They're Just Shoes, People!
By Rachelle Bowden in Miscellaneous on Apr 4, 2005 3:48PM
Over the past few days there have been 2 big, local news stories about a basketball shoes, one tragic, one bizzare. And we're not talking about just any basketball shoes.. we mean the kind that will set you back $100+ and that are endorsed by celebrity basketball stars.
First the tragic - Yesterday Eduain Foster, a 19-year-old from Minneapolis, and an unidentified 15-year-old from Calumet City were charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery in the killing of a 17-year old local boy, Steven Terrett. Terrett was found dying and shoeless last Friday night in a South Side alley, leading authorities to believe that he was robbed and killed for his shoes, brand new Air Jordan sneakers.
Terrett's last words were "They set me up." His mother says the Air Jordans were important to him because Michael Jordan was his favorite player.
And the bizarre story - Last week shoe fans lined up outside Niketown on Michigan Avenue for as many as 3 days to get their hands on a special edition, gray suede Nike Air Force 1 Chamber of Fear LeBron James shoe. About 150 pairs were for sale for about $90 each. Right now a pair is going for over $300+ on ebay. The seller says he waited in line for more than 20 hours to get them.
The limited edition shoes were part of an ad campaign where the Cleveland Cavaliers faced five fears, each fear represented by a different shoe, and each shoe available in a different city. Chicago, San Fran, NY, Denver and Cleveland were each selling a different limited edition shoe.
Most of the people that were in line to get the shoes were shoe collectors who started collecting them as a hobby when the first Air Jordans came out.
So, here's the thing. Nike and these basketball players come out with really popular shoes that everyone's got to have. They go for over $100, which is affordable maybe for a collector who's never going to wear the shoes, but for the lucky kid that gets his hands on them somehow.. and if he actually wears them outside.. it could get him killed. We know it's not a new story, but it's STILL fucked up.