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.

The Converse Blog's Weapon Wednesday

Happy Weapon Wednesday to each of you. Today I've got a Weapon from Converse Korea, at least I think it's Korea. Yes I just check, and it is Converse Korea. Anyway, I've shown you their White/White Weapon Straps before and now comes the White/Black/Red Weapon Straps. I like the addition of the straps, I want to say that there were a few original Weapons with straps but I could be wrong about that. However, with new logo it just seems a little out of place. Oh well, any Weapon is better than no Weapon.

That's it for today, I hope you enjoy these Weapons and the other post of this blog. Thanks for reading and please come back often.

The Converse Blog's Olympic Beijing Chucks from China!

If you don't know, the Olympics are right around the corner. As far as I know the only place you'll see Converse in this years Olympics are Dwyane Wade's feet. However, that hasn't stopped Converse China from taking full advantage of their Olympic situation. So far they have released four colorways of the this Beijing 2008 Chuck Ox pictured below. They come in Black, White, Yellow, Pink, and I think Red. They also have chucks with some of the Beijing mascots, but I'll get to those later on. As you can see these a normal Chuck Taylor ox up top, but when you get to the outsole that's where the magic is. Not only will you see Beijing 2008 written, but you'll also see the Olympic rings.

I'll post up some more pictures later of these Chucks and the mascot Chucks as well. Thanks for stopping in and checking out the blog. Don't forget to vote on the way out. Also I want to plug the Your Cons, Your Story idea again. I want to feature some Converse fans on this site and all I need is a picture of you wearing your favorite Converse and little write up on why you love Converse and what you want to see from Converse in the future. As soon as I get some good entries I'll post them up.

The Converse Blog's Friday Flashback: Dream Team Magic

Sorry for the extremely late post today, but I had some running around to do this morning and didn't get to the blog before I had to leave. Before we get started today I want to give a shout out to a new blog I am reading, it's called Carry Your Heart. I love the tag line on this blog, it is, "Don't leave home without your passion." Very cool stuff, I'd really appreciate if you'd all do me a favor and check it out.

For today's Friday Flashback I am going all the way back the 1992 and the Dream Team, which had some pretty special kicks...oh and some pretty amazing players as well. One of the, Magic Johnson had this very special pair of Converse. Go ahead look below for the goods....









I feel awful about this post for two reasons, I can't remember where I got these pics and I can't remember the name of the shoe. SO what I am saying is, I suck at life. The good news is that someone out there might remember what these were called and could post on here and let me know.

I will say, Larry Bird had a completely different Converse shoe, but I haven't been able to find any good pictures of it yet...the hunt continues. Thanks for visiting me here at the Converse blog, voting in the poll, and also checking out Carry Your Heart.