Everyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s had three players they modeled their game after Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan. Kids of the 1970s knew the rivalry between the east and the west, and so did Stephen A Smith. He was a fanatic, watching them as he grew up and wanting to be like them, down to their sneakers.
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The duo always wore Converse, the leading brand of basketball shoes at the time. There was no one making anything better than the retro shoemaker until one MJ decided to sign with Nike instead. And then the world exploded with a new line of sneakers, one that everyone wanted to buy. From kids to old people, everyone wanted to be “Like Mike”.
SAS was lucky enough to watch Magic and the Bird and also play in college when MJ became famous. So he had the best of both worlds when it came to sneakers. And he did, because as he grew older, he, like everyone else, shifted to the Nikes.
But not just all of them; he went specifically for the Air Jordan 3. Now wait a minute, what about the 1s and 2s? Nobody goes for the 2, not even Jordan, so that is a pass. How about the 1s? The best-selling silhouette of all time? Not for Smith! He adores the AJ-3s, as he stated to the Black Jesus himself.
And his reply? “Shut the hell up“.
Stephen A Smith has access to speak to most of the players in the league – even MJ
As a reporter in the sports world, once you make it to the top, you get unfettered access to every player in the league. Not just active players but even the ones who have retired. Those are the ones that still want to stay relevant after all those years in front of the camera.
On Sneaker Shopping with Complex, Smith discusses in detail his affiliation with the brand, the players, and what he spoke to Michael, with Joe La Puma.
Not that Michael Jordan needs Stephen A Smith to interview him to become famous, but he does speak to him on occasion. And on one of those occasions, he did have a conversation about his shoes. Smith’s logic behind picking the 3s and 4s over the 1s: He was playing with nobody and wasn’t winning. Sounds like such a bandwagoner.
But in today’s setting, he’s the opposite of one. People only like the 1s because they seem to sell the most, so at present, SAS is a hipster.
That still doesn’t make him any better at his job though, because he’s more reaction-drawing than providing insightful analysis. If only he knew when to actually shut up in front of a camera and how MJ made him, he’d be much more respected.
Michael Jordan himself said his favorite sneakers in his lineup were the Air Jordan 3s
Jordan picked three shoes that were his favorites: all of them were after the 1s. If the AJ 3s were never made by Tinker Hatfield, we’d be living in a world where he would have moved to Adidas.
The fabled Nike Air at the back of the shoe would have been the 3 stripes instead. The design language of the shoe is what won him over, and even though he knew where Stephen was coming from, he had to hide it.
Why wouldn’t he, because the 1s are what pushed him to that billionaire status. Today, the AJ 1 sells at the same rate as the Converse Chuck Taylor – a company that has been subsumed by Nike. What a twisted fate that awaited Converse. They were competing to hire the major stars, and now they are just another sub-brand of Nike.
