Baller 21

Michael Jordan in Adidas?

In 1984, after Jordan went third in the NBA Draft following Olajuwon and Sam Bowie, David Falk, Jordan’s agent, negotiated a $3 million, five-year package with the Chicago Bulls. Falk’s next goal was to sign Jordan to various endorsement deals.
According to Swoosh, in chapter thirty-eight, Air Becomes A Man, athletic shoe companies [...]

Sneaker Wars // Adidas, Puma, and the Dassler Brothers

Chapter 4 in Swoosh: The Unauthorized Story of Nike, entitled Shoe Wars, introduces an intriguing account of the origins of Adidas and Puma.
Rudolf, the oldest brother, and Adi were born into the Dassler family that would become one of the world’s most preeminent athletic shoemaking companies.  During the economic struggle of World War I, the [...]

The Unauthorized Story of Nike

In college, a book on the shelf of one of my Kinesiology professors caught my attention. That book was entitled, Swoosh: The Unauthorized Story of Nike and the Men Who Played There.
What is intriguing about this book is that it was the first book about the inside story of Nike, Inc., [...]

Basketball Shoe Testing #2

I received an email the other day informing me that I will be receiving my second pair of basketball shoes for the product testing gig I am participating in.

It’s a little hard to see in the photo, but the sneakers have the shox technology in the soles, which is a first for me. [...]

Sneaker Design Contest // Update

I was asked the other day how the Sneaker Design Contest that I entered turned out.
At first I had trouble even uploading a design (nothing would work on the website), but after emailing the web master, I was then able to directly sent him a couple of designs via email.
I had not [...]

Help me pick a Sneaker Design

Thanks to the suggestion from my brother-in-law Jose, I finally got my hands on a editing application (Gimp) alternative to Photoshop.
Now I can enter the Shoe Design Contest that I mentioned a few posts ago!
I just began working on a few basic designs last night and I’m continuing to learn how to use the [...]

Sneaker Design Contest // Soles 4 Souls

Along with the shoe campaign that I mentioned in the previous post, there is also a sneaker design contest that is linked with Soles 4 Souls.
Run Athletics and Scion present a Humanitarian Sneaker Design contest to raise funds and shoes for Sole 4 Souls.
Sign Up: Enter to create a [...]

Soles 4 Souls Shoe Campaign

If you didn’t know by now, I love sneakers and outreach initiatives.
So, stumbling across this 50,000 pairs of shoes in 50 days campaign, I got excited and motivated to take part.
Here’s the deal. Soles 4 Souls is a a shoe charity dedicated to helping those in need with the gift of shoes.
They [...]

Sneaker Order Drama

For those of you that are just checking in, I was offered some sneakers for entering an essay contest.
The kicks below are what I originally wanted, but they were out of my size.

Ok. So….I decided on this sneaks in a size 15 below.

Sweet… I got the box in the mail today. Open them up [...]

Sneaker Updates and My Dream Store

As I noted here, the sneakers that I picked for participating in the essay contest were no longer available.
So I had to go with option two:

“The Nike Blazer Mid Premium is an update on Nike’s first basketball shoe, introduced in 1972 and worn by NBA basketball greats such as George “Ice Man” Gervin of the [...]