Ok so since I'm home with my daughter, who's no longer all that sick by the way, and the weather is kinda ugly outside I started cleaning up the closet along with all the other stashes and stacks of shoes around the house and started thinking bout what I really hate about the shoe game. I'm not talking about silly stuff Nike or the other brands do or some of the idiotic stuff I've seen Footaction do either. I'm talking about the really get you pissed stuff like bootlegs or realizing your missing that one model that leaves a hole in your collection and you can't find it anywhere online. Had that happen to me early, was cleaning up and rearranging the LeBron stack and realized I never did get a pair of LeBron Zoom 2's. Not only can't I find any on any of the sites I trust but even if I did I can't get them this year. That just means if I find them next year I'll probably have to pay even more. Also get mad at myself for skipping the Serena Williams Dunk Low from the Royale Collection Nike did with it Member's Only club a few years ago. I got all the other pairs in the collection but because the Serena was a women's shoe and I can't wear women's size's (I wear a size 12 / 13 men's) and my wife is not a sneaker person (unless they're Shox) so she wouldn't wear them I let them pass by. Now I wish I had got them for her just to round out the collection. Did the same thing to myself with the Wood Grain Pack, skipped the Dunks and got the Air Max 90's which didn't hold up well and I wish I had gone the Dunk route instead. Plus it seems as if there were two different versions of the Wood Grain Air Max 90 similar to the 2 different versions of the Dontrelle Willis Dunk from the Royale Collection (yes at one point he was big enough to have a Special Edition Dunk from Nike before his career...is died a good enough word?). The pair I have has a brown leather upper and the Wood Grain panel but I've also seen them with a black upper and Wood Grain panel on sites like http://www.pickyourshoes.com/ and those actually look a lot better. Now the Dontrelle's I have are the better looking ones to me. Mine are the actual Marlin's colors , black and that teal green, as opposed to the red and orange pair I've seen on various sites. Not really sure what the red and orange had to do wit him or the Marlins but I guess Nike did.
As I was cleaning I was also reminded of the shoes I should have keep for myself but didn't when I had my shoe business going. As I've said before, I used to buy shoes at the Footaction Outlet in Columbia SC (and sometimes in Cary NC) then go out of town and resell them to people who never knew they were over a year old. There were plenty of times during that 2 to 3 year period where I got plenty of blaze shoes in my size but usually ended up selling them instead of keeping them for myself (don't get high on your own supply) and looking back I really wish I had keep quite a few things. I had the Josh Gibson Untold Truth Dunks in a 12 but sold them, some black and white Air Max 97's in a 13, a ton of Air Max 90's in my size, and a 1 / 22 Countdown Package I got for only $50. I resold that for $125 but looking back now I wish I had kept it. I know that pack wasn't a huge hit with people but for $50 it was a freakin' steal and should be in my closet. But back then I liked making money and the hunt for more new hotness at the outlet more then I wanted those shoes so I have nobody to blame but myself.
But the thing that pisses me off to no end is the constant bootlegging I see online and on the streets around here. When you have to tell the new employees of Footlocker that they can't wear the fake shoes they have on their feet you know it's a problem. And it's not just bootleg shoes I hate, it's all bootlegs. Purses, movies, Cd's, clothes, shoes, cars, I hate all of it. And yes there is a bootleg car and it's all over the place down here. They perfectly illustrate what it is I hate about bootlegs and people who rock them. The Chrysler 300 is a BOOTLEG CAR! If you can't afford a Bentley then don't buy a fake ass bootleg Chrysler 300. The fact that you can't afford a Bentley is what makes them special. If everybody could afford one they would be a Ford. And to make it worse, people down here buy a bootleg car and then get even more bootleg and put a bootleg Bentley grill and emblem on the car to try and pretend it really is a Bentley. Of course they don't bother to change any of the logos or emblems on the back of the car so they look even dumber when somebody walks around to the back of the car. Always wonder who they think they are fooling? It's like the girl who works at McDonald's flipping burgers then grabbing her Louis Vuitton bag when she gets off and walks out with it in her uniform. You work at McDonald's, we all know you can't afford Louis Vuitton, nobody believes you. And if that bag was real, then your a even bigger idiot working at McDonald's and blowing your paychecks on Louis Vuitton instead of doing something to better yourself to get out of working at minimum wage. As somebody who's wife has 3 LV bags, several more Kate Spade bags, and I don't know how many Coach bags it drives me crazy when I see people with fake bags, selling fake bags, or buying fake bags. As I said before, what makes her bags special is that she can afford them and you can't. Same with my Jordan's and other shoes, I can afford them and you can't which makes them special. And before anybody starts screaming and yelling, I'm not saying I'm better then you. What I'm saying is that her bags or my Jordan's or Bentley's are special because not everybody can afford them or have them. Making them exclusive makes them desirable. You feel special and good because you have something other people don't. You worked hard to get something really nice to reward yourself and seeing somebody with a cheap knockoff makes yours not so special. It brings the value down of yours and makes all that hard work and sacrifice seem pointless.
The worst is when you see grown ass people wearing some fake Jordan's or a fake bag. You should know better, especially when they are some blatantly obvious knockoffs. We all know there are no such thing as Jordan / LeBron Fusions so why would you by some? Or some clear Jordans? And the "my boy got them in NY they haven't come out down here yet" excuse doesn't work anymore people. Also, if the mall is out of all-white AF1's, why in the world do you think the guy at the flea market selling them for $30 has real ones? I can understand some kid in middle school who doesn't know any better but a grown man should be a little more intelligent then that. And if you do rock bootlegs at least be smart enough not to wear them to the mall and act like you know shoes when you go in Foot Locker alright? Because trust me, we sneakerheads in there and our employee friends will laugh at you and make inside jokes to each other in front of you. And trust me, they're laughing at you in the club too. Later guys, gotta cook dinner, Cheapsoles.
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