach and all that. Boston did a 180 because Jesus is spreading the floor and Garnett is heavier than.. well, Jesus. But the cavs, Lebron is getting incrementally better.. but those are Lebron increments, which are jumps most men will never make.

ps can we talk about Jason Williams
-friends with Randy Moss
-good hair
-complains
-is gangsta
Why doesn’t he have a shoe?

A bit of a short post, although I don’t mean to be neglectful. I’m just in the middle of moving and doing a few other things. I assure you this lapse has nothing to do with my work ethic, the seasons, or frequency of heatful auctions, but the return might have a little to do with the fact that there’s a Heat game on. Sweet…

1. The chlorophyll trainer is cleaner than most air maxes. It’s hard sometimes to believe John McEnroe wore them because they’re so much boxier and stronger than he is. Though some of my faves wear the SBs, only these colors are doable in my opinion, however, to be honest, these and the energies (good luck finding those) might be a little too unhumorous for regular wear in the 2008.

2. Year of the Mouse Court Forces? Is it Year of the Mouse? And if it is, do we really want to bring it in with Court Forces? That’s like having a muffin on your birthday. I really love all the Year Of Forces, they’re some of the best looking all white forces, and the term is one of my favorite eBay qualifiers. I guess if you don’t really like your girl, you can buy her these.

3. Not really a sneaker, but if you won this auction, laminated this, put it on a string and wore it, you’d get more stares than that footaction manager who’s been rocking the XXIIIs since March.

I really, really wish I wasn’t watching a Heat game now. Luckily CC has been sending me Seinfeld quotes throughout this update.

Best..

Nike Hoya Terminators — size 14 - Starting bid at 5K for a piece of history. Reasons you should buy this (now): besides general flyness, whoevers played bass for GBs rocked em in the NYC HC insert, the leather is denser, less puffy and better than the reissues, and it’s not a reissue. This was a shoe that 23 years ago you would only see on your TV thanksgiving weekend and some Saturday afternoons. And you wouldn’t even see it, only your son would if he stared really hard. Iller than any Dunk, one of the biggest drops from OG to retro, mainly because of the OG’s untouchability. Cop this and get Sheryl Swoopes pregnant then give it to your pride and joy for the diamond anny.

Nike Air Force V — size 10 - Buy it now at $275. One of the few high tops of this caliber to not get retro-ed yet. Although the shoe veers a little too much to air ultra flight/poor man style shoes for my taste. A very barren white shoe. Some more swoosh on this thing and they’d look like a basketball shoe, and not something the free newspaper guys wore in the rain. These are always on eBay, but I’m just saying. I don’t know in what universe these are worth $275 though.

The same seller has a Carolina blue pair up too, these are gonna go cheap, but no doubt will crumble right off your feet the first time you leave your hermitcally sealed anti-gravity chamber. You have to be at least 250 lb or positive to pull off this shoe.

Nike Carnivore — size 9.5
At any given time there is a pair of these on eBay. Would love to buy every pair as they come up all year and give everyone I know a pair for Christmas next year. Kind of an expensive gag, but funny to watch people try to figure out whether to hook the straps up OVER their jeans or under them, etc. (If you want a cheap version of this gag, you can buy everyone this). Of all the bad sneakers that exist in the world, this might be the one that tempts me the most often. Funny that the auction says they are “100% authentic” — I would really tip my hat to a bootlegger who was producing these guys.

One of the better shoes nike has ever made or run with. Sheeds, there were about 5 of them. First, if I’m not mistaken, the white (low), then the black, then another one, then the red. After that, there was a duotone or two, but by this point I had moved up north and it was harder to follow. Nike put a lot of time and money into the Sheed line, and a lot of extras. We’d see lows, monochrome. He’d wear mostly pistons colorways, highs. But how fly did they look on gettyimages or in SLAM?Out of all the things Rasheed Wallace was known for - big man, would foul out, would get T’d up, took that game to OT last year with a 1940s grandma-belly shot from half court, can have a decent work ethic, was a Tarheel (and a good one), is sometimes motivated, but not always, is always important (the Pistons can’t even beat the bucks without him), he will shut down Chris Bosh like it’s going out of style, he got sent away from portland for being a bad influence (in the 90s!), the NBA dress code was instituted because of him, his championship wrestling belt and his garbage bag, he sat out a quarter of the regular season because of technicals, he does not have one regional Detroit ad during the many, many league pass games I copped last year, the thing on his head - the most impressive is that he has played his entire career, college, Portland, Detroit and presumably high school, in Nike Air Force 1s.Do you know what that means? It is impossible to convey what kind of a feat this is. I did this for a weekend, I am quite thin, and I could barely make it to work the next week. After a game in Taiwans (that’s right) and a game in these same black sheeds, I was feeling the effects of a shoe as old as I am. My knees were shattered, my feet felt like loose bones in a bag, my back was tight and I had the shittiest kneck. These shoes have no support and very very little air. That a big fellow - and sheed is about 7′3, 500 lb - can pivot and shimmy, shoot, post up (well..not that last one) and lead the league in winshares*, in shoes designed more for being a hustler Barry than playing hoops, makes the rest of his life not seem like a New Yorker article.I wore this very pair on the train and got one of the best sneaker related compliments of my life (wealthy dowager). But after balling my spindly frame felt like shaq on Thanksgiving. Sheed is the guy, he does it himself. He’d be into that auction title, check that out. These shoes sell themselves, despite serious hindrance. This is why I will leave the room when the spurs come on but I will watch Pistons basketball on a sunny day. Whatup George Blaha..Click this link to see to believe:*probobly