On a lighter & happier note, I got both SNS and END shipping notifications this morning around 8:45! So stoked to get these moving to me!
I've said it before but love repeating it. I'm one of the "old heads" at 42. Mom got me a pair of Sky Jordan 1s back in 86 (though I was too young to know who MJ was yet..). Once I started following him in '88 (went to my 1st Sixers game and I got my 1st MJ shirt, the Salem caricature one where he was doing the finger roll). That started my love for MJ and his sneakers.
It kept going year after year. Using S I magazines to see pics of his sneakers, or when I'd record all the Bulls games, I'd replay them just to pause it to see any closeup of what he was wearing (remember kids, no internet, no social media, no Kicks magazine, nothing). Only catalog was the Nike book retailers got that showed the next seasons shoes and apparel they would order and they NEVER showed them to customers.
So, 1989 rolls around, 7th grade has started and I need new shoes. My dream shoe was Agassi's Air Tech Challenge II Hot Lava. Started watching him in 88/89 and the loss to Andres Gomez at the French was crushing. But he wore the Hot Lava outfit and I wanted those (Agassi got me into playing tennis which I still do today)! Mom took me to Dimmers. It was a small mom & pop shop in the suburbs of Philly in Lansdale. This place was AMAZING!!
You walk in and the store had that new sneakers smell we all know and love. And on the walls at this time, EVERYTHING!! ATC II, Air Trainer SC, Flight Lite, Solo Flight, Flight Hi, Air Pressure! Reebok Pump, you name it. I saw my Agassi's I wanted. $79.99. Mom was cool with the price, but she game me a choice I didn't see coming!
She pointed to the one shoe in the middle of the wall...Air Jordan IV black/cement!!! She asked if I wanted these instead? Price was $89.99!! Only $10 more but still expensive!! I asked if it was okay? It was as long as I take care of them and don't beat them up. I held my end 1000%! Never wore in the grass, never when it rained. One day it started to spritz on the bus ride home. I sprinted from the bus up my driveway to keep them dry! Even used a sharpie to fill in any wear on the midsole! This shoe was my "Ground Zero" for my love of sneakers and this hobby!
So when I got my emails that said I won the raffles at both END & SNS, I was so happy and relieved about not having to stress over SNKRS or deal with going to the mall on Saturday (I work Saturday and that wasn't an option to leave at 10 am). Plus I didn't win on either FTL or Champs apps (no head start but was hoping for a waitlist).
This is a shoe I had as a 13 year old and here I am, 42 years old, been in this hobby half my life, made it through a liver transplant 15 years ago (at 27) and dealing with Crohn's disease that is REALLY bad (I've been sick since I was 16) that at 24 had my large intestine removed, that when these arrive, I get to hold a shoe and wear it which will bring me back to when life was simpler and I was a healthy young kid!
30 years is a long time between pairs (I missed the 99 release as my boss decided to have a "spur of the moment" sales meeting that Friday (remember when drops were on Fridays?)! That negated me from heading to KOP Footlocker before 10 am to get them. So I missed them, but when my 2 pairs come in this week, life comes full circle and I can go back to being that 13 year old kid with the only pair of black/cement Air Jordan IV's in Junior High! I can't wait for them to arrive! My jacket below will go nicely with it (snagged it off eBay years ago. The OG IV Twist jacket they called it). Thanks for reading my story fellas!
