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…

220198380670 One of the stranger shifts in perspective in the sneaker game has been Nike’s complete shift to helping out sneakerheads, throwing them bones where they didn’t used to. In 2003 pining for rare airs and developing taste on Niketalk would mean something, but not yield much in the way of results. Like a wildwood? Too bad; only two will drop this year, and in colors you wouldn’t predict (what’s up, rhino). Now though it seems Nike is meeting her minions halfway, throwing out orange and paisley Joy Division Trainer IIs for all the college kids out there.. and it’s been five years since I was fucking with it for a year. The mask at Nike seems to be down, at least for the casual, sneakerhead division. You bark loud enough, ask for bright shoes, she’ll give them to you. I sort of miss the days when the old girl was an opaque monolith, giant, incalculable. What got pimped and why was never apparent, though sometimes she’d throw you a bone. Why did she drop those Mowabbs (scroll way down for AJ’s take)? Why did she make Mids, and then dead ‘em?  

These tech challenges fall with the latter. The originals were great shoes, with a great ad campaign, to be sure, and could hold their own on the quality of concept scale with any Jordan, Force, Flight, or Trainer, depending who you ask. But, forgotten to the sands of time, their image languished on the shelf. Rightly so: Andre Agassi, their face, cut his hair, copped a long term girl, and eventually fell off. As for the clothes.. weren’t no doggs wearing these like they did Jordan wear. So leave it to a handful of bums to bid up mislisted auctions, right around the New Hampshire primaries. Leave it to doggs making threads, nerds buying cred, bored men filling their nights with the rest of their paychecks.. So Nike hollered, and hooked some doggs up with a great shoe, one some have been bumping in the corner for a minute. But by this point it was too late… 

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?

I would like to apologize for the light neglect washed over this blog. I have just relocated to a different country and my affairs have been in the air for a little bit. I just unpacked my own computer yesterday and after a day on the phone with Time-Warner, we are back in business.  

I  figured I’d start off this new phase with a representative sneaker, the Air Max 97 Gold/Red. Impact wise this is the best shoe Nike has made in fifteen years and taste-wise, it might be the best they’ve ever made. I was never a big fan of 95s, at least on my feet, but the 97 is a subtler, matte, flattened take on that admittedly revolutionary shoe. Yes, the 95 was designed after a skeleton and the 97 was designed after a shoe; yes, Eric Clapton owns a jet painted like a 95 but no one owns any conveyance resembling a 97*. Compton rapper The Game gave a shout-out to the 95s back when he was good (or back when his beats were, anyways), and the only musicians I have seen affiliated with 97s have been that band Red Snapper, of which the less said about them, the better.

But I still maintain the 97 is a better shoe. The 95 has a wide, wide last and is fatter than most air maxes and some air forces. It looks very strange with slim fitting, or at least modestly fitting jeans - If you’re wearing skinny Nudies or what have you, you might be more interested in beatle boots. It is also a tall shoe, with an almost exaggerated midsole and is only nomenclaturally a low-top.

The 97, on the other hand, is short enough that it might be the most low-profile Nike produced outside the odd tennis model. The colorways, while not as exciting as the 95’s, have more staying power**. They didn’t try to do anything too outrageous, color wise, because the design was already so out there. All those little lines, the infinite air all around the bottom, but still not much of it, why would they need a turquoise or teal? White and silver, gold and white, both with some red, do the job and match your jeans, khakis, or even your suit pants (if you’re bold). A caveat on this shoe: it is extremely narrow, with a low toebox. If you have a wide or high foot, don’t order these off eBay, or conversely, take out the insole.

*besides the shoes, duh.
**to be sure, the neon 95 is pretty untouchable from a design and color-wheel standpoint.

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..

me: Here you go.
game over
3:48 PM whentigersfight: fuck man
3:49 PM me: game over
perioid
whentigersfight: for real
3:50 PM me: thats like i dunno man
a box of DS raped asses or whatever
whentigersfight: hahahaha right
3:51 PM me: murder
id shank a dude for those in my size
real talk
3:53 PM whentigersfight: haha
my homeboy whos over now is flipping
those are his siz
e
3:54 PM me: oh man
he has to cop those man
whentigersfight: hahahha
me: take out a home loan
sell a few 45s
3:55 PM whentigersfight: hahahaha yeah right
3:56 PM me: lol
whentigersfight: my boss was talking the other day about buying a house
3:57 PM like
“i think id have to sell like, 10 45s”
so sick
me: lolol
thats so fucking cool
my pops like
wrote a book
whentigersfight: those shoes in hitop would be sick
me: worked 2 jobs
lol
whentigersfight: hahahaha
right
me: oh yea the grails
whentigersfight: yeah for real
me: there are like 5 metallic high jordan 1s
3:58 PM orange, purple, green
whentigersfight: fuck
me: jay bil found a photo online of one that was tagged
3:59 PM like a dude just painted his metallic purple 1 highs
saddest thing ive seen

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

*

OG Nike Air Mowabb — size 9.5 - Here is what Sami said about these shoes in Trumbull Escapades ish #1 in July 2004

This shoe dropped in 1991 as part of the ACG series but more importantly, it was the debut of the Mowabb colorway. The juxtapostion of burnt orange/royal blue defined the Mowabb look, but there is more to be said about the aesthetics of the sneaker itself. It looked like the Hurache LE and the Jordan VI had a baby. Defintely ACG’ish, yet it maintained a crucial edge over many other models in the ACG line due to its relatively Mondrian use of colors and excellent inner sock lining. I personally don’t own a pair but thats because it will be retroed in October, so I will buy it then.

I dont know if Sami would quite speak so highly of this shoe since its now been retroed, he didn’t buy a pair and its now obvious to me at least just how dumb this sneaker is. Its so pliable its almost like a presto! And the lining isn’t excellent, its the dumbest idea. You can’t wear ankle socks with these or the lining rubs against your bare skin and gets filthy (you can see this a little in the pic below), and what kind of sock looks good sticking out of the top of that sock lining? I tried a pair of orange Lacoste socks a few times and it was one of the dumber things I have ever done. Former CEO of Turbine, Jeff Anderson even went out of his way to shake his head at these shoes when I tried wearing them around him at Atari University one year. Also you can’t get them wet.

Click on the image below to see more pics, these look to be in great shape and might not even crumble when you wear them. Kinda funny that he calls them “the classic nike hiking shoe”, the last thing you would ever want to do in these is hike anywhere except to the kitchen for another cold one.

PS - I just realized I made it sound like I dont like these. I actually love em.

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.