Giant shoeboxes, virtual courts, gala celebrations, fashion shows, concerts, surprise mixtape album drops. And that was just Thursday. Safe to say sneakerheads will have plenty of things to talk about this NBA All-Star Weekend once it’s all said and done.
When it comes to glitz and glamor, no other sporting event comes to close to the hype that surrounds the NBA’s midseason exhibition. The Super Bowl brings in a wider audience by a huge margin, but when it comes to sheer star power, the NBA is winning that battle. Couple that with the event taking place in New York City this year and you have the perfect storm of hype. And when there’s hype, you know that sneakerheads can’t be too far behind.
In your lifetime, you’ve probably heard somebody say that you haven’t made “it” until you’ve made “it” in New York. Most of the time that’s just some entitled New Yorker nonsense, but when you weed through the noise, there is something different about becoming a legend there that’s different from everywhere else. Basketball has a special connection to the city and that trickles down to sneakers. Only in New York does Carmelo Anthony remain relevant and Jeremy Lin becomes a worldwide celebrity. Countless sneakers were either made by New Yorkers or “made” because of New Yorkers and that trickles down to the rest of the world. The city is far from perfect when it comes to their reputation as sneaker hitmakers, but there’s no denying their track record is pretty good.
Every year the major brands always have something special lined up for All-Star Weekend, but this time the extravagance is turned up by magnitudes more. Considering last year’s All-Star Game was in New Orleans, that’s saying something. Beyond the usual barrage of themed kicks that you will see during the game on Sunday, we’ve got Under Armour and adidas debuting their newest signature athletes, Jordan Brand celebrating their 30th anniversary and Kanye West holding court like only Kanye West can. Any other time of the year, Yeezy Season would be all that anybody would be talking about, but this week it’s just one of the thousands of things to do or talk about. Oh, and Jordan Brand ambassador Drake made sure nobody forgot about him.
None of this happen without sneaker culture going mainstream that past few years. All of this is really a thank you to the brands to their most loyal of customers. This is for the kids who line up for hours just to cop a pair of kicks and read the blogs and fill up the conventions just to have the newest, latest and best. This is for the old ‘heads who have stayed true to the game and don’t turn their nose up on the newbies just because they weren’t around when Jordan was in his prime. This is for the #ChicksOnFire that showed the world that sneakers is for everybody. And it is an invitation to those who are on the outside looking in to see what sneaker culture genuinely is all about.
With so many kicks dropping this weekend, let’s just hope that this attention that the sneaker world is getting is all positive and peaceful by the time Sunday ends. The culture is getting the red carpet treatment and it’s well-deserved; it’s up to them to not screw this up.
The post Commentary: Sneakerheads Are The Big Winners Of All-Star Weekend appeared first on KicksOnFire.com.
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