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LeBron VI Officially Introduced in Beijing
LeBron James wore the ZL VI’s in a Team USA practice a few weeks ago (details and pics here and here), but no official announcement or press conference went down until now. The Olympic colorway with the reflective “United We Rise” pattern will apparently be making its first and only game appearance in the gold medal game (assuming Team USA gets there). Here’s a new close-up of these:
A full-size shot is available at this link. All pics and info from kenlu.net via NT’s bib10… A few press conference photos as well as a close-up shot of the very decent black / red / white colorway can be seen after the jump.
Olympic Spikes: Jamaican Track & Field
Back in 1996, Michael Johnson wore what was arguably the most famous spike in Olympic history: his ultralight gold Nike’s. Prior to the ‘08 Games in Beijing, Nike hyped up the 186 gram Aerofly, a new golden shoe to be worn by Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell. However, when the Olympics finally came around, here’s what was on Powell’s feet:
(Thomas Kienzle/AP Photo)
Only a Jamaican could possibly pull these off. I would’ve preferred the gold look, but it turns out these were a good choice given the final results of the Men’s 100m. These were unveiled at a Nike press conference a few days before heats started and can also be seen here and here.
(Reuters)
Meanwile, Puma took a page out of Nike’s book and hooked Usain Bolt up with a gold pair of Complete Theseus II’s. They were a solid bet since Bolt took the gold medal and set a new world record… Additional views available here, here, and here.
There have been a few other custom spikes in the first few days of track & field competition, but I’ll probably be covering them in an Olympic rundown later in the week. I’ll also be doing an Olympic Basketball post in a couple of days… stay tuned.
Kobe, LeBron Break Out New PE’s at Macau Exhibition
Unfortunately, the LeBron VI’s were not involved in this, but both Bryant and James wore new player exclusives during their exhibition against the Turkey National Team in Macau, China…
Kobe Bryant wore his “Black Mamba” PE of the Nike Hyperdunk… these have been talked about since early July (see more about these here), but this is the first time he wore them in competition. Additional game photos here and here.
(Photo by MN Chan/Getty Images)
Zoom Lebron VI Close-Up Pics
LeBron James’ debut of the Zoom LeBron VI at Monday’s practice generated a lot of hype on sneaker blogs and forums around the web, and fortunately for us, that typically results in some close-up shots. Pics below via hk-kicks.com:
As you can see from tongue embroidery on the second pic, it’s now official that these are the VI. The other notable features are the navy patent, clear soles, and reflective lasering of the “United We Rise” pattern. PE features aside, most people have either absolutely loved these or been disappointed by the simplicity of the upper (and the largest swoosh on a LeBron sig to date). My initial reaction is that these are a HUGE improvement over the ZL V, and while I like the return of a more old-school upper on a LeBron sig, I’m not quite sold on whether this has the potential to become an iconic shoe or not.
What do you guys think?
Zoom LeBron VI Debut
LeBron James has been sidelined lately with an injured right ankle, but he returned to Team USA practice this afternoon in Macau. However, the LeBron story that really had basketball fans buzzing today was this:
(Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images, REUTERS/Victor Fraile, AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
It’s been all but officially confirmed that these are the Nike Zoom LeBron VI (full size pics here, here, here, and here), a much different look from the previously leaked images. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of these this summer — the Soldier II Olympic PE is nice, but it’s rare to see a LeBron signature model hit the court this early in the year. Stay tuned…
Team USA Basketball Photos / New Melo M5 Hits Practice Court
With Team USA practicing in Las Vegas in preparation for the Olympics, a couple footwear stories have developed — the main one being the conspiracy theory over whether Coach K’s block of Dwight Howard’s adidas kicks in the above photo was intentional or not. Regardless, here’s the breakdown of what everyone’s been wearing, and photos of Melo’s new M5 model are also shown after the jump…
(Photo by Taryn Simon/Nike)
Adidas
Nike
Easton
Reebok
Jordan
Under Armour
