Do The Mike Thing

nick

1984- i was 8 years old and my brother and i shared a deep love- no incest- but a pair of shoes- the jordan 1! We harassed our parents every time we went out- which generally was one of 3 places- donny shoppo, box hill central/whitehorse plaza or camberwell junction (if they were feeling classy!) and would drag them into sports stores and beg them to buy us a pair of Jordans. They weren't having it, and would suggest wildcats or some other povo rip-off from williams the shoeman or speeds.
We held strong and finally our mum relented - with a compromise - we could get the cheaper Jordans that my auntie had seen in Bulleen plaza- they were canvas and we had better take good care of them. They are what I now know to be AJKO- but back then they were just Jordan'. We didn't realise at the time, but this would be the last pair of shoes mum bought us- she knew this so she wanted to make it memorable.

So one day we rolled down to Bulleen and into the shop - "can we try the Jordan's in a size 3?" The shop owner told us that they only stocked adult sizes from 6 up - we were completely devo - quite possibly there were a few tears, or at least a tantrum. He offered us 'similar' shoes ie. Jordan rip-offs, but we weren't having any of it.

Anyhoo, we go to school the next day and this kid- Steven Chadwick is rocking these mad Jordans- well they looked like Jordans until you got closer and saw it had some bizarre double ticked swoosh and a stadium where the wings logo should've been. They were the best quality knock-offs an 8 year old could want. So that weekend we headed to The Shoeman in shoppo and snapped up our first wannabe Jordans. We were stylin'!! (or so we thought!)

Over the next few years I became obsessed with Jordan- watching as much NBA as I could - watching Jordans playground and come fly with me at our cousin Tim's - he was a mad basketballer and played for Nunawading - so we would go watch him and check out all the shoes on the other players and at the little store. The first place I saw jordan 3s and jordan ivs - and this further fuelled my obsession.

I never managed to convince my Dad to buy me another Jordan shoe, I did manage the odd Flight jacket or Mars t or sweat - had to settle for more credible ripoffs - Puma Awesome and Converse Magic.

My first Jordans were in 92, a pair of Carmines bought for a pack of Winnie blues from this guy Hayden - I painted the white black (young and stupid!) were last seen being chewed by a mates rottie 15 years ago!! I have managed to get my hands on almost every Jordan i want- but still the AJKO eludes me- if I win this I could sell it use the money to buy the AJKO!