Quick one.....

I love how many experts that are around now. Idiots don't know the first thing about the shoes they are talking about.


It irritates me when I see "experts" getting info wrong. Especially if the shoe has been out for 20+ years. ESPECIALLY especially (yes, 2 especiallys) when they have the shoe in hand.

Guess they've always been around, haven't they? Just now any idiot can self publish online and no one knows or cares about facts. Just get them views up so your ad revenue comes in so you can buy the next pair of shoes you don't like to do a review to get them views up!

The worst part is these "experts" make a living off their bullshit.

Well, well , well.... look what I found!

Let's brush off some dust here and clean some webs off.

So much has changed, except the fact no one reads this.

Lets see where this can go with my renewed love for sneakers.

Fuck the game if it ain't sayin' nothing!

Life finally moves on...

This  post will not deal with sneakers. Sometimes I do that. It's my blog that nobody reads!

Tonight is the last part of the chapter of my life that has taken 14 years. Tomorrow I start a new chapter of my life. No more bullshit, politics or idiots.

No longer do I have to deal with the powers that be trying to break me down, making me feel like a lesser person. Making me feel like a piece of shit!

They can ALL go to hell!!!

They can have everything they want now!

They win!

Funny thing though, nobody wants what they have.

You lied and cheated me. You tried to ground me down, but I was always stronger then you!

Now I PROVE it to the world!

There are times when a person realizes what they are fighting for isn't worth it anymore. It may be something serious, maybe not. But when that time comes, you have to be strong enough to move on. If that means doing somethimg you don't like for a while, so be it!

All these idiots, all these holier then thou morons, all these fucks, can eat a big fat dick!!!

Stay in your little world with your little circles and do whatever it is that you are going to do.I don't care any more!

I don't care any more!

It feels so good to say that.



On a side note, I made this post from my phone. If anything is spelled wrong or looks weird, please just excuse it.

I'm outty 5

The answer is YES!!!!!

Guess who's back...

Back again...

Jason's back....

Tell a friend.....

Or don't, I don't care. HA!

So it's been a while. I said I was going to keep posting on this here blogger thing. So here I am! Blogging!

I saw something on Sole Collector a couple of minutes ago about the prices of Sneakers, asking if they are becoming too expensive.

Umm, yeah!!! Hello, where have you all been for the last, oh lets say, 10 years.

I actually remember a time when people thought $100 was way too much for sneakers. "You pay HOW MUCH for those?!?!?"

Your basis Lebron model is $180ish. There is nothing special about that shoe. The "Elite" model, which has NO changes to it other then cosmetic, is $280! WHAT THE FUCK!!!! They have the Nike+ shit in them, which to this OG sneakerhead is just that, SHIT! This isn't just Lebrons either. Most top of the line Nikes are done up like this. It's pathetic!

This is something I've posted about before. I understand basic economics, prices go up, blah blah blah. But $280 for something that doesn't even have any real collector value yet is just wrong.

Remember when the Durantt's shoes where like $70. I was told by a reliable source that his shoes would never go over $100. The normal version of his shoe is $115, the "Elite" version is $170!

Now comes the part that I always seem to get to in posts like this....

You are paying more for these shoes, but getting less quality.

I've been saying this for so long that I don't want to type anymore about it. Look through the posts I've made in this blog about it.

When some shoes go on sale, they are still $150! Shoes that wont last.

 I would have no problem paying $400 for a pair of shoes if I knew they were going to last. I played ball in a pair of Retro Air Jordan III's a few days ago, I could literally feel them becoming loose on my feet as I was running. That should not happen after 20 minutes of playing. I paid $150 for those. It was right before the price increase for Retro J's to $160. $160 for shoes that were designed over 25 years ago.

are sneakers becoming too expensive?

The answer is, who's been paying for your shoes if your just now asking this question?


Go buy some And1's from Walmart. Don't get me started on that BULLSHIT!!!

FUCKING SHEEP!

what a statement for a return, huh?

before i get to far, let me remind folks of a few things. i don't care if this is read by anyone. i post this to get things off my chest. for the near future i am posting from my phone, thats why no capital letters. i am a hardcore sneaker collector, for over 20 years!

now, onto the bullshit...

i need a new pair of running shoes. i am seriously trying to get my dunk back this spring/summer. all of my old running shoes are shot, its the one part of sneakers i dont really care about. so i run to the mall, early so i can maybe avoid the idiots.

ha!

i stroll in and half of the stores are closed, or so i thought. there are lines in front of the stores. then i remember that the aj xiv is out today.

then i see security all over the place!

then i see the stores are only letting in one person at a time in to buy their crappy retro.

i find myself thinking what the fuck has happened to our culture?

all this over a pair of shoes?!?

i read about the chaos in places over xi's and foams. my coworkers ask me every monday after a release if i went to the mall and battled over the weekend. i try to explain to them thats not the way it is in most places.

then i see all this!

what the fuck is wrong with you idoit ass sheep!?!? you are ruining this culture, which you are not truely a part of. you make anyone that wants to have nice shoes look like a bunch of fucking morons!

you just follow whatever jordan brand tells you to buy( dont get me started on prices, that comes in a few days).

it makes me ashamed to be a sneakerhead.

the road back...

I will be back soon. It's been way too long!

A TRUE collector....

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/07/22/walking-on-air-his-shoes-made-the-man/?icid=main

A lot of people in today's culture don't really have a true love for what they are doing. They buy and wear items for a variety of reasons, I've posted this stuff before.

Every once in a while a story comes along that shows what TRUE sneaker collecting is.

I never knew this guy, I wish I had.

Busy, busy, busy....

I haven't posted anything in a while because I've been busy on a couple different "projects".

The first is a 1/32 scale A6M2 Zero model from Tamiya. If you know me, you know that my other passion in life is model building.

I built models as a kid and started again as an adult to help relieve stress from work. I've gotten pretty decent at it. I've been considering starting a blog about scale models.




The second "project" I've been working on is finding a job. I've sold off most of my collection and I'm ready to start the new one. Only problem is there ain't no money for sneakers.


That sucks!!!


The models I work on I've been sitting on for a number of years, so I don't have to buy anything. I made enough to get buy from selling the old collection. But now, I'm getting bored. My bedroom is almost completely empty, there are almost no sneakers anywhere.


I know it might sound like a stupid reason to go back to work, but I do have other reasons.


Bob, I still owe you $40, I haven't forgotten.


Seems to be a fulltime job looking for a fulltime job now a days. I wish I could get paid for it.

WOW....

I don't usually do this, but I had to post this-

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270604754422&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

They are not PE's. Nike made most of their shoes in half sizes up to 13.5 back then and you could regularly get them at most retail stores. Penny wore a size 14.

This is a GREAT old school find. Unfortunately, I can't afford them right now. If I could I would end up with them. I hope someone that is reading this ends up with them.

One of the few shoes I'd like to see retroed some day.

Out

Lets get back on track....

The sneaker world seems really boring to me right now. Pics of the Lebron VIII just came out and it looks like a boring shoe. Very similar to the VII. I guess Nike had to do a basic design, not knowing where The King was going to end up next season. There are a lot of possibilities for colorways on the VIII.

There just seems to be nothing coming out that interests me. Makes it hard to start a new collection when there's nothing out there to buy.

I think I've posted some of this before, I just get frustrated when I start looking for some kicks and all I find are retros or shoes based on retros. I don't want old shoes anymore. I want new, never seen before kicks.

Maybe I'll step away from collecting for a year or so. I did this once before. Seemed to help with the boredom that comes along every couple of years.

There needs to be more sneaker lines. Legit sneaker lines. Reebok needs to make a comeback. adidas needs to leave the Team Signature crap alone. More of the Chinese brands need to start selling here in the states. And1 just up and disappeared. Converse is starting to comeback, very slowly.

Still, it's all just so boring. Maybe I need to get a life.

I could jump higher if I.....

There is a lot of bullshit in this culture. We all know that. Anyone reading this has either experienced it or knows someone that has.

The newest thing, I guess it's actually an old thing remade (retroed if you will), companies saying shoes will help you preform better or tone up.


APL(Athletic Propulsion Labs) says their new shoes will help you jump higher. Then instantly follow that statement with results may vary, blah blah blah.

Reebok says Zig Zag will improve you performance, then had a video out with a bunch of high school kids wearing the shoes and talking about "how much better they performed while wearing the shoes".

Skechers have shoes that they say will help you tone up just by walking. All you have to do is walk, yo!!!

And it's all BULLSHIT!!!

Shoe CAN NOT improve you performance! People are so brainwashed into thinking rubber and foam can make you run faster or jump higher.

The only thing that will actually make you run faster or jump higher is to get off you lazy ass and work out! Hell, for the $300 price of the APL's, you could get a membership at a gym and gain a few inches on your vert after a couple of weeks of work.

The Skechers are $100 a pop! For Skechers??? Yeah, $110 for a pair of Skechers! I know, that's some bullshit!!! All you get is a pair of shoes with soles that look like they belong on a pair of kicks for little kids. In fact, these soles have been on little kid shoes for a long time now. All they really need is to light up when you step in them. I'm pretty sure that's the next step. You can walk in the dark, so no one will see who you are and make fun of you for wearing Skechers!

Reebok is saying their Zig Zag tech returns energy or something, I really don't read much of the crap these companies release about their gimmicks. It's usually just that, crap. And the gimmicks, especially Reebok's, never do anything and are usually gone after a while. Remember DMX? Remember 3D Ultralite? In a short time I'll be asking if you remember Zig Zag.

Nothing any company has improves performance. Not Zoomair, not A3, nothing! Your feet might feel better, but you are not jumping higher. You are not running faster. Your ass is not getting smaller!

1 down, too many left to go....

I counted my collection. I think, not sure, but I think I'm down below 100 pairs.

My collection hasn't been below 100 in 10+ years. Probably closer to 12-13 years. I can see the walls in my bedroom!!!!

Weird.

Sometimes I wonder how I was able to amass such a large collection.

It took me almost a year of constant selling to get to this point.

I think my collection was actually larger then I thought it was.

Funny how things work out sometimes.

Assholes and elbows.....

So, as I've mentioned here a few times, I am selling off a majority of my collection. It's something I've wanted to do for a while and I intend to start a whole new one in the very near future.

I am using eBay to sell most of it. We all know how horrible eBay is. Well here's yet another tail for ya!

I sell my OG Carmines to this guy. I pack them up and send them on their way. Kind hard to see them go, but it was time.







So I see the guy gets them through the tracking number. Doesn't leave feedback, not a big deal. That shit happens all the time.

I get a message on Monday from the buyer. He says the shoes are damaged and are falling apart. Me, not being a newbie to all this eBay crap, ask him for pictures of the "damage", thinking he would just be complaining about the cracks in the soles and foam. Damage that I mentioned in the auction. He's just being a typical modern sneakerhead and trying to get some of his money back, so I figured.

He send me this, if you have a soft spot in your heart for beat OG's don't read any rather-






ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He claimed they came straight out of the box like that and wants a refund.

I reply there is NO WAY IN HELL they could have been that damaged while being shipped. I call bullshit!

We go back and forth for a while. Then he states that the soles fell off when he went to take out the laces. Still wants a refund, only now he wants all his money back.

Wait, which is it? Did they come like that or did they fall apart when he handled them. I call bullshit again!!! I tell him that the ONLY way you could get that type of damage on an old shoe like this is to wear them.

He starts saying that it's my fault and he never wore them. I didn't put in the auction that they were not wearable. He makes a big deal out of that. The whole "soles have started to crack and uppers have several holes in them" line AND the "these shoes are 18 years old" line don't mean anything I guess.

Wait, why is he making a big deal out of that? By this point, he's told me several times that he never wore them. He keeps telling me that he never wore them.

Let me be clear on this, I've been in this sneaker thing for over 20 years! I know more about this shit them most people will ever know. When I see damage like that, I know it's from wearing them.

I share this with him.

He tells me that his 22 month old daughter got a hold of them and did this to them.

WAIT, now I have 3, THREE, 3 different stories from this guy!!!

So I point out that he's told me 3 different stories. I also point out that he just admitted that they were damaged while in his possession.

He still wants a refund.

I finally tell him I'm not doing anything. 3 different stories, admission of damage and assholeness leave me feeling like this is my only option.

Assholes like this need to get elbowed in the mouth.

Assholes and elbows!!!



Edit june 11-

So the idiot finally filled, but with eBay and not Paypal.

And there is a FORTH story about how they got damaged. He's claiming the extreme temperature diffences during the shipping process may have lead to the damage.

..........

I'll let you decide on that one. Personally, I call bullshit for a forth time.

Guy just can't own up to his mistake.

Stop it!!!!

Whoever is posting my blog on ISS, STOP IT!!!

From this point on I will have them deleted.

And the latest Foams are.......

So, after rumors and speculations and Twitter hype, the newest Foamposite shoes have been announced.....


Foamposite Air Force 1's!!!!!



Wait, what, another fusion?!?!?!


HOW ABOUT SOMETHING NEW!!!!!!


Damn, yet another overused, soon to be over hyped AF1. Nike doesn't have any creativity anymore.

Oh, there is a Foamposite Air Jordan 1 in the works to.

I guess the only way they can sell Foamposite shoes is to make them into shoes that already sell. You know, instead of just releasing them in 1 colorway, which is the way Nike releases Foamposites lately.

So, these will be hyped like the Yeezy crap. All the hypebeasts will run to the stores and eBay to overpay for them. Then we'll get the next uninspired, fusion, retro, remake junk.

Whatever happened to Nike being cutting edge?

Edit- I told you fools on Nicekicks these would be lame.

Here it comes!!!!!!!!!

History repeats itself.

A LOT of people that actually know what they are talking about are saying a downward trend for sneakers is coming. I've been saying it for a while now. There are little signs here and there.

I said that a few months back. Now there are more signs it's starting.

I seriously can't wait!!!

The culture will go back to the people that actually care about it. Stupid little kids will go to whatever the next fad is.

Real collectors can go back to paying reasonable prices. Not have to worry about idiots that we have to now.

I hope it comes quickly!!!

More people would be mad if...

We all know how bad Jordan Brand has gotten with their retros. If you haven't seen it, there is a video on Youtube about the quality of the 25th anniversery XI's, the guy got them and they were basically falling apart. I don't have the address, if you haven't seen it, try to search Youtube for it.

If people actually knew how good OG's were back in the day, people would be pissed about how crappy retros are now. I think most people that buy retros now either never had OG's for whatever reason or don't really remember how good they were.

I know I've stated here in the past that we shouldn't complain about retros anymore. I'm rethinking that statement. It seems like they just get worse and worse.

The kicker is, now they have BIN's. What a fucking joke! They make them the same quality as the OG's and sell them for ALOT more.

I've been wondering how they justify selling old Jordans for more then new ones.

There isn't anything new in these old shoes they retro. Just some crappy colorways and cheaper materials. They don't even fit like the OG's.

They are not improved, they're just made cheaper in every way they can think of. If you cut a millimeter off here and there on one shoe, you can save a shitload in material over a production run.

Nike/JB doesn't care about the shoes anymore. I think most of us have known this for a long time now.

Too bad.

Edit- Here is the video. Thanks Bob. It only took me half an hour to figure out how to put it up here.




Normally I wouldn't post someone elses material. But I think this needs to be seen by everyone that is a Jordan fan.

Sad state of the culture...

I noticed something a few days ago, seems obvious, but I never really thought about it.

There seems to be thousands of sites were you can buy sneakers. Whether they are real or not, general releases or limited editions, retail chains, small stores, personal websites. Literally thousands of site.

But only a few where you can actually discuss sneakers.

On top of that, most of the sites where you can discuss things are linked to another site trying to sell you something or make money in some other way.

Years ago, when the Internet was new and shinny, it was the other way around.

There were tons of message boards and sites dedicated to the love of sneakers. There were only a handful of sites selling.

Nikepark, Swooshtown, 23jumpman St., Niketalk, Nike Spirit, John's Swoosh page, so many sites they all can't be listed. Every one of them made just for the love of Nike/sneakers. It seemed like no one cared about making money off of these sites.

There were only a small handful of sites that actually sold shoes and that's all they did. There wasn't a message board on any of them. All they did was sell shoes.

It really does show the state of the culture now. Everyone is worried about how much their collection is worth or how much they can get for a pair of shoes. Then the same people turn around and try to low ball someone for something they know is worth more.

It's like the culture is more about the money then it is about the love of sneakers.

It's pretty sad.

There are some people out there that actually collect for the love and don't give a shit about the worth of what they have. I applaud these people. We need more of that in this culture.

Words like worth, value, price check, how much- all need to go. If you are worried about any of these, your not a true collector.

sooo bored

I noticed a few days ago that the sneakers coming out of the next few months are really boring. There seems to be nothing but remake/refresh/fusion junk, with little to no inspiration to them at all.

Nothing coming out looks good to me except the Hyperfuze, which doesn't hit the store until fall (I think).

Sneakers have become really boring and stale lately. It's not that I am getting away from shoes, that not the case at all. It's just the product that the companies have been making is lame.

Adidas TS line was cool at first, but now is like the same shoes over and over. Time to go back to real signature shoes.

Nike is "remaking" a lot of their old shoes. Not really a good idea. I for one am getting sick of seeing the same shoes. Some of the "remakes" look almost exactly like their OG.

Jordan, well, we all know how Jordan has fallen off. There's nothing there for me. Unless they release some more colorways of the 2010. I'm pretty much done with numbered J's. I was excited for the Powder Blue IX's, but seeing the changes they made to the see, I decided it wasn't something I wanted.

Reebok hasn't released ANYTHING good in a while. Still waiting for some OG Kamikaze's to be retroed. I get the feeling I'll be waiting for a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time.

And1 has pretty much disappeared. Seems like Tai Chi's were in the stores for about 10 minutes.

I think this is the worst it's been in years. Like 20 years!

The people at eBay have their heads so far up their asses they can see what they are eating!

Yeah, I know what your thinking-



"But Jason, we've all known that for 10 year now".



Let me tell you a story.



I've been selling off my collection, I've mentioned it before on this here blog. Yesterday, out of the blue with no warning, there are limits placed on my eBay account. Bullshit, but what ever. I can't put the namebrands in the title of the auctions. So I just use the actual name of each shoe.



A couple hours go by and I notice 2 of my auctions are gone. I'm like wtf. I start looking at my account, there is a policy violation on my account for counterfeit items. First, I want to kill people from eBay. Then I calm down and start the process of getting this fixed. I email "customer service", which in actuallity should be named dumbest fucks online, to see what the problem is. I get a response saying one of my listings violated the policy because, get this-



1. There was no namebrand in the title.



2. There is no original box for the shoes.





ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?!?!



Let me repeat that-



ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?



All of the fake ass bullshit they have on that site, not just shoes, and one of my auctions gets flagged because of some tiny bullshit like that??? Motha fucking companies have started to sue eBay because of fakes listed on their site. They can't tell the difference between real shit and fake shit. They will actually tell you there is no way to actually tell the difference between the two. We all know that's total BULLSHIT!!! We know that, other people in other hobbies know that, eBay knows it. They're just to fucking lazy to actually do anything to fight it.



I know a person that was contacted by eBay about a program to start identifying counterfeit shoes. He started the program, then after a few weeks stopped. eBay wasn't taking down the auctions that he was telling them were fakes! People wand up buying fake shoes because eBay is too fucking lazy and too concerned about how much money they make.



This is the shoe that they say is fake-



I bought them from a Nike Outlet here in the Denver area a few years ago. They are B-grades.

Maybe I'll tell eBay to kiss my ass at the end of the month when my bill is due.