The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 90 — Mamba Week Mayhem
Mamba Week was awful, but it may be an inflection point
Gooooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for rolling with me this morning.
This weekend was rough. Lots of loss. Shouts to the late Chadwick Boseman who changed the lives of so many Black kids out there while battling Cancer. Salute to our Black Panther. May he rest in power. Same for Blazers legend Cliff Robinson. A true pioneer as a stretch big. He will be missed. 2020 absolutely stinks.
Let’s jump in.
Mamba Week was awful, but there’s a flip side to it
(Photo by Fred Kearney on Unsplash)
Mamba Week was an absolute disaster — there’s no way around it. From beginning to end it was a mess.
This felt like “The Ten” all over again, except for this time it was throughout an entire week instead of in just one day. It was L after L after L after L for most of us common folk.
And seeing some of the celebrity backdoors posted online along with influencers posting the shoes on Instagram only made things worse.
Most actual fans were SOL. Immediately, the gear was selling for thousands of dollars on the aftermerket. It was wack as hell.
Here's the thing. This may have been necessary despite how terrible it was. Sometimes you just have to rip the Band-Aid off, right? Just get it over with. That’s what Mamba Week felt like. Ripping the Band-Aid off.
The ugly realities of the sneaker game’s resale market were on full display for everyone to see. This was one of the most publicly talked about drops outside of sneaker culture that we’ve seen in quite some time. There were people who weren’t sneakerheads — not even adjacent — trying to get their hands on Kobe’s kicks. They couldn’t and they were pissed. Their fallen idol's legacy was completely taken advantage of.
The conversation shifted for the mainstream.
For so long, the story on sneaker culture has been how absolutely absurd secondary market prices can get and how much money is in it. People have marveled at it.
Now some of those same people are dreading it instead. Not only because it got so expensive, but because it was Kobe. This was supposed to be Nike honoring him. Instead, the conversation changed to how his fans were skipped over and taken advantage of.
There were people who angrily flooded my Twitter mentions as a result. They demanded better and made sure Nike saw.
And this wasn’t the same niche community — it was a groundswell of folks. Some new to the game, some tired of playing in the same old rigged system. Either way, they weren’t happy with the results.
Mamba Week felt like an inflection point. Only time will tell if this moment changes things, but there’s no denying the public shift here. Scarcity’s value is trending downward.
There’s always a moment in sneakers, or any business really, where things shift. There were a few that got us here — the Galaxy Foams, the 2009 Space Jams, The Ten. They kept the cycle going.
Mamba Week feels like the one that might get us out.
And we’re off
(Photo by Johnathan Kaufman on Unsplash)
UCLA is officially suing Under Armour for the termination of the $280 million deal the two sides agreed to back in 2016. We knew that this was coming. Now it’s here.
UCLA wants Under Armour to pay up. They’re seeking more than $200 million in compensation from Under Armour after the termination attempt.
UCLA believes UA can still deliver on their promises and payments — they just don’t want to. And they’re using COVID-19 as an excuse not to.
They also say they didn’t know about UA’s faulty accounting that led to the S.E.C. investigation and wouldn’t have signed the massive deal in 2016 had they known.
Under Armour’s counter is a “force majeure” argument that UCLA can’t uphold its end of the bargain because Pac-12 football is cancelled this fall due to the pandemic. But it’s unclear how much ground that holds.
Yes, their contract does have a force majeure clause in it. But it does not explicitly include pandemics or epidemics.
The clause includes “acts of God” but it’s unclear if COVID-19 falls under that.
The wild thing is the clause may not even be enough to invalidate a deal here for UA as Extra Points author Matt Brown astutely points out. Under Armour has other deals with other schools. They’re not trying to get out of those — just UCLA and Cal. How selective they’re being works to UCLA’s and Cal’s advantage in court.
This is going to be a landmark case both in and outside of sports. It’s going to set a precedent for how contracts will be looked at during and post COVID-19.
In other words, this is one you’re going to want to follow.
Money moves from Puma
One of the things Puma has been missing in its rebrand over the last few years was some big named talent on the sports side of things. That’s all changing now.
Puma made two big moves over the last week. They scooped up Neymar Jr. on football side after a long stint at Nike and they signed up LaMelo Ball on the basketball side of things
Neymar Jr. is clearly the bigger get here. The 28-year old superstar striker is already well established as one of the best players in his sport and gives them a big name to build their football strategy around. That’s a huge step.
LaMelo Ball is a play for the future in basketball. He’s a projected top-3 pick who already comes into the league with lots of fanfare surrounding him. He’s already their most popular athlete and he hasn’t taken a step on an NBA court.
Puma needed this. They’ve always held it down from a cultural standpoint and have made timely collaborations with Rihanna, Nipsey Hussle (Rest in power) and now J Cole.
But it’s been so long since they’ve had an actual signature athlete do anything of note. These two are another chance at that. Hopefully, they make the best of it.
LOL silly me
So I called myself being different this weekend. As y’all know, I did not like the Union Jordan 4, so I didn’t try to buy it. Cool.
However, I did like the Union Zoom 92. Joint was fire. So I thought I’d just slide in smoothly and scoop it up while everyone else was on the Jordan 4. WRONG. Life comes at you fast.
Then, I thought, you know, it’s a non-retro J. Nobody wants this, right? I can probably scoop it for a decent price on StockX or Goat. So I check the price and WAIT WHAT.
Y’ALL. WHAT IS GOING ON. This is how we giving it up for non-retro collab Jordans, apparently. I never thought I’d see the day, but here we are.
Sadderday in its truest form. Sigh. Anyway, hopefully y’all caught some Union W’s. As you can see, your boy did not.
What’s droppin’, bruh
Nike Dunk Low “Ceramic” — Tuesday, September 1
Nike ISPA Drifter Split — Tuesday, September 1
Adidas X90004D — Tuesday, September 1
NCAA x Adidas Ultraboost 1.0 — Friday, September 4
Air Jordan 1 “Biohack” — Friday, September 4
That’s a wrap for Monday, folks! Thanks so much for rocking with me today. Let’s make this week a great one. Do that thing you’ve been saying you wanted to do for a while now.
I’ll be back on Wednesday for our next forum chat! See you then!
As always, family. Peace and love. Be easy. Be well. Be kind.
Signing off.
—Sykes 💯
Do you think the adidas confirmed app will be able to ward off the bots? Or same story different logo?