XX9

Its been a while since my last blog post as the last month and a half have been crazy busy with work and moving house. But I'm back on top of things and have a bunch of stuff to blog about over the next couple of weeks. But way back at the end of March I spent a week in New York, and of course I spent a lot of time hunting for interesting sneakers, and the shoe I was particularly looking for was the Air Jordan XX9.

In February I wrote about how much I liked the XX9's that Russel Westbrook has been wearing, and my excitement for his debut Jordan brand signature shoe. However since then we found out that Russ's shoe is going to be a lifestyle shoe, and not a performance basketball shoe, which for me was really disappointing news, and made up my mind that I definitely wanted to get a pair of the XX9's.

I was very tempted by the white/silver All-Star colourway, but while visiting Flight Club I was able to find a pair of the legend blue/white/silver colour from the Gift of Flight pack. Flight Club is a consignment sneaker store, where for a fee they will sell your shoes, so have an incredible selection of rare and hard to find shoes. It was pretty impressive to see so many rare Jordans, LeBrons, and Yeezys, and even a pair of Freddy Kreuger SB dunks that are one of my all time grail shoes. I would definitely recommend visiting Flight Club just to see the array of amazing stuff they have.

The Ultimate Gift of Flight pack was a very limited pack that was released just before Christmas last year. It was made up of the XX9's and a pair of XI's in legend blue. Because XI's are so popular the pack was in huge demand and sold out instantly. However unlike most people who bought the pack for the XI's it was the XX9's that I'd wanted, especially as Russ wore that colour when the Thunder played on Christmas day. And luckily for me someone had decided to sell their XX9's separately from the pack, and because it's the shoe that's generally less popular I was able to get a super limited shoe at a great price.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I thought it was a shame that Nike never released one of the OKC Thunder colourways that Westbrook has been wearing, especially as the orange looks so great on them. However a trip to Nike town helped to solve this as I grabbed a pair of Nike Hyper Elite socks to go with them and give them the hit of orange they'd been missing. For anyone who plays basketball I'd definitely recommend the Nike Elite socks, they're incredibly comfortable and help to keep your feet feeling good during a hard game. I've played in the XX9 once so far, and I really loved them. The fit and traction were especially impressive, so much so that I'm really considering picking up another pair.

Grant Hill III

One of my favourite things about collecting sneakers is being able to pick up all the shoes that I wanted when I was a kid but could never get either because I could't afford them or because they just weren't available in the UK. However there's one shoe that I loved as a kid that had never been re-released, the Fila Grant Hill III.

I was a big fan of a bunch of classic 90's players, Penny Hardaway, Kevin Garnett, and of course Jordan. But my absolute favourite player has always been Grant Hill. Through his first few seasons he was one of the hottest players in the league and showed the potential to be the best player in the NBA. I vividly remember the awesome Grant Hill Sprite commercials that aired during the Saturday morning NBA shows on Channel 4 and I had a bunch of his posters on my bedroom wall. I can also remember going to a sports store in Cambridge that is long since closed where I bought my white & teal Pistons Hill jersey, and even though its regularly voted one of the worst uniforms ever I still love it. Unfortunately injuries derailed a large part of Grants career but he was still always my favourite player and he had some great seasons as a veteran with the Phoenix Suns and LA Clippers.

The III was definitely the best of Grants shoes. It really reflects the design trends of the 90's and the over the top styling that features on a lot of the shoes that I really love from that era. I think it definitely takes some design cues from the Nike Zoom Flight 95, especially the oversized EVA midsole and the pods on the side.

Up until this year they had never re-released the navy/white colour which was the version I always wanted. A black/white edition was released late last year, but I'm glad I waited for this colourway to release. I don't think I'll be playing basketball in them, but I'll definitely be getting a lot of casual wear out of them over the summer.

I got my pair from the US through eBay, and even with shipping & customs they were refreshingly low priced. I guess there's just not a lot of hype for retro Fila releases. I was especially impressed with the the packaging, with both the box & the lining paper taking design cues from the shoe which is a really nice touch. There were a couple of small quality issues with the finish of the shoe but nothing that detracts from it, and I'm definitely excited to have another great shoe from my childhood in the collection.

Basketball Diaries

Played a bonus basketball game this week with the Cambridge basketball guys and decided to break out the 2011 Air Jordan XI Concords.

Basketball Diaries

Nike Air Max Penny 1

Its been a little while since my last Basketball Diaries post as for the last month I've just been rotating between the LeBron 12 & LeBron 11 Elites, and I've already posted plenty of pictures of those. But watching Penny Hardaway take part in the Shooting Stars event at the NBA All Star weekend inspired me to break out a classic for basketball last night.

Crazy Russ...

Its been a quiet week or so with not much of note to blog about. I have some new sneakers on the way from the U.S which according to the tracking are somewhere between Kentucky and the UK, so I'll hopefully have a post about those sometime in the next week or so.

There was plenty of sneaker action coming out of the NBA All-Star weekend, but to be honest most of it didn't really excite me. All the All Star edition shoes that the players wore during the game were pretty forgettable, and most of the other sneaker attention was around the release of the adidas & Kanye West Yeezy shoe which was underwhelming to say the least.

However the one piece of news that really did catch my attention was the news that Russell Westbrook is getting his own Jordan signature shoe. Westbrook has easily been my favourite player to watch this year. With Kevin Durant missing a bunch of games with various injuries, Russ has had to carry the extra load for the Thunder and its been awesome to watch. He plays every game at 100 miles an hour and attacks the basket as if he's trying to kill it. He's just the most exciting player to watch at the moment, which was perfectly displayed on Sunday night as he dropped 41pts and walked away with the All Star MVP trophy.

Jordan XX9 Russell Westbrook Player Edition

I really loved the blue/orange version of the Jordan XX9 that Westbrook has worn for a lot of the season and I was really disappointed that it was never released. The XX9 from the Gift of Flight pack was close, but it missed the orange which really sets off the shoe. So I have high hopes for his signature shoe. Russ has one of the most unique styles in the NBA so hopefully this will translate to an exciting shoe with some adventurous design. Jordan Brands current range of signature shoes for Chris Paul & Carmelo Anthony are pretty underwhelming so lets hope they can come up with something special for Russell. 

I'd also really love to see a return to releasing signature shoes in players uniform colours. I miss the days when you knew a shoe would definitely get a release in a home & away colourway. I don't think the new Melo 11 has been available in Knicks colours at all which I think is a real miss. Either that or put them on Nike ID with some good colour blocking options in blue, orange & white and that should keep me happy. Apparently they're calling it the Jordan Westbrook 0 and it will be debuting in June, so we should see some early images sometime soon, lets hope it lives up to its potential.

Out of the Woods.

This week I got the first of my Spring Most Wanted items. As a I mentioned in the post I've always thought the RealTree camo design was very cool, and having just picked up the new Cabela hunting game for Xbox, I've been particulalry enthusiastic for some outdoor adventuring.

The sweater I got is by Russell Outdoors which is the outdoor branch of Russel Athletic, the classic US athletic wear company who've been making products since 1902. It features RealTree's AP (All Purpose) camo pattern which I think looks awesome and is definitely a change from the regular camo patterns you normally see utilised on clothing in the UK. 

I got the sweater from ebay and was about £30 including shipping from the US. When I'm in New York in March I'm definitely going to be on the look out for some of the excellent Under Armour RealTree jackets that I think would be perfect for hiking and walking.

Nike LeBron Soldier IV St Vincent St Mary

If you read my Spring Most Wanted post from the other week you'll remember that I'm hunting for a pair of St Vincent St Mary LeBron IV's. Of course this involves checking through ebay most days in the vain hope that a pair has been listed in my size, and it was during one of those ebay sessions last week that I found a deadstock pair of SVSM Nike LeBron Soldier IV's at a great price that I couldn't resist bidding on.

The Soldier line of shoes is LeBrons team shoe line. Featuring less of the tech that goes into the main signature line, and at a lower price point they're worn by a lot of Nikes second tier sponsored players and the various schools that Nike & LeBron supply kit to.

St Vincent St Mary was LeBrons high school, and like all the SVSM shoes it comes in Deep Forest green with gold details. I especially love the oversized gold lion head on the tongue. They also feature the Irish logo on the heel (the SVSM team name) and some smart LeBron logo detailing.

This is the third pair of SVSM Soldier shoes in my collection. and while a lot of the SVSM shoes are available only to players this version was released to the general public as a House of Hoops exclusive back in 2010. Hopefully I'll be able to find a pair of the SVSM IV's from the main LeBron line to add to the collection sometime in the future.

                                                                      Soldier IV's, VI's and III's.

Brave the Cold.

Yesterday morning I went for a run at Queen Elizabeth Park in Hampshire. When I lived in Portsmouth I used to run there quite regularly and as my new years resolution is to get outside and do some adventuring I thought I'd head down there this weekend. It has a really good 5 mile route with a nice mix of hills and terrain, and some great stretches through the woods. When its cold I normally run in a thermal base layer with a regular cotton t-shirt over the top, which has kept me nice and warm even when its been snowing out. However I figured getting something a little more substantial would make the run all the more enjoyable and would certainly get plenty of wear while it stays cold.

So I swung by Nike Town after work on Friday and picked up a Nike Element Half Zip running top. Its in a really soft Nike Dri-Fit fabric with enough weight to give some real warmth. The turquoise & orange colour combination is very cool, and as always I love anything in a marled fabric.  I particularly like that it has thumb holes, so you can hook the cuffs over your hands for when its cold but you don't want to wear gloves. I wore it to run on Friday night and on Saturday morning and I would definitely recommend it if you do any winter running. I had a great run in the woods, although it was a little on the muddy side, but that's half the fun.

                                                           My Nike Lunarwoods, post run.