January | 2011 | Hear Me Roar...

Before you read this post, please press play:

I love doing research for these posts.The process is this: I pick a shoe as my next in line, then I literally close my eyes and recreate the feelings of that moment and time. You could say that the shoe is a time machine; I get in my shoe delorean and see where the shoe takes me back in ti-eeeem. The music definitely helps.

The NBA in its 90’s heyday was a crazy time. There were just so many players to like- TOO many: Penny. Scottie. Magic. Bird. Reggie. AI. Starks. Spree. Mullin. Glen Rice. Jason Kidd. Jamal Mashburn. Grant Hill. Baby Jordan. Shawn Kemp. The Glove.

How do you pick just one?

It was easy to take Jordan for granted. When the Jordan XIs first dropped it was easy to in turn take them for granted as well. You can’t consider yourself a credible shoehead unless you got the XI’s in your top 10. So here you go shoefaces, eat your heart out.

The XI’s caught me at a weird time. About that time I was like meh, everyone likes Jordan. OBVIOUSLY. I was into Penny Hardaway. Guy was doing sick stuff! I’m not the guy I am today so I couldn’t pick 2 shoes up for hoop season, so with having to pick one I chose the Penny II’s. Other guys around me had the Jordan XIs. I remember the BMOC JJ Sherrill rocked the baby blue ones with the icy white soles. Those were some big shoes to fill. My Jordan addiction wouldnt really kick off until the Flu Playoff XIIs. Missed the XI’s by one. Then I saw Iverson rockin’ em at Georgetown, I started to reconsider my choice:

The notion that there was an heir apparent, or the possibility that a ‘Next Jordan’ was actually achievable was still alive and well. Time has shown us that no one will fill those shoes. Sorry Grant Hill. Sorry KB8. Sorry LBJ. Sorry Tiger. I dont think it was until the end of his career that you stopped and went, “oh shit, Mike’s about to retire…” So yes the XI’s were crazy dope, but there was too much background noise to realize at the time what was going on. Arguably the greatest shoe of all time was in my midst and I wasn’t even interested. Not until they were retroed in my first year of junior college.

I remember there was a feverish rush for the XI’s the first time they retroed. I ordered 2 pairs from Eastbay and John and I risked our lives by hopping in our cars and heading to Salinas to see what they had at the mall. Because I was still pretty much selfish bastard back then, I am surprised I let John buy the last pair they had in our size 11. (You’re welcome John!) But fucking rat bitch bastard Eastbay screwed up and cancelled one of my orders. GRRRRRX1000000….

XIs are a big hit with everyone- is that Dru Down?

Many consider the XI to be the greatest basketball shoe ever created. It was modeled after a a dress shoe, and for many many years I was convinced I’d be yet another Jordan Aficionado wearing a crispy pair on my wedding day. I outgrew that notion, but these folks obviously did not:

What can be written about the XI that hasn’t already been done to death? It is BY FAR the most counterfeited jordan. Were there really Michael Jackson Jordans? Methinks not.

Eventually I’d come to appreciate the Air Jordan XI because it was in these shoes that I reached the height of my basketball career.

I caught the hoop bug when I was 12. I remember I bought my first spalding ball from costco. When I got home I took it straight down to King Middle School shot and shot and shot for 3 hrs straight- the rims didn’t even have nets so there was no satisfying string music to encourage you along. Talk about anticlimactic. It’s like a fart with no sound and no smell. what a waste! Silence. I’d repeat this dogged pursuit for weeks and weeks. Hoop alone became the high school hoop squad. After that intramurals.

From humble beginnings, 10 years later I found myself running the floor of Haas Pavilion. My brother from another mother MikeJ lent me his pair of XIs (and got me into that position in the game to begin with) to play AGAINST my school. It was the first and last time I’d play ball in the XIs. It was a big stage so Mike wanted to make sure I looked good: he made sure I had the G.O.A.T.s on my feet.

From the Daily California:

As a last-minute substitution, Cal student Ryan Thomas Yokogawa suited up for EA Sports. Yokogawa took third place in a contest to play against the Bears, but when the winner backed out, he made the roster. He drained a three-pointer with a minute left in the game to the delight of the student section.

Not only did I play in the game against Cal, I was an RA at the time and I got to talk shit to some of my residents who were players- Richard Midgley and Rod Benson.

John was witness. MikeJ too.

The hours of work I put with those silent rims paid off in spades- a roaring crowd and 3 in the NCAA record books. All with XI’s on my feet. How do you top that? Answer: you dont.

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Let’s end this post with some DYK-

DID YOU KNOW: That John Tesh wrote the NBA on NBC Theme?

Thanks to the power of the internet, every lil heart boner you got when you heard the NBA on NBC theme, you can thank John Tesh for that:

I REALLY love doing research for these posts, how else do you find stuff like this: