"What if" Converse Signed Michael Vick?

Disclaimer:  These are my views and opinions and should not be taken as any potential news or rumors.   

If you've been reading my blog then you know that I am not content with the current Converse.  I've been searching for a more diverse Converse for years now. My desire to see Converse in more performance categories than just Basketball and Skateboarding led me to today's post. So let me simply ask a question, what if Converse signed Michael Vick? What really got me thinking about this was a recent post over at SoleCollector.  So if you haven't read their article go read it real quick and then come back over here...or just click over there when you're done here, that's your call. 

So my gears started to turn and I thought that it would be nice to see what a Converse Football cleat would look like today.  So I took a picture of the Converse Artillery basketball shoe that is supposed to be releasing soon, I hope, and asked for a huge favor from the Internet's BP the Owner.  BP is a photoshop wizard of the highest level, click over and check out some of his work.  I asked him to work up a cleated version of the Artillery in Eagles colorways and he came through big time. 

Currently there are only a handful of companies producing performance football cleats, Nike, Reebok, Under Armor, Adidas, New Balance, Pony, and perhaps Starter with Tony Romo.  Basically what I am saying is that there is room for Converse. 

There would be a large risk in signing Vick, but it's not like their football/training sales can go any lower considering they don't make any football/training products anyway.  Signing Vick could jump start Converse in the Football and Training categories. It could also make huge strides in gaining the respect of other NFL players and Vick's fans.  Of course the flip side is also true, signing Vick could drive others away from the brand.  Regardless, any company associated with Vick will have to work hard with him and the Eagles to help and try to correct his previous wrongs.  

However, is a long shot because this would greatly disrupt the current status quo at Converse.  Also, Nike seems determined to push Converse towards a fashion only brand.  And if they really wanted to enter the football and training markets there are probably much better ways to do that...but it sure would be fun.  I'm not trying to be negative, but sometimes it's fun to just dream about what could be. 

Thank you for checking out the blog and don't forget to follow us along on Twitter @TheConverseBlog!    

'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 Blog Friday Flashback: Converse Jump Training Shoes

I want to apologize for the lack of post on here this week.  As it turns out when there is an ice storm 40 miles away your internet quits working for almost 3 days.  On Tuesday Kentucky got hit with snow, ice, and rain...we only got rain.  Do you know how long 3 days is in Internet time?  Don't think about it too long or you'll go insane.  So I could be over reacting quite a bit, but I did feel completely unconnected to the rest of the world. 

Anyway I am back with a great post for The Converse Blog's Friday Flashback.  Did you know that Converse used to make everything, well not everything but close.  Recently I've seen a Converse rubber rain jacket on eBay along with some fishing boots.  We've all seen something similar to these in Eastbay, but I've only actually ever know one person to buy shoes like these.  There really aren't many words to describe these shoes so just take a look.

 

  

  

 

I am pretty sure that idea for shoes like this is to keep your legs flexed and increase muscles size.   It is a similar idea to Chicken farms that tie their Chickens down so that stand on their tip toes all of the time to increase muscle size.  The only differences are that you can take these shoes off and people won't eat your meaty legs from a bucket.


I'll be talking about this more next week, but congrats to Jameer Nelson for being selected as an Eastern Conference All Star reserve.  How big a deal is this? Well, Converse will have as many players in the All Star game as Jordan and Reebok, so I'd say it's a pretty big deal. 

Also if you get the chance check out the Marquette vs. Georgetown game tomorrow.  All of the Marquette staff will be rocking the Converse Pro Leather 76 as part of the Coaches vs Cancer weekend.  Also keep an eye out in the crowd as Converse will be hooking up the student section with some free t-shirts too!   

's Friday Flashback: Converse Athletic Footwear

Welcome to the Converse Blog's Friday Flashback.  Today's post is a unique Canvas converse shoe from way back in the day.  It features a two stripe pattern on the upper with a extra layer of Rubber with the V logo.  It almost looks like an outrigger that you see on Converse shoes today.  It has a strong looking rubber toe cap like you would find on Chucks.  However, it features a sturdy extra ankle padding.  Aside from the arrangement of the upper there isn't really anything I haven't seen in some form on a Converse shoe before. 

However, the outsole is where this shoe's uniqueness really shines.  It features a honeycomb pattern, which is now mostly associated with Reebok.  I think it would be safe to say that these shoes predate the existence of Reebok as a company.  I don't know what any of that means, but I find it interesting.

  

  

  

 

 

That's for checking out the blog, look for some interesting stuff around the corner.

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 Friday Flashback

Today is a special day here at The Converse Blog. 24 years ago today on 4-4-84 my Mother almost pulled my Father's ear off and I was born. So today to give myself a birthday gift, I will be featuring my favorite basketball team of all time. I am not sure what attracted me to the Charlotte Hornets. The team colors perhaps? Most likely it was Larry "Grandmama" Johnson, Alonzo Morning, Muggsy Bogues, and Dell Curry to name a few. Whatever the reason I was stung by the team from Charlotte. The last few years of the team's existence in Charlotte we would travel to a home game close to my birthday.

I've been to a few Bobcats games, but it's just not the same. So my birthday gift...to myself?.... today is the Converse NBA Charlotte Hornets. That wasn't the real name, but you get the picture.

Long before Adidas was the official supplier of NBA gear, which grants them rights to use NBA logos on footwear, Converse did the same. Part of being the Official shoe the NBA meant that they could use NBA teams logos and they did. They actually made performance shoes with the teams logos and not just casual shoes like Reebok and Adidas have made recently.


Teal and Purple, it doesn't get any better than that, True Story.



Thank you all for coming to the Converse Blog. There are only a few days left in the poll and I totally thought Kentucky would win, but it doesn't look that way. Keep voting though anything could happen.

Converse NCAA's Friday Flashback: Raw Energy

Today's Friday Flashback takes us back to the mid 90's with the last Converse team shoe to feature the star with the chevron inside. This shoe featured the next evolution of the React Juice technology. The RAW stands for React At Work.

Converse NCAA's Friday Flashback

Converse RAW Energy.

Here is part of an article on Converse in 1995.

The embodiment of HARDBALL is the flagship shoe of the BTS basketball introductions, the $80 R.A.W. Energy shoe, to be worn by Kevin Johnson. This is the first Converse performance shoe to feature the anatomically designed REACT Accupod system which provides visible dynamic flow between the heel and the forefoot units for superior cushioning and support. With HARDBALL in mind, the Accupod features a new silver REACT material, Thin-Elastic Juice, to enhance the
flow between the two units, while also maintaining its resiliency.

The Hardball campaign featured commercials and print ads with Dr. J, Larry Bird, Larry Johnson, Kevin Johnson, Latrell Sprewell, Isaiah "J.R." Rider. These ads ran from July 24 through Aug. 27 of 1995. Below you can see the three react posts that make up the Accupod.

I remember going to buy some shoes for school that year, 6th grade. I really wanted a pair of Reeboks that Muggsy Bogues wore. After searching around I couldn't find them. So I settled on the Converse Raw Energy. I could only find one picture of the colorway that I had, just so happens that I found them on Kobe Bryant's feet. His high school team shoes for 1995, pictured below.

This shoe also came in high top and low top versions. Here is the black/white colorway.

However these shoes and the Accupod React system was not without problems. The shoes began leaking the React Juice from the outsole. What was determined to be a manufacturing defect. Two shoes, the RAW Energy and the RAW Power had to be recalled. There were somewhere around 400,000 pairs of produced with the RAW Accupod system. It's unknown, to me, how many actually leaked or were returned.

Above is the team white/green version of the shoe. This would be the beginning of the end for React Juice. In future shoes, most notably the All Star 2000, React seemed to become more Gel like. Then eventually React II was used, it was not enclosed and was certainly a gel and not a juice. However, I will say that my pair never leaked, and I'd still be willing to sport a pair today. Thanks for reading, enjoy you're weekend.