Space Jams

In 1996, a live action animated film came out about Michael Jordan and a fictionalized version of his life. As the plot of the film goes, Michael had retired from the NBA for the first time, and was taking up baseball. In a wake-up call, he ends up playing basketball with Bugs Bunny to save cartoon characters, and finds his passion for basketball again - hence his return to the NBA. The film is Space Jam. The shoes worn in that film are the Air Jordan XI - Space Jam (Retro).

The Air Jordan XI is apparently one of the most copied shoes when it comes to people dealing in fake Air Jordans. I do not understand why. It is a good looking shoe, but I do not know why it is as popular as it is claimed to be. Stating that, there are many sites on the internet that have advisories on how to determine if the shoe you have is fake or legitimate. There is a good "how to spot a fake XI guide" on ebay.

The box itself is not the regular packaging associated with Air Jordans. It comes with its own customised box. The "2-3" found on the back of the heels of the shoes are embossed on the lid of the box, as well as the patent leather upper wave cut being on the side of the box. The box opens like a shelf, not with a lid. Opening it up leads to a plastic cover with the words:

• "Tinker made them shine."
• "Mike made them fly."
• "You made them iconic."
  

The shoe itself has the typical interesting look, and it's noted that even though the shoe was stored in ideal conditions, some yellowing has occurred on the bottom of the soles of the shoes. If Nike is to come up with one major innovation when it comes to their shoes, it would be to ensure that their icy clear soles remained that way, and did not yellow over time. The back of the tongue has the text: "Quality basketball product inspired by the greatest player ever". The patent leather is stunning, and even though some models have "pimples" on the midsole, I was lucky enough to get one that did not have any additional bumps on it.

I have not worn these shoes at all, and I do not know if I will. I can not comment on how they feel, but you can find plenty of reviews on the internet. I do suggest looking at Nightwing2303's youtube review on the Cool Grey Air Jordan XI - being basically the same shoe, but in a different colour. So without further delays, here are the images:

My thanks for shipping me this pair of sneakers goes to the team at crazyforsneaker.com. Their site is still going through maintenance, but crazyforsneaker's ebay shop is up and running.