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.

Vintage Nike Air Zooms? Or so this guy says. It’s hard to say what this shoe is but it’s been one of the biggest ghosts in the game that I’ve come across. The first time I found it was a little over two years ago, I was checking out the crooked tongues board’s what did you wear today post, and this was on there, with no info, no further pics, no tag, no info, nothing. The poster was an OG rare air euro, with slim jeans, an air of mystery and a deep closet. What were these things? I didn’t actually find them, but my man Steve*, a Montrealer who never bought anything I’d sell, and didn’t actually buy much at all, and who got into NFL Football from his girlfriend, but he showed these things to me and put them on the case. Though I was washed up as long as two years ago, I spent a good week looking for info on these things, through my channels. But nothing. No clue, when they dropped, how much they went for, or anything. I gave up, and I think that after about six or eight months, but definitely later that year (2006), I got a handle on the handles and hooked Steve up. By that point it was too late, and Steve had spent the rest of his money buying fantasy football magazines so he could build a team lousy enough to not make the playoffs.

As far as the shoes themselves, they’re pretty special. The tag dates them to 1994, and the shape would suggest the same. The last looks to be identical to the huarache light, once a personal favorite by the entire heatunitreport.com team. Also, check out the speed lacing, which was rare on these types of shoes. It does make sense to have a light lacing system on a non air, light** shoe, but off the top of my head the only shoes I remember with these are the Lava Dome IIIs, not exactly bastions of stealth in design. No matter though. This purple and orange thing is as good an example of Beaverton’s confusing autonomy, and how it’s not long for this world.

These shoes should go for $15 or less, but are more likely than not to go the way of these, which is a shame. This shoe, cleaned up, could really turn some heads, and is a deal for under $40. It shouldn’t slip through the cracks again.

*Named have been changed. I mean, if I got into football from a girl…
**proper

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.

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…

Just watching this steelers game. Not much of a game*, here are some auctions:

Some Goldenrods. These are one of the better shoes from the OG be true to your school Dunk colorways (the only wearable colorways). They kind of got a little played out in 03/04 with the reissue, but the highs. The lows show up a lot less than the highs, which raises the cache of the shoe to something.

Is this dude for real? Mostly white air forces for $200 bucks? I’d wear these to an Imax movie, maybe get a $7 coffee with some premium gas in my Chrysler Town and Country. next.

THIS . A fucking great deal. Lava flows, the best ones have “son of lava dome” written in the baby box on the toe, and these are a level down, coming in at somewhere just above a good omelette or mislisted Jordans. The Baltoros took away a lot of the steam from all condition gear shoes but the flows remain strong.

This seller has a lot of cool stuff actually the guy selling the expensive Air Force IIs has a grip of priced heat. Much heat here: 2 pairs of OG low Barkley Alpha Forces, with the strap across the toebox and the basketball tongue. When they reissued these in 2004 they really dropped the ball on the little things, and demoted the shoe to like wack boring GR sneaker. Also check out his hot Knicks force heat, fake Nike approach’s (more lava than lava), even some Etonics and New Balances. Caveat emptor though, nothing under $100 after shipping. Oh and also if you’re bored scroll through the completed auction, you can print it out as a checklist.

* I stand corrected. This was a fine game between two teams I could not care less about. I was also impressed by the Celtics, I didn’t think they had it in them to be honest. Big Baby on fire in the last quarter. Antonio McDyess* was completely graved.

LF to more crappy games by jerks tomorrow

*

Yummy Bunny Court Victory — size 10 - If you are looking for the tip of the top in fruit pebble douche-baggery sneakers here you go. You’d probably want to offset these with a nice linen suit (in the summer), herringbone hat (all seasons) or a beltless executive trenchcoat in inclement weather. This way if you go the pharmacy, you’ll be treated with respect. Forget about walking into CHEERS though.

Used Supreme Dunk Highs (blue) — size 10.5 - These things are creased to shit and already over $100 with more than 4 days left. I would love to get a used pair that I can throw on to walk to the mart or mow the lawn, but can we plz get a used pair under a hundred? There’s a duality here: if shit’s under 100, then its basically free (basically), but spending over 55 bucks on ebay on shoes.. damn. I think I’ve done it twice? Dropping cash in person is nothing but like on the bay.. Kind of a mental commitment. Weird way to live…

Nike Kennedy — size 8 - This guy says that if you request he will clean these up to eBay standards. What a dick.

Whoops, no heat in this post. We taking the Sabbath off, doggee.

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.