As you can see, Junior recently broke out his first Chicago White Sox PE’s.  The pair on the left might have actually been worn earlier in the year, but the white accents were obscured by his pants.  The pair on the left on the other hand show off some great colorblocking that we haven’t seen in these yet… here’s a rendering:

Both of those and more will be in the PE Gallery soon.  But now, here’s what many of you Griffey fans and retro sneakerheads have been waiting for…

Nike will be releasing the Air Max Griffey 1 Retro in the summer of 2009. As of now, the only known colorways are black/white/teal and royal/white/yellow. That’s all that I’m allowed to say at the moment, but pics might be coming soon… I’ll keep you posted.

Larger views of each of these models are available after the jump.

Before we get to all of the Nike/Jordan PE’s, here’s a few notable kicks from the other brands:

Randy Moss wore both Nike and Reebok cleats in the preseason, but after seeing the above photo, it seems that the reason behind this was that Pony cleats — or more specifically, cleats with any Pony branding — aren’t approved for NFL play.  You may remember Reggie Bush getting fined a few years back for wearing adidas cleats in the NFL before they were officially allowed; the same thing would likely happen to Moss if he wore anything with a visible Pony logo.  The solution?  Pony Moss 1’s in a boring, all-white colorway… disappointing to say the least.

Another player who went brand-less was Tony Romo, whose Burner Speed Low PE’s are still missing the Reebok logo. There were rumors in the offseason that Romo was going to sign with Starter, so some have speculated that he’s not wearing a Reebok logo while going through the process of signing… Anybody know the current details?

Kenny Watson wore these black/orange Burner Speed 5/8’s…

And Laurence Maroney wore these basic Full Blitz cleats.  There had to have been more Reebok PE’s than I saw, and I didn’t get any emails this week about any non-Nike cleats… if you spotted any, either shoot me an email or leave it in the comments.

Now, onto the Nike PE’s, starting with Thursday’s regular season kickoff in New York…

Plaxico Burress wore these Nike Throw Back PE’s… an additional view is available here, but the gradient pattern on the TD outsoles above were just too nice to leave out of this post.

Clinton Portis wore these Super Bad II’s… he wore these a few times in the preseason, but if this year is anything like 2007, this is just one of many PE’s that he’ll wear over the next couple of months.

The most exciting kicks worn in the NFL debut were these Jordan III PE’s debuted by Jason Taylor.  The black/yellow elephant print looks outstanding.  He wore normal Nike cleats throughout preseason play, so it was nice to see him break out a fresh pair of Jordans for the regular season.

Taylor’s Jordan III’s were just one of many pairs that we saw in Week 1… here are a few others:

Terrell Owens wore a similar AJ3 PE in the preseason, but these have a slightly different midsole (similar to the GR pattern).

…Marvin Harrison broke out these basic Jordan PE’s on a low-profile TD plate…

…And finally, Dwight Freeney wore these black / blue PE’s on a chrome outsole. As a sidenote, one thing that’s interesting about all of these Jordan PE’s is that they’re all missing the Jordan logo on the tongue, leading some to believe that the Jordan brand is no longer NFL-approved.  Anybody have any details on this?

Back to more Nike cleats…

Derrick Brooks wore these Zoom Assassin PE’s, which are basically an inverse of what he wore last season.

David Garrard wore these great looking black / teal Super Bad II’s on chrome TD plate.

Another thing we saw a lot of in Week 1 was Super Bad II PE’s with different colored accents on the medial and lateral side…

Steven Jackson broke out this pair — all-white on the outside with navy on the medial side…

…Shawne Merriman’s Super Bad II’s were similar to Jackson’s, but his white and navy accents were on the opposite sides…

…And Marshawn Lynch wore this pair that he also wore throughout the preseason.  This view gives a decent look at his chrome TD plate.

Moving on to some other models… In terms of PE’s, my award for the best team cleats in Week 1 goes to the Steelers:

Hines Ward wore these Throw Back PE’s (and a lot of readers emailed me pointing out the similarities of these to the new LeBron’s — very true)…

…Ben Roethlisberger wore these Super Bad II PE’s…

…And Willie Parker, who snuck in to each of the above photos, wore these black / gold Super Speed TD’s.

Sticking with the Super Speed…

Larry Fitzgerald’s Super Speed PE looked great, especially with the gradient outsole.

Adrian Peterson wore this pair in the preseason, but this shot gives us a much better view of all the purple in these…

And finally, just because we won’t be seeing these again this season:

Tom Brady wore these modified Super Speed turf shoes with Shark studs, and they apparently didn’t give him the stability he was looking for.  (Sorry, Pats fans… I couldn’t resist.)

If I missed any notable PE’s (and again, particularly those of the non-Nike variety–I’m shocked at how little we saw this week from Reebok, adidas, and Under Armour), please leave it in the comments.

Anyway, in addition to some random catch-up posts, new Photoshop renderings, and a couple other recap pieces that I’ve been saving up, here’s the tentative schedule of what you can expect now that football season is in full swing:

Monday Nights: Weekly recaps of the top player exclusive cleats from the NFL (starting tomorrow night).

Tuesday - Saturday: MLB posts, including new PE’s and team recaps.

Sunday Mornings: Occasional recaps of new team colorways and unique kicks from NCAA football.

.
Also, since this site has been completely run by one person (me) up until this point, I’ll likely be asking for some help in the future.  I’ll be able to handle the site through the end of baseball season, but once the NBA season starts up, I could use an extra writer or two to help handle all the basketball footwear posts. If you’re well-schooled in basketball kicks and are interested, feel free to get in touch.  Regardless, I’ll be posting more info about all of this by mid-October.

Thanks again to everyone who wrote in expressing their concern, and don’t worry… PlayerExclusive.com isn’t going anywhere.

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.

Full-size shot of the black / white / red colorway available at this link. A full run-down of all Olympic basketball footwear will be posted next week.

(Scott Boehm/Getty Images)

It’s difficult to say for sure, but it looks like these are a black / gold Fusion 5 PE.  The giveaway is the black midsole accent towards the toe… compare the above left photo with the midsole on this Andruw Jones PE.  And for those of you who may be doubting CC’s affiliation with the Jordan Brand, start believing.  Keep an eye out for his next start, and I’ll work on getting some better photos.

(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.

(Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)

Hines Ward has been wearing these Nike Throw Back TD PE’s for the past two weeks (and yes, I realize that this photo is from Week 1, but there weren’t any good shots of these from Week 2).  As Michael Korczynski pointed out, the colorblocking in these is similar to the pair what Hines wore a few times last season… until recently, they were just about impossible to identify.  Good work, Korch.

(Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

Ben Roethlisberger broke out these Super Bad II Turf PE’s… it’s nice to see Ben wear a little more black since his cleats from the past few years have been a little too yellow-heavy.  Additional view here.

(Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

2008 is the year of the Jordan III in football, and here’s a look at Dre’ Bly’s PE’s.  Like Terrell Owens’ pair, it looks like the Jordan logo is absent from the tongue.

(Doug Benc/Getty Images)

I don’t understand Reggie Bush.  He mostly wore his rookie PE’s in 2007 when he had his RB619’s out, and now that the Reggie II is out there, he’s wearing his 2007 cleats.  His modified RB619’s appears above (the toe is slightly different from the GR model).  Additional views here and here.

(Bill Haber/AP Photo)

It’s not really much of a PE (the navy accents, molded outsole, and striped strap are the only notable custom features), but Mario Williams has been wearing these Paydirt 3’s lately.

(Peter Lockley / The Washington Times)

Jason Taylor has been wearing these Zoom Blade Pro TD PE’s, which are similar to what Portis and a couple other Washington players have been wearing.

And now, the Super Bad show (and keep in mind that these are available on NikeID, so some of these are not totally legitimate PE’s)…

(Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Even though these have an all-white upper, the pair pictured here on JaMarcus Russell is one of the most stylish Super Bad II models we’ve seen all year.  The solid-colored upper actually looks great… I hope we see more models like this.  Russell has also been wearing a black / white / silver model (with black on the lateral side and silver on the medial side), so it’ll be interesting to see if he’ll keep wearing those with the black jerseys.

(Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

Clinton Portis has been wearing this black / yellow pair (thanks to NT’s haier2k4 for spotting this one).  Here’s another view… and teammate Khary Campbell has been wearing this pair with an all-black midsole…

(Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Joey Harrington has been wearing this black / red pair (thanks again to haier2k4), but since teammate Michael Turner has been wearing the same thing, I’m guessing that this is more of a team colorway than a PE…

(Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

And lastly, here’s new look at Marshawn Lynch’s Super Bad II’s… like JaMarcus Russell’s pair above, these have a different medial color.

As always, feel free to leave a comment or email me if you spot something in the future.

The cleats above belong to Derrek Lee, Mark DeRosa, Ryan Theriot, Ronny Cedeno, Daryle Ward, Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano, and Alfonso Soriano.  As you can see, there’s a growing trend of bold red accents in the Cubbies’ footwear, and that’s something that I really like — the blue and red together mesh really well with Chicago’s classic uniforms.  More details on these cleats (as well as a few mysterious cases of cleat-sharing) after the jump, and as always, larger views of all of these are available in the Player Exclusive Gallery.

(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Derrek Lee: These Nike Air Zoom Clippers are my favorite Cubs PE for several reasons.  I’ve always loved low-cut baseball cleats with tongue flaps, and there really aren’t many eye-popping low models around the league.  With all the white and red in these, this is the by far the best Clipper PE in all of baseball.  The use of white in particular really make these pop, and the white accents around the mid-foot also make a pinstripe effect that goes perfectly with the Cub’ home uniforms.

(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Alfonso Soriano: Soriano has worn two blue / red Under Armour PE’s this year.  The model on the left is the Raptor Mid, and the model on the right is the Ignite, an upcoming 2009 model.  Aside from having great Cubs colorways and some custom embroidery, I really like how these look with high socks.  Most mid-cut cleats (5-Tool, Vero Mid, etc.) look bulky with hiked up pants, but these are sleek enough to pull it off.  I’m still working on the rendering of the Raptor PE, but I’ll get those up in the gallery soon.

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images, AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Aramis Ramirez / Carlos Zambrano: Aramis and Z are two of Easton’s higher profile players, and they’ve both been wearing similar Foundation models for a while now.  They’re both mid models, both have red stitching, and both have some custom embroidery… the main difference is that Zambrano has a zippered lace cover.  They look decent on the field, but I’d really like if they both switched to a Mojo model like the pair worn by rookie Micah Hoffpauir.  Aramis also wore a grey Mojo PE at the All-Star Game… a similar pair was produced for Zambrano, but he ended up wearing his standard gamers that night.

(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Mark DeRosa (the Michael Young Series): Besides being the Cubs’ utility man extraordinaire in terms of fielding, DeRosa has also been versatile with his cleat selections.  However, until recently, I’m fairly certain that the majority of his footwear supply has come from the Rangers’ Michael Young, a close friend and former teammate of DeRosa’s.  Young wore an identical Huarache 2K5 model in 2007 (and DeRosa also started wearing that model last season), and my suspicions were confirmed earlier this year when I saw this photo and noticed the #10 (Young’s number, not DeRosa’s) embroidered on the Shox Fuse cleats he was wearing.  Young has worn that model, complete with the #10 embroidery, throughout this season.  (As a sidenote, I’ll be adding Young’s Fuse cleats to the PE Gallery when I get to the Rangers.)

(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Ronny Cedeno: Much like DeRosa, Cedeno has worn some very respectable Nike PE’s this year, but I don’t think that they’re his either.  He started wearing his Young-esque 2K5’s around the same time as DeRosa last year, and he’s recently started wearing a pair of 5-Tools that are strangely similar to what Russell Martin (and on a humorous note, Tommy Lasorda) was wearing in spring training.  No word on how Cedeno got his 5-Tool model, but I’m willing to bet that it wasn’t the result of a lucrative Nike contract.

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Jason Marquis / Ryan Theriot / DeRosa (Nike Fuse): As far as I know, this hasn’t happened with any other team in the majors.  At some point in July, Theriot (who was wearing Reebok earlier in the year), DeRosa, and Marquis all started wearing custom Fuse cleats with identical uppers (which can be made on NikeID).  I don’t know if it was a decision on their part or a move by Nike to make an “official” Cubs colorway, but I really like it.  Aside from the display of team unity, they look great.

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Daryle Ward: The Cubs cleat weirdness continues.  Nice Clippers… but come on.  Daryle Ward?  Can anybody explain this?

Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Kosuke Fukudome: Like the cleats worn by Matsuzaka and Okajima, I don’t know much about these aside from the fact that they aren’t available in America.  These Asics cleats are interesting though… the royal blue matches the Cubs’ colors a lot better than most blue cleats, and it looks like the upper is made from suede or a suede-like material.

That’s it for the Cubbies… Next up in the recap series will be the Chicago White Sox, and this will be another one that will take me a few days (it will take some serious time to just cover Jermaine Dye and A.J. Pierzynski).  I guarantee that it’ll be worth the wait — you South Siders out there will be pleased.

(Victor Decolongon/Getty Images, Tom Mihalek/AP Photo)

The red / grey / blue version debuted last night in LA… they seem a bit over the top considering how little blue is in the Phillies’ away uniforms (it’s just the stars).  The blue accents work a little better in the alternate uni PE (bottom right) and the new home PE he broke out this past weekend (top right), and Rollins has still been mixing in his original red / white / silver PE throughout the past few weeks (middle right).  If anyone has seen any better photos of the new home PE’s, let me know.

The other recent Swingman Remix player exclusive cleat belongs to Orlando Hudson…

(Matt York/AP Photo)

It was unclear whether or not his previous pair of Remixes were a player exclusive model or not (they looked exactly like one of Junior’s pairs, and might be similar to one of the retail colorways that we haven’t seen yet).  The pair pictured above has Sedona Red accents that perfectly match the Arizona uniforms, so this is clearly a PE.  Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing these again any time soon… as you can see, Hudson is injured — he dislocated a bone in his wrist and will miss the rest of the season.  Hopefully Rollins stays healthy; with Carl Crawford also hitting the DL this week, this might be the start of a Swingman Remix curse.

As a side note, the Chicago Cubs recap post will be coming later tonight or tomorrow morning.  The Cubbies are getting absolutely hooked up on the PE front in 2008, so it’s kept me working pretty hard.  Stay tuned…

(AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Those aren’t Pony’s.  That’s a spatted-up Jordan VI PE on a Super Bad II TD midsole/outsole.  Moss flip-flopped between Nike and Reebok throughout last season, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens this year now that he actually has a signature shoe… keep an eye on this for sure.  More NFL kicks after the jump.

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Larry Johnson is wearing some decent Super Bad II’s in this picture, but the really interesting thing here is Mike Brown’s cleats.  As reader Greg Riffenburgh also noticed, that’s a Shox Fuse MCS baseball cleat (which can be made on NikeID).

Lastly, some good stuff is coming out of Steelers camp (apologies for the small pics — some of the photo galleries that these came from are outrageously small):

(Michael J. LeBrecht II/1Deuce3 Photography/SI, Steelers.com)

James Farrior (above left) is wearing the same Zoom Blade II TD that he’s worn for the past few seasons, Willie Parker (above right) has been wearing Nike Super Speed D PE’s, Ben Roethlisberger (lower left) has a new Super Bad II PE, and Hines Ward (lower right) is wearing a black / yellow Super Speed model, his second black and yellow PE so far this summer.  Thanks to Michael Korczynski, Greg Riffenburgh, and Jordan Pope for the pics.