(I have the black/red in a low cut)
The Tai Chi's a great shoe. It's really basic, there's no frills or gimmics with them. You get good ankle support (even with the low, it feels the same as the midcut), the shoes are light, and the design is tight too. And if you need a shoe to hit a halfcourt shot to win a game for your team, wear the red and wthie ones, they worked for me.
I saw these shoes the day they came out and I had to have them. Apparently they're a limited edition run (only 60 pairs in Edmonton). Production aside, just look at these. They rival the Jordan XI's, they're almost too nice. Once they're broken in they come out for special occasions only. Tracy McGrady wore these in the All Star Game this past weekend. I read about a red pair that's been made too, but my guess is that they're super limited, maybe to 10 or 15 pairs, sort of like last year's Kobe shoe that had the US flag painted on. There were 12 pairs. Kobe had one, Lebron had another and the other ten are a mystery.
Good old two faced Nike. Is there a better evil corporation out there? I bought these shoes for my grade 12 basketball season for $188.00 at Forzani's in the West Ed the weekend that we all went in to watch the Celtics and the then Vancouver Grizzlies in a preseason game at the Skyreach Centre. This is a kick ass pair of shoes. It was the first Nike hoops shoe to use max air in the heel and forefoot and it makes a huge difference in perfromance. The whole shoe is flawless. The padding around the ankles, the way the max air lifts you off the ground, the ankle support is good, the lacing system was unique and simple too. This was the only signature shoe Nike gave Chris Webber. Once he ran into his troubles in Washington and then was traded to Sacramento Nike cancelled their contract with CWebb and then went on to retro his shoe this past year in the midst of the Kings' lengthy playoff run. I hope Vince is paying attention.
I'm a sucker for patent leather. I saw these shoes at Athlete's World in Calgary and thought if I didn't buy them that I'd never see them again and be obsessed with them for years (see Air Jordan XI). So I shelled out $250 for these shoes a week after they were released and said I'd never regret it. Not only did these shoes come out in a navy blue patent leather that I would have taken over these had I known they were coming, I saw them on sale for $140 at Footlocker this past summer. Maybe I'll sell them on eBay in a few years for $400 or something. Until then, they're the most costly mistake I've made with shoes. Oh yeah, performance wise, they're not bad. The zoom air in the forefoot gives that nice feeling of being low to the ground, while the shock columns keep my feet feeling padded while I play. Definitely worth 150 dollars. 250? I don't know.
This is it. The cream of the crop. In my opinion, the Air Jordan XI was the nicest shoe Nike has ever made. There's 5 colorways available from Nike, and tons more out there that are fakes. Performance wise, the shoe is average. Pretty simple, it's the kind of shoe you forget is on your feet when you're playing and I like that about a shoe. These shoes are the best though, you walk on to any court and you're getting comments on these no matter who you play with. This was the first shoe Nike made that had alot of patent leather on it. The people who worked on the Jordan shoes were always more liberal because they knew that they'd get sales on whatever they made as long as Mike was wearing them. When they first came out in 95 they took alot of criticism, but over time they've become a favorite of most Jordan enthusiasts. One reason may be because these are the shoes that Mike wore when the Bulls went 72-10 and won their first championship after his first comeback. The pairs I've got are from the All Star game (the white on whites) where he won the MVP and the playoff colorway (black/black/red) where Michael was the MVP as well that season. There's supposed to be 2 more colorways coming out this year in a lowcut version, I think they might be retro's of the original lows, which are nothing like the midcut shoe.These are the only shoes that made my legs shake from excitement when I bought them.
95 Retro
