The Converse Blog's Friday Flashback: Lou Brock 118 Kicks

With football season quickly approaching and basketball season not far behind, we know that the summer is quickly fading. Which means a few things, for starters it's going to get colder which is good because they you rock a hoodie without breaking a sweat. It also means that the leaves will be changing color. However, it also means the end of baseball's regular season and the start of the MLB's post season. Speaking of baseball, today's flashback is a pair of Lou Brock signature Converse shoes from back in the day.

At first glance they may just look like a pair of chucks with a different upper. That isn't exactly true, if you look around the ankle you'll see more padding and later on you'll also notice a much wider heel stripe in Leather. Another nice feature is the piping that runs under the shoe laces. As you get through the pictures you'll also see the outsole is designed for baseball, don't ask me how, but never the less the are. You might also be asking yourself, why is the number 118 written all over this shoe. That's a question I asked myself, thank goodness for the world wide interweb. In 1974 Lou Brock stole 118 bases, and at the time it was a new single season record.






Above you'll also notice the Converse Comfort Arch and Cushion Heel, plus you've got to love the tilted "C" logo. Well that's it for today, I hope everyone enjoys the kick off of College football as much as I will. Thanks for checking out the blog.

The Converse Blog:

Wow, what I day. I had my first day as a substitute teacher. I was so nervous that I forgot to put together a post last night and now I am so exhausted to do real one today. I greatly apologize for a lack of effort today. So, I will leave you with this ad, which is better than nothing.

The Converse Blog's Argentina's Bronze Medal Game.

While the Gold and glory of 2008 Beijing Olympic games went to Team USA, however there was another team playing for a Bronze medal early Sunday morning. As I previously showed, three players from Team Argentina wore the Converse 0100 during the games in China. Below is a close up picture of the shoe. Take notice of the flag for Argentina on the shoe's Tongue, this is a very nice touch to an amazing looking shoe. After that are a few pictures below from the Bronze medal game







These Olympic games were a blast and I really enjoyed them. By the way, how about Dwyane Wade in the gold medal game, the season can't get here soon enough. Thanks for checking out the blog.

The Converse Blog: Converse in the Olympics

So, um...I don't really know what happened. I knew it was Friday, I knew I had to do a post, but for some reason I didn't get it together. I think I got distracted after Team USA took it to Argentina. Speaking of Argentina, I noticed that 3 of their bench players were rocking the Converse 0100. Each pair similar in colorway to this Kyle Korver PE, this picture is from the Kix and the City stockroom. Check out the video by going here.

Two of the bench players came up big in limited minutes during the second quarter when Argentina made a comeback to cut the lead down to six. The players are #11 is Paolo Quinteros , #12 Leonardo Gutierrez. The other player is #6 Roman Gonzalez. Below are some pictures of them during the games against Team USA and Greece

At this point I already knew that my original statement about Dwyane Wade being the only Olympic player wearing Converse. I was really glad to see Converse getting some love from such an international power like Argentina. Then as I was enjoying more of the Olympics I came across a game of Handball featuring Croatia. I was watching for a few minutes and then I noticed something very familiar. What I saw was a player wearing the Converse Wade 1.3, so I got online to find some pictures and then I found another Croatian handball player wearing the Converse Wade 2.0. In the 1.3 is Ivano Balic and in the 2.0 is Renato Sulic.

Big ups for these 5 Olympic athletes rocking Converse during the 100th year of the brand. Also while we're talking about the Olympics check out this Converse Micro site for Dwyane Wade, the best thing is that this site went up before the game against Argentina was over.

The Converse Blog: R.I.P. Julius "Sho'Nuff" Carry

Yesterday I made mention of some players on Argentina wearing Converse and then I found some pictures of the what might be the Wade 4. While those are exciting and interesting post, I simply can't over look the loss of Julius Carry. Back in the day when I was in middle school there for about a year after my Grandfather had a heart attack, we traveled every weekend to see him and help out around the house. It seemed like every Saturday Fox would show one of these 4 movies, Predator, Revenge of the Nerds, Big Trouble in Little China, and my favorite of them all was The Last Dragon.





Everyone needs to see this movie at least once, but this movie is not for everyone. I am not sure how it would play for me today had I not seen it so much when I was younger, but if I find it on TV I stop whatever I am doing to watch. The Last Dragon released in 1985 and is full of all kinds of 80's wonderfulness.




While the movie is ultimately focused on Leroy, Julius Carry's work as Sho'Nuff the Shogun of Harlem is what really makes the movie. If you ask anyone about The Last Dragon, the first thing they will bring up is Sho'Nuff. Sadly, Mr. Carry lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on Tuesday, he was 56.

You're probably wondering what this has to do with Converse, and if you are, then you haven't seen the movie. Without question my favorite scene is cued up below. You can find a clip of this scene and others on Youtube, but if you haven't seen the movie you should really watch the whole thing.

Kiss my Converse! Thanks for checking out the blog and please remember Mr. Carry's family in their time of loss.

The Converse Blog's Weapon Wednesday: Dwyane Wade Weapons

As far as I know these Wade Weapons never released, at least here in the good ole US of A. But the appear to have the same color scheme as the Wade 2.0 Playoff shoe from a few years back. I wish I had more pictures but this is the only one I've been able to find.


The Yellow and Red stitching really pop with on the black upper. You can also see that the use of black patent is a nice touch.

I apologize for a late post today, but I was wrapped up in the Greece vs Argentina game. I'll have more on Team Argentina later on this week. I noticed something very interesting watching this morning, actually three very interesting things. Hopefully I can get some pics, if not I may have to wait until after their next game. Thanks for stopping in and checking out The Converse Blog.

The Converse Blog: Olympic Mascot Chucks

Early this month I posted up pics of some Beijing 2008 Chucks with the Olympic font and ring logo under the clear outsole. Today I am back with some Beijing Olympic chucks, but this time they have the Olympic mascots on the shoe. The mascots known as the Fuwa, each represent many Olympic and Chinese elements . You can learn more about them here from W. Today I have two of the 5 Fuwa, Huānhuan and Jīngjing.


Huānhuan represents the Olympic Flame along with the element of fire. His personality is to leans towards being an extrovert and being enthusiastic. He represents in ideal of Passion and represents all sports played with balls.












Jingjing represents the Giant Panda and the elements of Forest and Wood. His personality is to be honest and optimistic. Jingjing also represents the ideal of happiness. He also represents sports like Judo and Weightlifting.




I am looking for the shoes of the other 3 Fuwa, so I hope to find them and post them up later. I hope to have a new poll up later this week so watch out for that. Thanks for checking the Fuwa and the Converse blog.

The Converse Blog's Friday Flashback Dimple Hi LE Football Shoes

And now for something completely different, shoes! No really, I almost made it a whole week writing this blog without showing any shoes. And had I not promised yesterday I would've done it again today. With August in full swing and pre-season NFL action taking place, football is in the air. Football season used to mean a fresh batch of Converse football products, but it's been quite some time since we've seen any of those. In fact the pair today might be one of the last pairs of Converse football shoes ever made.

If you look closely you can catch a glimpse of the white colorway of these shoes in the background of an ESPN football show, I just can't remember which one. There are a few things to love about these shoes. First their football shoes, how amazing is that? Over the years I've seen a number of Nebraska football items made by Converse and I often wonder what it would be like to see the Circle and Star on the gridiron.

These shoes also have the classic, branding CONS on the heel. These served two purposes, it took advantage of a nickname the shoes always seemed to carry and tapped into the fad of four letter brand names like Nike and Fila. They also came with the awesome Converse box with the star in the "O" and chevrons on the box. However, the real prize of this box is the Converse logo itself. I've never heard an official name for this logo, but I also called in the Chevron in Star logo. It was used primarily during the REACT days. It hasn't been used since the release of the All Star 2000 in 1996.

I really love the design on the uppers of these shoes, you can clearly see the 90's influence. That's all I've got for today, I hope you've enjoyed the post this week. Thanks for stopping in and enjoy your weekends!

The Converse Blog: Sun Yue aka the Perfect Storm.

I hate to throw out words like Perfect when describing any situation, but I can't seem to find a better way to describe the idea I have. As the title of this post suggest, Sun Yue is going to be the main focus. Just before the first game of the Olympcis tipped off, the Lakers and Sun Yue agreed to a contract. As you may or may not know, Sun was selected by the Lakers in the second round of last years draft, pick 40 to be exact.

When I first read about the Lakers signing Sun, it was always accompanied with his nickname, the "Chinese Magic Johnson." This really got the wheels turning in my head, which is the origin of this post today. There are two main reasons why Converse signing Sun Yue would be a perfect storm.

Regardless of the team he signed with, it would be great to have a pipeline into the Chinese marketplace. It's no secret that tapping into the Chinese market makes great business sense. Reebok has had a lot of success with Yao and Nike is really pushing Yi during the Olympics. Despite the belief that "big men" don't sell shoes, I think anyone would agree that Reebok's relationship with Yao has been positive for them. And while I don't expect Sun to be the superstar that Yao is, he has the potential to establish himself as the second biggest star in Chinese basketball. Maybe I am buying into the hype a little hard, but you don't get a nickname like "Chinese Magic Johnson" without merit.

Over the last month you've voted in a poll asking which NBA Team does Converse most need an endorser on? The results are in and I couldn't agree more, the Boston Celtics pulled ahead recently and took home 43% of the votes. The Lakers came in a strong second place with 33% of the votes. Interestingly enough, the Toronto Raptors squeaked out a third place finish. In Sun, Converse could have that key endorser on the Lakers.

This would be a fantastic situation to have a connection to the Chinese market and have a player on the Lakers. However, there would be some obstacles to pulling off this deal. Obviously this is assuming that Converse would want to sign Sun and that Sun would want to play in Converse. So assuming that those two issues would pan out, there would still be another obstacle in signing Sun. It would appear from the pictures I've seen that Sun is signed by Nike. If this is true, then the case could be made to Nike that it would greatly benefit Converse to secure the services of an NBA player on the Lakers and from China.

I would love to see this happens, but this is merely a fan running his mouth about something he thinks would be a great idea. However, it just seems wrong that the "Chinese Magic Johnson" would wear anything besides Converse. Anyway, I am just saying....thanks for checking out the blog, come back tomorrow for shoes, I promise.

The Converse Blog's Weapon Wednesday, Weapons of Mass Destruction!

"Welcome all and welcome all its that beat that hurts em all it's that classic instant smash hit it's that heat that burns em all."  Those are some words of wisdom from my man RedCloud, don't sleep.  It's Wednesday day, Team USA and D Wade are rolling, Nibroc starts today, and I am flying high off of the paint fumes coming from the living room...okay not really flying high, but you knew that. 

Keeping up with apparent tradition of not showing any shoes this week, today's Weapon Wednesday takes an interesting and exciting turn.  Late last night I found a new t-shirt up at Converse.com.   It's titled Mass Destruction Tee. It sure is, take a look at it here below.

The Lakers Weapon colorway is center stage in this shirt wedged between "Mass" and "Destruction."  However, for a Converse freak like me the best part of the shirt is the little logo on the bottom.  It is the original Weapon logo with the 1986 era Converse logo.  Yes, I am talking about the Square and Star Converse logo...it is simply beautiful.  Plus, for all those fans of the Lakers colorway Weapons, but didn't really like the Lakers, now you can have a shirt to wear.  Thanks for checking out the blog, don't forget to vote today, it is the last day of the current poll. 

The Converse Blog: Nike International Heros United We Rise Convers Dwyane Wade Basketball

As you've seen other places, this year for the Olympics Nike, Jordan, and Converse have joined forces for the United We Rise collection.  Shoes for Lebron, Melo, and Wade feature the design on the back of the USA jerseys.  Along with the shoes are a set of basketballs that feature the logos of each superstar, their company, and designs from the jerseys.  Here is some more information on the ball below.

Redemption is motivation enough for Dwyane Wade. Battling back from injury the past two seasons, and a disappointing performance from Team USA in 2004 in Athens, Wade has already helped turn this year's USAB team around. During the USAB Olympic exhibition tour, Wade led the team in scoring (18 ppg) and made several plays to remind us of the Dwyane Wade that was the NBA Finals MVP in 2006.

To celebrate Wade and USAB trying to reclaim the throne as the top team in the world, Converse has issued a limited edition "United We Rise" WADE basketball. It features the "United We Rise" veneered graphic, as well as Dwyane Wade’s lasered signature.

The limited edition ball will retail for $30 and will be available at Eastbay.com, Niketown, and select Champs.

You can find the ball at Eastbay and Champs.  You can also find the United We Rise Dwyane Wade Team Signature shoe at Eastbay, Champs, and Niketown.  Big thanks to the fine people at the Converse Basketball PR team for sending me this beautiful basketball.  I don't even want to take out of the box, which also features the design from the USA Jerseys.  Everyone is talking about the way Team USA took down China yesterday, but what seems to be overlooked is Dwyane Wade's performance.  Articles will tell you how he led Team USA in scoring, but he did while shooting 100% from the field and the line.  I know it's just one game, but every game I see him play this summer he gets better and better.  This upcoming season is going to be a blast.  Thanks for stopping in and checking out the blog. 

The Converse Blog: 1972 Olympic Pack Converse 0100

I know it's Friday and that's supposed to me a flashback, but I couldn't sit on these any longer. I found these pics on Taobao Wednesday night and now I am bringing them to you today. As you've probably seen else where, this shoe is part of the 1972 Olympic Pack with the other two shoes being the Pro Leather Hi and Pro Leather ox. I am pretty sure this is also the first time I've shown the Converse 0100 on here. I am so excited for the 0100 it isn't even funny. Look for more colorways and makeups of the 0100 on the blog in the near future. Now lets get to the pictures.

I hope you all enjoy these shoes and if you're lucky enough to be Beijing or near the House of Hoops in NYC you can pick up a pair. Thanks for stopping into the blog and have fun watching all the Olympic goodness tonight.