How about a Converse Collaboration with Family Force 5

Sometimes when I find two different things that I really like, I wonder what it would be like if they crossed paths.  Blue cheese and Buffalo sauce flavored Doritos come to mind.  How about Action/Comedy movies, anyone?  I am guessing that you get the idea here. 

Which brings me to today’s post.  This post is pretty much a suggestion for a marriage between two of my favorite things.  The first is obviously Converse; given the very existence of this site you should have guessed that part of the equation.

This is where things get a little crazy.  One of my favorite new bands goes by the name of Family Force 5.   If you’ve never heard of them well consider this your lucky day.  I’ll link you to their MySpace but, I only truly began to appreciate them once I saw them live.  Lucky for you they’re out right now on the AP Tour 09.  That’s the same magazine that they’re currently on the cover of.  

So why do I think that a collaboration between Converse and Family Force 5 would be awesome.  Well for one thing we’ve seem Converse music collaborations in the past, granted the vast majority of them have been with classic rock acts.  So I was thinking why not throwing some young blood into the mix.  

Ultimately though what really got my wheels turning on this is the re-issued Converse Force 5 running shoe.  You’ve got a shoe that already has 2/3 of the band’s name in it, how perfect is that? 

Plus it would be a completely different type of shoe to do a collaboration with.  There is nothing wrong with the Chucks, Purcells, and Weapons that have been used in music collaborations before, but this would be an interesting change. 

 

So that's what's been floating around in my head for a few weeks now and I feel much better now that I got that out.  Here are two of their music videos, check em now.

That's it for today, by the way it looking like Kentucky's new head coach is going to be none other than John Calipari!  Sounds good to me.

'S Friday Flashback: University of Kentucky Practice Jersey.

What a difference a year makes.  This time last year people were looking forward to the second year of Billy Gillispie.  We had just finished our surprising run that got us into the NCAA tournament and Coach Gillispie had just won Co-Coach of the year in the SEC.  Now, today Gillispie is out as head coach at the University of Kentucky.  I've gone back and forth on this issue since midway through the season when we started dropping games like rain drops falling from the sky.






So who will replace Billy G?  Well I am not quite sure, but if it was up to me we'd go after Sean Miller of Xavier.  However, I am hearing that Billy Donovan is the #1 choice.  Oh well, there is a new conference for UK at 4:30 and Billy G is having his own news conference tomorrow morning at 11.  Sounds like chaos to me, but it sure is exciting.


So what does this have to do with Converse?  Directly, probably not much.  It's been well documented on this site that Kentucky is traditionally a Converse school.  I would love for Kentucky to return to Converse someday soon.  However, Kentucky is in the first few years of an 11 year contract with Nike.  I can dream can't I?  Which brings me to today's Friday Flashback, Converse Kentucky practice jerseys from what I think was the 1995-96 season.  


 

Check out Kentucky Sports Radio for all of your UK Coaching updates.  Thanks for checking out the Converse blog and enjoy the madness that is a coaching change at the University of Kentucky. 

Sample Converse Rundown + A new blog to check out.

Over the last year we've seen quite a number of Converse Running Re-issue shoes, from the Wave Trainer, Odessa, Force 5, Revival Ox, Angeles LE Ox, Nylon Trainer 2, and the recently released World Class Trainer 2.  Today's post features a sample of the Converse Rundown that didn't make it to production. 

 

  

  

  

  

 

I love the location of the strap and I also really love how thick the midsole seems to be.  


I want to point a really interesting blog that I think you all would like.  Check it out over at Are You Here to Confuse Me. Thanks for checking out the blog!

Clarification on Kirk Hinrich PE.

On Wednesday I posted a pair of PE Kirk Hinrich Converse Weapon 86.  Then it turned out that on Wednesday night Hinrich played his first game in the new Converse Weapon EVO.  So naturally I posted the pictures on Thursday because I really excitied to finally see that shoes on court.  However, the shoe I posted Wednesday was not the Converse Weapon EVO and was a re-issued Weapon 86 designed for Hinrich.

Again to get this straight, I posted pictures of two different shoes.  The Weapon Wednesday post are the Weapon 86.  The post on Thursday of actual game pictures is the Converse Weapon EVO.  I hope this clears things up.   

Kirk Hinrich and Alando Tucker give us a preview of the future of Converse.

Kirk Hinrich and Alando Tucker have been the two Converse players that have been rocking the most heat this season.  Alando's Converse Assists have been some of the better colorways of the team shoe.  Although Kyle Korver has been a close second with his Road colorway.  Kirk Hinrich has been wearing the Converse 0100 since he came back from injury.  His Black/Red PE of the shoe has been nothing short of amazing.  Last night they both broke out one of the new shoes from the Fall line up. These pics are showing up pretty small, so for larger pics check out sports.yahoo.com/nba and search for Hinrich and Tucker in the pictures.   First pics, then info.

Tucker and Hinrich are wearing the Converse Weapon Evo, a modern, performance basketball shoe evolved from the original Weapon, one of the most iconic on and off-court shoes of all time. The Weapon Evo will launch in energy, inline and team colorways beginning in August.

So there you have it, if you were watching close enough during All Star weekend you saw Jameer Nelson wearing a pair while helping Dwight Howard in the Dunk Contest.

Thanks for checking out the blog, and have a happy March Madness Day!

Converse Lady Pro Leather Ox

Man, it has been a crazy week here in Kentucky.  Not only have the Wildcats fallen to the ranks of the NIT, but Louisville has the overall number 1 seed in the NCAA.  Is this bizarro-world or what?  With the exception of the 1998 Championship that Kentucky won, it seems as if we've been going down hill ever since we switched from Converse to Nike.  I am just saying, Converse = 6 Championships, Nike = 1 Championship.  Come on Mitch make the Switch...to Converse.  

 

(By the way, I support the University of Kentucky and it's players and not just a coach and yes I have an agenda to get them back in Converse)

Those are some state wide issues, locally it's been crazy too.  Last Tuesday Corbin won the 13th region championship to earn a spot in the state tournament, known as the Sweet 16.  We were scheduled to be out of school this Thursday and Friday for the tournament.  Then we end up getting the best snow of the winter last Friday.  Now we're having to make up that half day this Thursday during the tournament.  Everyone is going donkey kong, students and teachers alike had already made plans for that Thursday.  So who knows, it wild down here, but everyone is fired up for the Sweet 16.  

As confusing as that was to read, imagine how confusing it is to live it out.  Anyway, you're here for some Converse and Converse is what you will get.  Today's post is for the Ladies, the Lady's Pro Leather that is.  Here are two ox versions in a black/black/white colorway and White/White colorway.  There are also some high colorways but I will post those later. 

 

Thanks for checking out the blog, and don't forget to vote on the Weapon poll on your way out. 

'S Friday Flashback: John Wooden Basketball Encounter

March Madness is in full swing, I am sitting here watching Minnesota play Michigan State and I about to turn it over and watch my Kentucky Wildcats play LSU.  Yesterday while teaching 7th grade social studies I made a deal with the students that if they could stay quite for 5 minutes then I would turn the radio on.  Of course this was just an easy way to get them quite and to listen to Kentucky play Ole Miss on the radio.

If you love basketball like I do then you know that March is a word soaked in memories both enjoyable and gut wrenching.  As a fan of Converse this time of year has been bitter sweet for a while.  It was only last year that Converse finally returned to the NCAA after a 8 year absence from the stage in which it used to dominate.  Of the 347 division 1 NCAA basketball teams there are only a handful that wear anything besides Nike or Adidas.  Let me say this another way, 98% percent of the 347 D1 teams wear Nike or Adidas.  Marquette wears Converse, Boston College wears Reebok, and I think there are 3 or 4 schools that wear New Balance. Needless to say, there is room for Converse to grow beyond Marquette and I truly hope that they will.  All of this to say that there is hope, they've done it before and they can do it again. 


So what does John Wooden have to do with any of this.  Everyone associates UCLA with Adidas and rightly so, but that was not always the case.  In fact John Wooden used to be a Converse guy.  For proof check out this fantastic t-shirt below.      

I must say that the John Wooden Basketball Encounter is one of the coolest names for a camp I've ever heard.  Converse fans don't give up hope, cheer on Marquette and enjoy March.  Thanks for checking out the blog!  

'S Weapon Wednesday Converse Weapon Skate Ox

Converse continues to crank out the Skate Shoes, and this time they've done it with the Weapon as a base.  There are three ox versions and two high top versions up at Eastbay.com.  Below is one of the Ox versions.

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

If you notice I finally put up a new poll at the top of the blog so please take a second to vote on your way out.  I also want to apologize for those of you that have sent me emails in the last week or so.  I am extremely behind in answering them, but I am going to get caught up.   Thanks for checking out the blog!

Converse All Star Strap Sample

Good Monday to each and all and welcome to another exciting week here at The Converse Blog.  Today we're making history, or at least I think we're making history.  I am pretty sure that this is the first time in the history of The Converse Blog that we've had back to back post featuring All Stars.  I didn't bother checking to see if this is true, so I could be wrong.  Either way it is unique, speaking of unique how about these Chucks.  These All Stars feature a nice canvas strap around the ankle.  I am pretty sure that these are just samples, but I have no pictures of a sample tag to prove my claim. 

 

  

  

  

 

I got these pictures from on auction on TaoBao.com.  While they came from an auction site from China for some reason I think these might have released in Japan.  I am not for sure though, maybe I can find out more about them soon.

Converse All Star Fresh Cut Grass Sample

Sorry for the lack of a Friday Flashback as I had to work yesterday and had to go to the funeral home before the dinner plans I had last night.  All of that resulted in no time to do a post yesterday.  However, I thought I would try to make up for that with a post today.  

I am not sure what the weather is like wherever you are, but here in Kentucky it's 70 and beautiful outside.  Heck, I even saw a few yard sales going strong this morning.  Which means it will only be a matter of time before the sound of lawnmowers strikes out across the bluegrass.  Speaking of grass, these sample Chuck Taylor All Stars are perfect.  With these shoes you can go ahead and throw out those beaters you've been mowing in for years because these shoes come with the grass stain build in.  You can have the comfort of new shoes without worrying about staining them green.

 

 

 

I am not sure if these will ever release, but it is a really interesting take on the All Star's. I also want to wish my Kentucky Wildcats good luck against the Gators of Florida, because we really need to win!  Thanks for checking out the blog and please tell everyone you know to check out The Converse Blog.

: Converse Weapon 86

We've seen the pictures of the Weapon 86 for months now but they're finally online.  While they were up at Converse.com the other day they've since been removed, what's up with that?  Anyway, you can find them at other online retailers.  One of them is Classic Sports Shoes, you can find the Weapon 86 here and here.  Which is where I got these pictures from, so head on over there and pick up a pair or two.

 

  

  

 

The shoes made famous in the 80's by Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and a multitude of other NBA players and college teams, can be yours. 

Converse Coolidge

Recently I've shown you pictures from CONS Skateboarding well it seems as if Converse has a second group of Skate shoes that have dropped to more traditional retailers.  Finishline seems to have the largest selection of the shoes.  One of them is the Converse Coolidge which is profiled below. 

 

  

  

  

  

 

Thanks for checking out the blog,  I truly appreciate all of the support and emails I receive from all of you out there.  Now please go tell all of your friends about The Converse Blog!