Life's A Beach

This Memorial Day Weekend in Long Island, New York you can see the New York Air Show at Jones Beach. Next weekend, you can catch another aerial display with the re-release of the Nike Air Force 1 "Jones Beach" quickstrike.


This limited AF1 Low originally dropped in 2009 in the Jones Beach area of Long Island at sneaker shops like Extra Butter. But New Yorkers and some lucky sneakerheads across the country will be able to find them at select Nike accounts June 4th.


What's the history behind these shoes? Well, Jones Beach is a state park located on Long Island. The park is known for its excellent beaches (averaging 6 million visitors a year) and is a regular summer getaway spot for people in the metropolitan NY area. The area is also known for the Nikon Theater, a popular musical venue.


Such a clean and simple colorway. The shoe features a majority canvas upper with clear outsole, with reflective touches on the leather portion around the heel.




The insole of the left shoe has "Strong Island" imprinted on it; this is the nickname Long Island residents gave their island.


The right insole has a map of Long Island imprinted on it, as does the print below the clear outsoles.



The tongue tag features the Jones Beach Water Tower.


I'm hoping to get my hands on a pair. Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Complex Decisions

Complex Magazine has always been a great source for sneaker info. Whether it's pics of the season's hottest kicks or a feature on the player/rapper/celebrity they are inspired by, they are always on point.

But I was dumbfounded by the latest June/July 2010 issue. The "Top 50 Basketball Shoes Of All Time" list is full of questionable selections. I know any top "whatever" list is usually opinion-based and up for discussion, but there are some choices that make no sense whatsoever.

Here are five dubious choices that I just cannot understand...

Bad choice #5 - Nike Air Maestro (Complex #13 all-time)


How the heck is this shoe even mentioned in the top 13? I owned the original release of this shoe growing up and found it to be a performance beast (the retro was not luxurious - no surprise), but its not even Pippen's best shoe. Hell, its not even the best Air Maestro! C'mon, Complex!

Bad choice #4 - Puma Clyde (Complex #14 all-time)


The Puma Clyde was the first signature shoe ever for a player (Walt Frazier in 1973) and it's ranked #14 behind the Air Maestro? Are you kidding me!? It even says in the Complex caption for the Clyde: "this shoe is easily one of the most recognizable shoes in sneaker history", yet its behind the Air Maestro? Hmmmm.....

Bad choice #3 - Fila Ninety6 (Complex #19 all-time)


Also known as Grant Hill's second year shoe, the Ninety6 is not a bad shoe by any means. I actually found it to be one of the better performing GH models. But this selection by Complex is just another case of this shoe not even being Grant Hill's best shoe (and probably Fila's most popular basketball shoe ever), the Grant Hill 1.

Having worked footwear retail in the mid-90s at FootAction & Foot Locker, I saw GH's rookie year shoe smoke. Everyone wanted them. Surprisingly, on release day I saw these Filas sell quicker than some Air Jordan releases -- and I lived in Chicago! The GH2, GH3 and GH4 never sold as well as the first did.

I found these shoes to be cheaply made & not worthy of their $100+ price tag, but people ate them up. Unfortunately, as Grant Hill's career worsened, so did his shoes.

Bad choice #2 - Nike Air Flight Huarache (Complex #5 all-time)


Don't get me wrong - I love this shoe. It's one of my personal favorites. I would even put it top 10 all-time for hoops sneakers. Rocked by the Fab Five of Michigan, this shoe dropped during the mid-90s boom of hoops sneakers. The technology of this shoe, at the time, was amazing - such a lightweight shoe with that sockliner fit, minimalistic upper and excellent cushioning.

But #5 is just too lofty. Just take a peek at what Complex's #1o is. The Nike Air Force 1. I don't know about you, but top 5 to me means iconic and the AF1 is just that. Swap the Huarache with the AF1 and all is right in the world.

Bad choice #1 - adidas Superstar (Complex #20 all-time)


This is just a flat-out travesty. Forget basketball shoes -- the adidas Superstar is one of the most iconic sneakers ever. Also known as "Shell Toes" because of the shape of the toebox, this shoe was created in 1969 and remains unchanged today.

First rocked in an NBA game by Kareem Abdul Jabbar, made popular by a certain rap group from the 1980s...how is this shoe #20!? I don't know how this shoe isn't a top 5 or top 3 selection.

Final Four

The Orlando Magic avoided a sweep by the Boston Celtics with an overtime victory.

In the Celtics' first three victories, Rasheed Wallace frustrated Orlando center Dwight Howard with his stingy defense. This time around, Superman owned Wallace (and Kendrick Perkins) offensively (Howard 32 pts, 16 reb) and defensively (Perkins 3 pts, 4 reb & Sheed 4 pts, 3 reb).

Besides Sheed's lousy play, one other thing was different about him last night...


His shoes! He was rocking Nike Air Sharklaids, an oddity for such a devout Nike Air Force One afficionado. Sheed has worn AF1s in nearly every game as a pro. I believe this marks the first time since his Portland days that Sheed has worn something other than an AF1 in a game.

It clearly affected his game, so much that Sheed switched back to his AF1 Highs!


Here's a look at what the rest of the NBA was wearing for the Conference Finals (click on any pics to enlarge).

In the East...



Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett in TS Supernatural Commander PEs and Glen Davis in Hyperizes...


Big Baby in Hyperizes, Pierce in his unreleased Nike Air Legacy, KG in adidas TS Supernatural Commander PEs and Ray Allen in Jordan Icons GRs.


Ray Ray's Icons...


Jameer Nelson in Reebok Talkin Krazy PEs and Superman in TS Supernatural Commander PEs.


Still in shock over the Sheed Sharkalaids...


Vince Carter rockin' his usual PE Shox...


If you look closely in the background, Rashard Lewis is wearing those hideous Pippen hybrid Nike Air Max-A-Lots. C'mon, Raw Lew...


Rondo in Hyperfuse PEs (sidenote - check out his Hyperdunk Low PEs).

Off to the West...


Kobe in AZK V POPs, Jason Richardson in Peaks and Robin Lopez in adidas TS Commanders.


Del Sol'd out...


Shannon Brown (Zoom Kobe V) contesting Goran Dragic (Zoom Kobe IV)


Pau Gasol in Laker Hyperizes...


J Rich (Sparty!) in his signature Peak shoes (here's both home & away models, via his Twitter account)


If Kobe's POPs had the snake print instead of the diamond print, I'd be all over them...


Odom (Del Sol AZK V) and Gasol (Hyperize) sandwiching Amare (KD2). D Fisher in Del Sols too.


Grant Hill in Hyperizes...


Steve Nash in all white Cradle Rocks. And if you didn't see Nash fixing his own broken nose before a free throw, it was quite impressive.

I think the Lake Show takes care of business tonight...


Hat tip to my boy Alister for the pics.

Numb3rs Game

Number of days till Lebron chooses a new team = 38


Number of days till the World Cup (check out this awesome new Nike ad here) = 18


Number of days till the Infrared Air Jordan VI pack drops = 25


Number of wins Kobe needs to get back to the NBA Finals = 2


Number of days till the Powder AJ IX Retro releases = 5


Number of days spent sick after looking at what Brand Jordan is releasing later this year...the "Un-Powders" = 2


Number of wins till the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup = 4 (Go Hawks!)


Number of fat tongues on the Koston Nike Dunk Low Pro SB = zero


Number of wins Ubaldo Jimenez of the Colorado Rockies is on pace to win = 26.