All About Those Lives

I gave the Davidson family the signed portraits of Ashley over the weekend at the memorial service for her. That part wasn't easy, emotional wise. Rest in Paradise Ashley Davidson and my condolences to the Davidson family.

And during the upcoming NBA All-Star Weekend, Michael Jordan will , coincidentally, turn half a century this Sunday. The day before that His 28th edition Air Jordan basketball sneaker that nobody will buy will be released at the same time his first sneaker from 1985 in the Black/Royal blue colorway will drop, which everyone and their girlfriends mothers will buy.

The 1985 joints releasing only at House of Hoops Foot Lockers (Westfield Topanga, Beverly Center) for $140

The 2013 Air Jordan XX8 releasing at every foot wear store you can think of.


Finally, this fool right here....

his life is like a 15 minute movie this past week. If it were a reality show, than LL Cool J should play as him (yes, I'm a few days late on that joke, and I think the Huffington Post did this page on purpose). 

Anyway thanks for your time reading this, and spoil your girl tomorrow. 

The Devil Wears Air Jordans

As a sneaker enthusiast, I can't believe I actually owned a pair of these.

I took this photo of those Air Jordan 1's at my homeboy Frank's crib just right after I purchased these just three years ago. I was actually in Chatsworth to pay off some fines I owe at the Courthouse there during that summer of 2009. I was doing security in the Antelope Valley then and I just got my first check from them which was $1,600 ($300 from that check went to the bank to clear off some bullshit holds I was too lazy to take care of then). So after that, while I was still in a good ass mood, I decided to drop by the Northridge Fashion Center to cop some stuff since I was within the area. I went to Champs to see what they have, and on the display, they have a pair of the Air Jordan 1 60+ pack that was released that summer, and this was a month after they dropped. Then a sales associate came up to me and asked me what size I wanted (similar to the Fire Red IV retros at the Finish Line I blogged about two months ago). I told him my size (12 and 13) and he went to the back to see if it was available. I first, I though we were wasting out times since I assumed that the pack was sold out and they only had the smallest size available, but apparently to my surprise (again, like the Fire red IV story) he walked out with two packs with the different sizes I asked for. 

I thought them shits was sold out as I asked him. He told that somehow, they still managed to have a full size run of the 60+ pack. Reason I thought they were gonna be sold out because of the Black/Red 1's that came with the pack, but I really wanted it for the Boston Celtics colorway of the Jordan 1's that was also included in the pack. (I don't like the Celtics, but I like how the colorway turned out on the shoe) Again, this was a month after it dropped and typically at that point, most of the original Air Jordan retros with the OG colorways are sold out within minutes after the sneaker stores open. Anyway, I bought the pack which turned up to be $310 plus tax IN RETAIL and then bounced with my new pairs of sneakers. I went to Franks house to take photos of the shoes with his camera, but mostly for the Black/Red 1's cause I was planning on not wearing them so that I can sell them. A month later, I sold those Black/Red 1's for a hundred bucks and still kept the Celtics colorway for another year until I sold those to my cousin on New Years Day 2011. 

To this day, I still imagined of what if I never sold those Black/Red 1's and what if I actually wore them. That shoe was retroed 3 times since it dropped in 1985 and they made another retro two years after that. The history behind this particular shoes was unusual if you think about it. 

Right after he was drafted into the NBA, Michael Jordan was invited by Nike executives to come check out a presentation that they did for him and to also have him sign with the company. Michael refused to go because he really (I mean, REALLY) wanted to sign with either Adidas or Converse cause not only were they the top selling basketball sneakers at in the mid 80's, but also, Michael wore when he was playing at North Carolina. Plus the two companies has athletes who won NBA championships endorsing them: Adidas had Kareem Abdul Jabbar who wears them in the NBA and Converse had Julius "Dr. J" Erving wearing their pair, along with Larry Bird and Earvin "Magic" Johnson as their spokespersons. At that time, Nike wasn't a big company. It was mostly geared towards running than Basketball (the Air Force 1 that released in 1982 sold decent, but it wasn't as hyped as the Converse Weapons and the Adidas Superstar), so that made the company invest and trust in Michael as the tried to sign him. 

In 1985, his parents forced him to go to Nike's headquaters in Beaverton, Oregon, and they went with him so that he wouldn't miss out on this offer. When they got there, the suits at Nike presented him a video presentation of the shoes that they constructed for him. After that, Michael was disgusted and said that he'll look like a clown wearing the devil's shoes. Eventually after Nike kept persuaded him and giving him a 2 Million dollar contract, Michael reluctantly gave in, signed the paper, and the rest, obviously, was fucking history. If he still refused to sign with them, then I wouldn't have stacks to Nike shoeboxes in my room and and several other sneaker enthusiasts wouldn't have stacks of Nike shoeboxes in their rooms as well. I think I'd be wearing Adidas Superstars or some generic Payless shoes had Michael never signed with Nike. That just shows how much impact that pair of those basketball shoes (which was retailed for $65 in 1985) made throughout the years. 

Well, tomorrow I have to go with the little brother to the Newbury Park Adventist Academy in the Conejo Valley so that he can take the ACT standardized test over there, then for the rest of next week it more meetings, worthless appointments and several kids (and adults) dressing up as one of the Angry Birds consuming too much sugar this upcoming Wednesday.  Thanks for your time reading this. 

Unexpect the Expected

Judging from the recent events in London, I just wanna say on behalf, that we really suck ass at Basketball, and I'm not talking about Team USA.

For those who do not know, my ethnicity is Nigerian. I was born here in the United States while the two great people who created me were born over there. I honestly didn't know up until last Thursday that Nigeria had a basketball team in the Olympics. I mean, I know there are some other athletes from my relatives' country competing and all but damn, SINCE WHEN DID WE HAVE A FUCKING BASKETBALL TEAM? AND OUT OF ALL OTHER TEAMS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, WE HAD TO GO UP AGAINST THE "110% EXTRA CREDIT A PLUS" TEAM USA BASKETBALL TEAM?!?!

After I found that out, I then peeped the game and already this showed up just as soon as I turned into the NBC Sports Network (the gay peacock-suckers version of ESPN)  just to support for the hell of it, I see this shit to no surprise.

Yes, that was Kobe Bryant with so much real estate on the hardwood floor to execute a rare perfect slam dunk. I though he doesn't do dunks anymore like he used to during the "Shaq/Kobe 3 championships" era from the early 2000's and yes, that score was legit, not some photoshopped screen cap straight out of NBA LIVE 2K-something. By halftime, this game goes worse than worse itself. Lebron, Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Deron "Taper-ass" Williams and the rest of Team USA were just chillin' at the bench being entertained from the score and the game itself, and hell, even the commentators were having a field day. Also Craig Sager from the NBA on TNT was one of the sideline reporters for this game, and that fool was wearing a polo shirt, not one of his loud swagger rainbow suits that he wears every Thursday Night during the basketball season. Again, another rare sight. 

After the first half, I turned it off, feeling all embarrassed and disappointed. I even shut off the Computers and mobile devices cause every one I knew were all surprised about the 50+ point margin difference and talking about it and making jokes about it for a while, including making the front page on the newspaper the following day. But fuck it, its just a game. A practice session. A high school JV basketball game gone bad. That's what I've been telling my little brother about it for two hours (true story) after he got very upset from hearing about the outcome of Team USA versus Nigeria. Again, we suck at basketball. 

So what other stuff happened over the past week. Well, the Air Jordan IV Fire Red colorway dropped last Saturday. I though these were gonna create massive hype similar to the Olympic VII from last month, but somehow, this was a smooth release. I went on Niketalk and the Sole Collector forums to expect people bitching about the shoe being sold out in 15 seconds, but most people there managed to get their pairs. Before I left for work, I went on Nike.com to see the sizes they don't have left. To my surprise, THEY STILL HAD THE BIG SIZES LEFT IN STOCK. From 11-13. I never even planned on copping those IVs, and I already have the Air Jordan IVs in the White/Cement-Grey colorway. 

But that shit on Nike's website was nothing. When I got to the Topanga Mall right when it opened, I stopped by the Finish Line there to see if they had any sizes left just for the fuck of it since I didn't intend to buy this like I stated in the previous paragraph. Place was dead with 5 of their Sales associates just chilling at the cash register counter. One of the sales associates asked me what size do I wear. I was expecting him to say that all of the Retro Fire red IVs were sold out just like in every Air Jordan Retro release, and keep in mind this was 30 minutes after the mall opened. I then told him my size and then he went to the back of the stock room. 

I was shocked when he came out with a pair of Size 12 (yes, that's my shoe size since I was 10, no joke) Fire Red IVs and that assume that this Finish Line, as well as a few other stores here at Westfield Topanga  had a full size run of these kicks minutes after the store opened, which was a first for an OG colorway since late 2007 I believe, otherwise, these would've been gone like the White/Cement IV release I witnessed. By the way, this was the first time ever that the Fire Red IVs were dropped in it true original design without the Lasering and the Mars Blackmon logo from its previous releases. I could've just copped these if I didn't have to buy new work shoes from Payless Shoesource (I got tired of wearing my Black Nike Dunks so I had to get some proper footwear) and some $20+ lunch and dinners the day before. 

Wasn't on instagram (every photographer should have one on their phones to promote their business) the whole weekend that much cause my T-Mobile G2 had no power in it battery and I misplaced my charger until I found it this morning. I had to rely on a cell phone Kiosk upstairs to charge it for 10 minutes which is the most that I can have it charged, but then again, the power went out fast in 15 minutes while I was listening to some MP3s on the device. Whatever. 

Not only did the weekend turned out pale, but it lingered on earlier this morning as well. For some strange reason, my Yahoo Email account (required in order to get a Flickr account) forced me to change my password. Then after I picked up some prints from Samy's Camera, we planned to go have lunch at Islands in Century City, but they didn't have a parking lot and my little brother hated parking on the streets in the westside. So we ended up going over to the one in Porter Ranch instead. It was my first time eating there at Isalnd and I had the Quesadillas while the little brother had the big wave hamburger. That place was really good. I bought him Islands since he's gonna turn 20 one week from now as one of his gifts. 

This whole thing wasn't a negative rant. It looked like it, but just a description of how my week went. I'm already used to dealing with this type of shit, yet its part of life. Thanks for your time reading this, and I'll leave you with this epic photo I took of Scarlett Johannson on 35mm film right after she's leaving her Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony back in May, and I LITERALLY had less than two seconds to capture this on film, and I'm so glad this shot turned out great after I got it processed and developed. (had to make the watermarks large so that some conceded, degenerate asshole wouldn't download it and clain its theirs)

Putting Lin My Two Weeks

President's Day weekend, Washington's Birthday, or whatever the hell this past three day weekend was labeled, fell way below the curve.

Wasn't able to obtain the Air Jordan White/Cement IVs since the Footlocker I went to only sold 20 of the 25 pairs ( the other five went to the sales associates) There were two people in front of me at the line before one of the sales associates announced that the shoes were sold out after the third person in front of me got his pair. Nothing but random acts of shadyness. This was like the time when I was gonna get a pair Nike Dunk SB "Skate or Dies" four Februarys ago in 2008. I called the Active in Burbank, since that one was closer, every day around the week that they were supposed to drop cause the thing about Nike SB's is that they have no official release dates, the stores sells them whenever the shipment of the SB's come in (you start becoming knowledgeable about this type of this when you have interest in sneakers) I didn't call them on St. Valentines Day cause I was with some girl from Pierce College at the time, and then on the day after I called them, they told me that the Skate or Dies were already gone the day before. That shit was fucked up, but shit happens.

Just like I did with the Skate or Dies, I'll get over myself not getting the White/Cement IV's which I've been thinking about ever since they announced it late last year. Fools were spending their tax refunds on it which was smart for Nike to drop the shoe around this time during the month, as well as the All Star game the week before and Michael Jordan's 49th birthday which many people in line at the Panorama Mall didn't know about when I asked them that. This isn't a upset rant or an outbusrt or some type of therapy reflecting. I'm just telling what happened. And the people that gave up sleeping in bed or bathing for long hours to get these? I'll give props to the ones who REALLY want these just to wear for the lore and historic legacy of the IV's but NO FUCKING PROPS AT ALL to the one ones who've never seen Do The Right Thing or know anything about these kicks and just want to make a quick profit off of them (for example: Flight Club LA is selling these for almost $400). But the bottom line is this: I just wanted the shoes.

Mainly the ONLY positive portion this entire past weekend was watching the New York Knicks defeating the fuck out of Dallas Mavericks on Sunday Morning. Never a fan of both teams, especially Dallas since the swept the Lakers in the playoffs last year and Lamar Odom left Lakerland to go play for Mark Cuban's team which was bullshit. Plus, I think the media should just lay low of the gassing and the overhype on everything about Jeremy Lin from the Knicks, including the writers from Saturday Night Live from last weeks episode that I didn't see, yet I did read about it later. Dude's a excellent persistent athlete based on his performance last Sunday, but please just leave out his personal life in the press and respect the man's performance on the court. Like I said in the previous post, he's just doing his job of Lin-ning... I mean Winning games like every other sports athlete, which got him on the cover of this weeks Time Magazine and Sports Illustrated.

Speaking of Sports Illustrated....

Bought this during the campout, was surprised that all the young dudes there didn't give a damn about my copy of the Swimsuit Issue. I'm just glad to see Kate Upton get the cover this year but wouldn't been more better if she got it last year.

I'll end this here. I felt like myself as some 15 year old High School freshman typing this post about sneakers, basketball and women in swimsuits. Staying on the topic of age, I'll be turning 24 just two Mondays from now, on the 5th of March. SHOUTOUT TO ALL THE FELLOW PISCES OUT THERE! There's gonna be at least two different birthdays every day next month aside from mine. Thanks for taking your time reading this and get me something good in 13 days.

Midnight Love

I'm sure the President and the First lady must've watched the late night Slow Jams-genre music video block on BET back when they were going steady (or dating) in the 1990's.

By the way, Christmas Day is next Saturday, one week from now. Shit, I remember when it would take forever for that day to come. Plus, December 25, from what I know, is gonna be the only time the Lakers will play a home game on a Saturday, against the overhyped Miami Heat, which is usually reserved for the Clippers.

(Photo credited to Pete Souza, Official White House Photographer)

In the White Heat (jersey) of that Night

Lebron James was just minding his own business by making business signing with Pat Riley's Miami Heat ball club on Friday.

I'm not gonna say very much about all this, which I might by accident. Hell, it took me two days to come up with a title for this since I had 25 different references that go with the words Miami and Heat. I would've titled this "The Miami Rebound Machine", but Gloria Estefan is a season ticket holder for the team. I also would've titled this "Khloe and Kourtney Take Lebron and Bosh to Miami" but Khloe Kardashian-Odom is married and Kourtney Kardashian is a mother so they wouldn't have time to do that, or I could've used "Three C-Heat", but I might still have to have Pat Riley's permission to use that as a title, even though its his team.

I'm gonna wait until I see some performance in the American Airlines Arena that these three will produce on the hardwood court during the regular season. After that, then I'll say what I feel about the team. Plus, that hour long special with a 75 MINUTE COMMERCIAL FREE SPORTSCENTER FOLLOWING THAT wasn't really necessary, but then again, this is about a 25 year old celebrity athlete who signed a $93 million dollar Nike contract (which is more than Michael Jordan's rookie Nike contract) during his start in the pros, which he also gets thrown into major exposure and heated (no pun intended) debates in sports bars and videos on the internet that featured Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan.

Not many people liked his "decision", especially those who followed and looked up to him since day one back in 2003. The first time I heard of Lebron James was right after I came back from spending the first two weeks of June in Nigeria with my family that year. I went to Cleveland High School the month after, which was around the time Kobe got accused in that "incident" in Eagle, Colorado. Everywhere I went around the campus, I'd always see some dude or girl wearing a jersey that says Cleveland on the front and JAMES 23 in the back. I thought it was some student athlete that died during the regular school year, but it was an NBA jersey instead of the school jersey. Keep in mind, I wasn't into the NBA that much back then. I only focused on the Lakers since they were the most talked about team that time, despite being eliminated from the playoffs courtesy of the San Antonio Spurs.

As the months went on later that year during my Sophomore year at Kennedy High, I keep hearing about Lebron everywhere in the newspapers, Sports Illustrated magazines, Nike Commercials, the Laker games (when they had Malone and Payton) I'd be watching whenever Stu Lantz and Paul Sunderland (before he left and got replaced by Joel Meyers cause Paul subbed for the late Chick Hearn after he passed on in 2002) would always bring him up which made me get more interested in the NBA more. The jersey craze was poppin' that year, and people would be wearing different $300 throwback Lebron Cavaliers jerseys along with some Air Force Ones or some Air Zoom Generations, which is his first Nike shoe.

Now that's no longer a reality as people disowned those Lebron Cavaliers' jerseys with lighters and pyromania as well as sneakers being too unaffordable during this recession. Hell, even the owner of the Cavs went off on his ex-player by writing an emotional letter displaying his true colors towards Lebron's decision. Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cavs, wasn't supposed to do that cause Lebron is legally a free agent and not under contract, but that's how Cleveland sports fans have been displaying their emotions through out the years aside from pro Basketball. If they want to break this "losing curse streak", the town's sports franchises just need to make very smart decisions, which is what the offseason is for. I hope the addition of Bryon Scott as a head coach and his experience in the playoffs of both a head coach and a former player will head adapt to the team, as well as the front office moving on with trying to avoid the loss of attendance revenue for the 2010-11 season. Same goes with the Indians and the Browns front office staff and players. They just need to keep staying focused more than they have been and do what ever they can to erase the doubts and earned the respect they must've had sometime in the past.

Sure, Lebron left his hometown to jump ship all the way down to South Beach and yes, that he upset his fans that grew with him for the past 8 years. To him, its about what he feels its best to just win some games so that he'll probably end those hot topic debates and those "playground bully jokes" on how he doesn't have any rings and that type of shit. Call him whatever you want, but just remember that he was very fortunate enough to get in the pros and got all the perks with that as a underage kid which is no longer valid nowadays in the NBA.

One last thing before I retire for the night on this slow ass weekend. Dwayne Wade should tell Lebron the difference between the white powder he uses for his pre-game ritual at the arenas to the crowd and the "other white powder" South Beach citizens use for their "post-game rituals" at the clubs on Ocean Drive. Shit, I could go on all day with the Miami jokes.

The University that Kobe Bryant almost went to back in '96...

are now champions of the world. Congrats and get that pussy tonight at the afterparties.