Hot Air LeBrons

Call me bitter. Call me old fashioned. Say I don't have fashion sense or any sense of style. Call me whatever you want, but there is nothing in this world or the next that could convince me to spend $315 on a pair of tennis shoes. If you get paid hourly and, worse yet, you get paid with a physical check that you have to pick up from your job every two weeks, and you go out and buy these tennis shoes...

You deserve to get your ass whooped in the parking lot on your way back to your "car-note-having" car.

So far Hakeem Olajuwon is the only basketball player who gets my respect with his tennis shoes. For those who don't remember, back in the mid 90s Olajuwon decided to endorse some $35 Spalding tennis shoes saying:

"A mother with four children can't afford to spend $400 on shoes that will wear out in a couple of months...Parents must teach their kids a sense of value. Paying more doesn't mean it's better. That's not value."

Lebron James is just upping the ante on the exploitation that Michael Jordan perfected. It's not that the shoes cost upwards of $300. Actual designer shoes cost twice that. My beef is with the market they're geared towards. They're not going for the upper-upper middle class. They're going for the working or  looking-for-work class.

If I play devil's advocate I guess I would have to say that if people are willing to buy them then I shouldn't knock the hustle. I just wish someone would endorse a textbook or damned health insurance plan.

SMH

I'm not even gonna dignify those shoes by posting a picture of them. Enjoy this instead...

[caption id="attachment_2645" align="alignnone" width="447"] The true cost of being in style for some people[/caption]