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Friday, February 29, 2008

The Converse Blog's Friday Flashback: Incoming

Have you ever had a cross roads moment? Sure you have, you're alive aren't you? Well, today I am going to share with you a cross roads moment from my past. I am going all the way back to 7th grade. I remember going to JC Penny one day to purchase a pair of shoes. At the time they still had all of the hot stuff. Anyway, I had recently seen the new Converse ad for the All Star 2000. "The Shoe that started it all is back in ball," was the tagline. That ad caught me, hook, line, and sinker.

However, when I got there something different caught my eye. It was the Converse All Star Incoming. Three things jumped out at me. First was the design, I couldn't explain it but it was like nothing I had ever seen before. I think it was just that feeling you get when you see a new shoe for the first time, in person. Man those were the days.

Second, it did not feature the chevron in star logo or the Chuck Taylor patch. Nope, the logo was a simple star. I was really excited because I had never seen a basketball shoe with just the star. Thirdly, the tag had Larry Johnson on it. I was still in complete denial and shock that Grandmama had been traded from my Charlotte Hornets, to the Knicks. At the time I thought nothing good happened in New York.

It was right there that I had to make a decision. Do I stick to my guns and go with the All Star 2000, or do switch and go with the Incoming....... I went with the All Star 2000.

I wore them on the first day of 7th grade. I still remember my social studies teacher and one of the coaches at the high school, telling me to go upstairs to show my shoes to the 8th grade coach. He told me to tell him that my shoes were the shoes that the high school was wearing and that the middle school should to. I'd never been so proud of my footwear. And it was that moment that truly propelled me to my love of Converse.

Recently a pair of the Incoming made it to eBay. And even though they were 1 1/2 sizes too big, I almost bought them. I've always wondered what would have happened had I bought them instead. Well after that book, I guess I should finally show you the shoes.




I apologize for the lack of pics, but this is all I've seen online. I don't know much about them




Here is an action shot I found of LJ rocking the Incoming's as a Knick.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Converse Blog's Weapon Wednesday

I try my best not to use tagged photos on here. It's not that I don't want to give credit to where I got the pics, it's just that they look bad. For example, these pics below are tagged three different times. Really? At least they're not obstructing the view of the shoes. That is one reason why I went ahead and used these. The other is...well obvious. Teal, Mustard, Maroon. If the Weapon's ever hit ConverseOne, hint hint, this isn't far off from something I would make. So thank you 2pig.com.cn for posting these Weapons. You can hardly see it, but there appears to be a sample tag hidden on the other side of the shoe. I have a feeling that these won't make it over here, but I could be wrong.



Well I hope I brought you something you'd never seen before. Thanks for visiting and voting in the poll. Steve Nash has really pulled ahead of Chris Bosh in the poll, so it will be interesting to see if he can hang on.

Monday, February 25, 2008

The Converse Blog: WKU - Turf Pro - Name My Walls!

As I mentioned on Thursday, I was out for the weekend and off to Bowling Green to view some Converse in action. It was a game against South Alabama, and it likely decided the regular season champs for the Sun Belt. Unfortunately WKU didn't pull out a win in a really exciting game. They got revenge, sort of, two nights later when they beat down UL Monroe. I still look for them to make the dance though. Below are a few pics from the game, both feature Boris Saikam. Saikam is a senior from Douala, Cameroon. He was rocking the Converse Hops, while most everyone else was rocking the 099's.






I found a sample of the Converse Turf Pro reissued Tennis sneaker. I am not sure if these will come out, but I sure hope so. I've always really like shoes actually make for Tennis and these are classic. Enjoy.








Finally I want to make mention of a new business I am working on. Basically if you didn't know I love sneakers, and I want to open a sneaker store sometime in the near future. In order to raise funds and design the store I am selling space on the walls. $2 will buy your name on the wall of my sneaker store. In today's Lexington Herald, Jim Jordan was kind enough to write about my plans. Check out the article here. To keep updated and to buy your name on my wall head on over to www.myspace.com/NameMyWalls.

Thanks for checking out the blog and enjoy Monday, don't wish it away.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

I wanted to write today to let you all know that there won't be a Friday Flashback this week. I am leaving shortly to watch Western Kentucky play tonight. As you know WKU is the other D-1 basketball team wearing Converse this season, besides Marquette. So I am going to leave you with that video by ABC news on the Converse Century. Enjoy the weekend and go TOPS!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

The Converse Blog's Weapon Wednesday

Welcome to a wonderful Weapon Wednesday. Today's Weapon is a China exclusive and is in a white/red/silver colorway. The Weapons are white and with red stitching. These appear to be designed like the city Weapons from a year or so ago.






When you make to the heel of the shoe, you'll see what looks to be a map and then a name of a city. However, I can't really make it out so I am not sure where it is supposed to be.


Before I sign off for today, I want to give out a shout out to Acie Law who finally got some major burn for the Hawks last night. He had 16 points, 3 assist, 3 steals, and 1 rebound in 31 minutes of play. Hopefully with the recent trade for Bibby he can get some more playing time. Alright, well that's it for today. Please remember to vote in the poll, at last look Steve Nash and Chris Bosh are tied for first place.

Monday, February 18, 2008

The Converse Blog: All Star Weekend.

So that was All Star weekend. Here are some of the Converse related pictures, all from Yahoo Sports. The first two shots are from the Converse Open Gym for New Orleans. Dwyane Wade is shown passing out Team Wade 1.3's to participants. In the second pic you'll see Dwyane wearing the Converse Wade South, a casual shoe made just for Dwyane.







In this picture, Dwyane is participating in the Goldfish NBA Fit Zone, while wearing a white/blue/yellow colorway of the Wade South.


Here Dwyane is sitting in the locker room wearing Ice, real ice, and the Wade South.


This is a shot of Dwyane during the All Star game in the Wade 3.0 in the All Star colorway.




Here Dwyane Wade is wearing the China colorway of the Wade 3.0 during the skill challenge.

Below, Richard Hamilton and Joe Johnson are checking out Dwyane's Finishline exclusive colorway of the Wade 3.0.


Below, Dwyane is at Laurel Elementary School during the Day of Service.



Below, Bill Laimbeer is seen wearing CONS React during the Shooting Stars event.

Jameer Nelson is seen below giving what might have been the best Assist for the whole weekend, wearing Converse 099.


Finally, Wade is seen with his Father visiting the Ninth Ward.



Those aren't all of the Converse pics from the weekend, but it covers a lot. Thanks for checking out the blog.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

The Converse Blog: Bill Laimbeer All Star Saturday Night

Bill Laimbeer was rocking some Cons React, Cons React Accelerator RS1 Mid to be exact, tonight during All Star Saturday Night. Pics from Yahoo and Isniff.co.uk








Friday, February 15, 2008

The Converse Blog's Friday Flashback: Acropolis

Sometimes I plan out these posts well in advance, and by well I mean the day before. Other times I don't, like today. I couldn't really figure out which shoe to feature today. Then last night as I was looking on eBay I found the Acropolis. The Acropolis, when most people see this word they think of the Acropolis of Athens. According to Wikipedia, Acropolis literally means "high city".




So who wore the "high city", why not the person that used to get the highest in The City. That's right, Mr. Latrell Sprewell. This isn't the choke happy, I've got a family to feed, Sprewell. This is the fresh face, Converse wearing, young high flying player for the Warriors.




That's right, these were Cons and they had React. It really doesn't get any better than that.

I found these on an eBay Auction, here. Thank you username jerseys4thewin, for the pics. Thanks for checking out the blog, keep voting in the poll and tell all kinds of people about the blog, please! Enjoy All Star weekend!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

The Converse Blog: Marquette Commercial

Converse will be gathering footage for their newest commercial featuring Dwyane Wade and Marquette at Friday night's men's basketball game vs. Pittsburgh, and they need help from all MU students.

At the under 12-minute timeout of the first half, the cheerleaders will lead the arena in a cheer of "We Are Marquette" and the pep band will follow with the playing of Ring Out Ahoya. To help Converse produce the best commercial possible, and to show millions of viewers how passionate Marquette students are, we need everyone in attendance to cheer as loud as they can.
To express their gratitude to students, Converse will provide all students with a free "We Are Marquette" t-shirt to be worn during the commercial shoot.

The ads will air nationally through the end of the college basketball season.
Thank you very much for your cooperation. Let's show the country how intense the Marquette student section can be!


From CSTV.com
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A few thoughts for the day. This commercial is going to be awesome just because Converse will finally be promoting the fact that they're back in College Basketball!

If I were Mark Cuban I would make sure that Devean George never played another minute for the Mavs.

Not only did this keep Jason Kidd with the Nets, it might also have kept Andre Miller from making the All Star team.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Converse Blog's Weapon Wednesday

Welcome to the Converse Blog's Weapon Wednesday. After last week's wild and crazy Weapons, I wanted to bring a more classic Weapon for today. Today's Weapon is a simple white/green ox colorway. I found them here on this Japanese. I hope that we see some of these more classic Weapons over here sometime soon.











That's it for today. Sorry for the late post, I was watching Darren Rovell's Nike show. You should check it out if you get the chance.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The Converse Blog: 100th Post - Greatest Dunk of All Time (Dr. J)

This is the latest Converse commercial and it's pretty much the best thing ever, no lie. Every time I see this I wonder what it was like to be there and see it first hand, and then I think what it must have been like to actually see Dr. J play. This pretty much sums it up. I think this will air during the NBA All Star Dunk Contest in New Orleans. Enjoy!


Monday, February 11, 2008

The Converse Blog: ALL STAR FLYING

I don't rant about much on here; but one thing I will rant about is Amy Winehouse. I am not going to lie; I own a few of her songs. All night during the Grammy celebration Amy was awarded time after time after time. (after time). And I can't help but think of what kind of message this sends. Develop an eating disorder, become hooked on drugs, be recorded doing drugs, go to rehab and be rewarded on the highest level of your profession. I am not saying she isn't talented, because she is extremely talented. It's just something I've been thinking about.

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Before we get to the post today, I want to comment on the current poll at the top of the page. I've asked you to vote on which of the Nike All Stars would benefit from a switch to Converse. The choices are Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Boozer, David West, Brandon Roy, Jason Kidd, Caron Butler, and Chris Bosh. Currently Chris Bosh is first, followed by Steve Nash, and then Brandon Roy. As many of you probably know, Chris Bosh spent the first few years in the NBA as a member of Converse. He signed on the same time as Dwyane Wade, but switched to Nike last Season. Also Steve Nash is often photographed wearing Chucks and wore Converse in college. So keep voting, I am inerested in seeing how this plays out.

Anyway, on to today's post. I am getting really backed up with stuff to most so I am going to try and throw in an extra post this week. We'll see what happens though. I am going to do something I don't usually do here, I am going to post a pair of Chucks.








A pretty simple pair of Chucks, a Black/White colorway with a Paper Airplane.








Pics from Tao Bao

All Star Flying, as you can see is written before the paper airplane. These could just be samples, but I really like the simple design and I hope to see this in stores. Thanks for reading the blog and please leave some comments and feedback.

Friday, February 8, 2008

The Converse Blog's Friday Flashback + New Poll

Before we get to the Flashback today I wanted to speak on the new poll that I started above. I was looking at the list of All Star's and then got to thinking about their footwear. So I picked the Nike athletes who are in the All Star game, that don't currently have signature shoes being made. This is why Kobe, LeBron, Amare, Pierce are not on the poll. I also made this poll where you can vote for more than one at a time.

Now, lets get to today's Friday Flashback. I am not sure of the exact name, but it comes from the Converse Psycho Training brand.







These shoes featured React in the heel and forefoot. I also think from the pictures that they had some sort of inner booty, they almost remind me of Nike Huarache. I also really enjoy the high heel padding, it just really looks comfortable.




I am not sure how many models for made in the Converse Psycho Training line, but they all had React and were pretty wild looking. Thanks for checking out the blog and remember to vote in the poll above.