Author Archives: Aaron Kr.
March 12th, 2012 by Aaron Kr.
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Thanks to your help, an overwhelming crop of worthy candidates has been narrowed down to the final 32 and we are now ready to kick off our Sneaker News March Madness Non-OG Air Jordan Tournament. If you haven’t been following, this year, our annual march sneaker tourney will feature a battle of the all-time greatest non-original Air Jordan colorways, and as you can see, there is some serious competition here and plenty of room for upsets and Cinderella runs along the way. We’re sure that not everyone will agree with the seedings, but you will have plenty of opportunity to prove us wrong in the voting. Also, you might have noticed the omission of the Air Jordan XI ‘Space Jam’, which was no accident. Due to the dominance of the Air Jordan XI winning our first two march madness tournaments, we sent the Space Jams straight to the sneaker Hall of Fame and let them sit this one out to open up the field for some new blood. (Feel free to spread the word when countless ‘Where’s the Space Jams?‘ comments come forth despite the clarification) You can get a closer look at the brackets over on Sneaker News HD, and stay tuned later tonight for the tip-off of Round 1 voting.
March 11th, 2012 by Aaron Kr.
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The play-in round of our March Madness Non-OG Air Jordan Tournament is a wrap, and our final field of 32 is officially locked in place. Thanks to a huge voter turnout, your opinions have been voiced and the final eight shoes just got their tickets punched for the tourney. There were some pretty tight races and now these play-in round winners should make for some very deadly 7 and 8 seeds within the brackets, ensuring that we’re likely to see some exciting upsets along the way this year. Continue after the jump to see who survived to fight another day in our SN March Madness Tournament and stay tuned for the unveiling of the full 2012 field tomorrow night.
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March 9th, 2012 by Aaron Kr.
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Kanye West has been quick to lend his services when it comes to helping to promote Kobe Bryant’s Nike shoes. He stepped in as the villain in last year’s Black Mamba short film and then showed up again for the ZK7 to be a part of the KobeSystem‘s star-studded live audience. It looks like the favor has finally been returned as we get our first look at this special version of the Air Yeezy 2 rumored to have been created for Kobe himself. As you can see, the shoe adopts the wild color scheme from the Christmas ‘Leopard’ edition of the Zoom Kobe VII Supreme, giving the Yeezy series perhaps its wildest colorway yet. These have indeed been confirmed to be legit and while it’s not known if they were limited to a “1 of 1″ for Kobe, it’s unlikely that we’ll see a retail release for these, so for now, enjoy the pics and we’ll be sure to keep you posted if new details surface. via thakidfrombk on NT
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March 8th, 2012 by Aaron Kr.
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March is here and that means it’s time for our annual Sneaker News March Madness tournament where we pit some of the all-time sneaker greats against each other on the road to one shoe’s eventual championship supremacy. Last year, we let the most beloved original Air Jordan colorways battle it out, with the Air Jordan XI ‘Concord’ emerging as your choice for G.O.A.T. This year, we’re taking the next logical step and will have the very best in non-OG Air Jordan colorways facing off to see which is the king of them all. While we all love the OG’s, there’s no denying that there have been some serious neck-breakers to stray from the traditional Air Jordan color schemes over the years, so on diversity alone, things should get pretty interesting once this year’s action gets underway.
With college teams fighting through their conferences this week with their NCAA tournament lives on the line, we thought we’d further amp things up for our tourney this year by adding a play-in round to let our readers determine the final additions to the bracket field. We have 24 selections already locked in place, but as you can imagine, there are a lot of worthy competitors, so you will decide from 24 additional selections which 8 will survive to claim a place in the big dance. The bubble selections are divided into four groups with the top two vote-getters in each grouping moving on to the tournament. You will get two votes per group, so make them count. As you can see from the choices below, there’s some pretty stiff competition right out of the gate, so you can only imagine what’s waiting for these contenders in the main event. Voting for the play-in round will remain open until 5pm EST on Sunday with the winners to be announced later that night. Check out the 2012 bubble kicks after the jump and voice your opinion by casting votes for your favorites.
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March 4th, 2012 by Aaron Kr.
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If you’re a legit celebrity sneakerhead, chances are you’ve “got a guy.” After catching wind of Jason Negron’s Sole Swap Foamposite customs, rapper Joe Budden had his trusty sneaker procurer approach Jason about getting a few pairs done. The initial request was for a royal/orange ‘Knicks‘ pair and a pewter/green ‘Dr. Doom‘ version, and both were needed asap for some upcoming performances. Jason was able to scrape together the necessary component shoes and worked his magic doubletime to get them done in time. Once finished, the shoes were hand-delivered to Joe backstage at his show at Irving Plaza this past week. The Dr. Doom pair went straight onto Budden’s feet, as his head to toe gear was already assembled to match the kicks. Jason hung around breaking necks in a pair of his LED light-up Foam customs and snapped some pics of Joe in the Dr. Dooms, even a few with Joe doing some pre-show pushups. Check them out after the jump and let us know who wins the Jason Negron superhero celebrity sole swap battle between Joe Budden’s Dr. Dooms and Fabolous’s Spiderman edition.
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March 2nd, 2012 by Aaron Kr.
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Some major waves rippled through the sneaker world a few weeks back as it was learned that the beloved Ewing sneaker line would be making its triumphant return to store shelves this summer. Aside from the nostalgia stirred by those basketball hangtag images and the Twitter launch that followed, not much else is known about the project at this time, but judging from the reaction to the initial news, there seem to be a lot of intrigued sneakerheads out there itching to get their feet in a pair of Ewings once again. Details are still scarce, but a new development has arisen as the official Ewing Athletics website went live this morning. Check out their site and stay tuned to Sneaker News for all the latest on the Ewing Athletics resurrection as we all patiently wait for a legend to be reborn this summer.
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March 1st, 2012 by Aaron Kr.
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Fila has long been well-known for their classic tennis shoes and velvety warm-up suits, but people seem to forget that during the early/mid 90′s, the Italian brand was a very strong competitor in the basketball category as well. Best known for signature models for NBA stars Grant Hill and Jerry Stackhouse, Fila captured a nice chunk of the b-ball market at the time, but aside from the sigs, perhaps the most beloved offering of them all was The Cage. The shoe took the Fila basketball line in a bold new direction that incorporated a progressive new take on the traditional Fila aesthetic, while pushing the limits of footwear design and innovation with the foam “cage” piece around the ankle. Lost in obscurity for almost 20 years, Fila’s cult favorite, The Cage, is finally making its way back to store shelves in 2012, so to get the full story on the comeback, we sat down with Fila’s lifestyle footwear product manager, Louis W. Colon III for more details. Keep reading after the jump for our full conversation with Louis and a look at the first three Cage colorways, which are hitting select retailers like New Jersey’s Packer Shoes as we speak.
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February 25th, 2012 by Aaron Kr.
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Earlier this week, Nike held a Black History Month event in Portland where a few rare sneaker and art gems were auctioned off for a good cause. From the initial pics that have leaked, it’s looking like the pick of the litter was a special never before seen Air Jordan V sample. We’re all familiar with the Air Jordan V’s original fighter plane inspiration, but this 1 of 1 edition takes an appropriate BHM spin on the concept by paying tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen and specifically the “Red Tail Angels”, who’s story was detailed in the recent George Lucas film. The Red Tails were a daring escort unit back in World War II who got their name from the red paint that covered the tail end of their silver planes.
As you can see, Jordan Brand has paid homage by translating the idea into sneaker form with this Air Jordan V, featuring a silver upper and midsole with only the rear heel panel showing off a vibrant splash of red. A tonal RT-A logo is stitched into the heel with a gold Jumpman on the tongue and an ice outsole beneath offering nice some additional touches. No word on the “Red Tail” SFB Boot seen behind it in these pics, but according to NarcelX who snapped this pic, the Air Jordan V’s went for $5,000 at the auction and are the only pair in existence, so who knows if we’ll ever get another look. For now, you can check them out here, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted if more images surface.
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