Raising a Sneakerhead

The Beginning

It wasn't intentional. I didn't even know it was happening.   Before I knew it, there was a sneakerhead in my house. The metamorphosis was gradual. My son Chandler's age and shoe size paralleled throughout his preteen years. It was a new school year ritual to buy him a new pair of Air Force I's.   A couple of months after the start of his 8th grade year, he came to me with a proposal.

“Dad... I've noticed that your tennis shoes are kinda 'dated'. Why don't you take my Air Force I's and get me a new pair?”
“Why should you get the new shoes? I work, but have to take your hand-me-downs?”
“Consider it an investment in the future. Say there's a college scout at the school... he sees me walking across campus outside and the sun is reflecting off my “icy white” forces. He's gonna say, 'Who's that kid?” and then--”
“Stop it... I'll get them this weekend.”

The next thing I knew, I was at the Nike Store every 4 months getting Forces. For his middle school graduation present(mother's idea) he asked for a pair of Lebron somethings. I got them. Over the summer, during the AAU season, he asked for a pair of Kobe's.
“WTF dude? Why can't you wear the Lebron's?”
“Dad! You don't pull from your shoe stash to play basketball.”
“So let me get this straight... I paid for a pair of basketball shoes that you'll never play basketball in?”
“Not the ones that add to my shoe game.”

Something's Amiss

That following August during tax free weekend, My wife gave me the shopping list. On it were Air Force I's and Jordan something. When I asked why he was getting two pair of tennis shoes, her reply was, “He doesn't want to wear his shoe game out.”
“Excuse me?”
“He'll wear the Forces between his other shoes. By the way, I promised him that if he gets straight A's the first 9 weeks, we'll get him these shoes that are going to drop about that time.”

I couldn't believe she made that agreement. The boy had only made one B in his lifetime up to that point. Needless to say, 9 weeks later, I was buying another pair of shoes. In the upcoming months, Christmas and his birthday rolled around. He got shoes both times.

That February, I asked him if he had picked an AAU team. He informed me that he thought my money would be best spent on a couple of camps and a pair of Jordans. Jordans? Really? I finally had enough and asked, “Why do you feel compelled to spend my money on shoes?”
“I'm a Sneakerhead, Daddy... I've got to keep my shoe game on point.”, he responded.
“Sneakerhead? Shoe game on point? You've got to explain this. " Those words triggered what seemed like a ten minute soliloquy.

                                          A sneakerhead is a connoisseur of top rated shoes. The variety
                                         of shoes in your collection is your shoe game. When the times
                                         you wear the same pair of shoes are few and far between, then
                                         you are said to have 'tight shoe game”. A true sneakerhead
                                         can't be seen in the same shoes too often. At least no one should
                                         be able to remember the last time you wore those shoes unless
                                         they just stalking you like that. Eventually I want to take my
                                         Sneakerheadom* to another level when I buy shoes to wear and
                                         shoes to display.

I was in disbelief.   Someway, somehow someone brainwashed my son. As the years went by, his growth spurt kicked in and he outgrew the USA LeBron's and all the other shoes I got him. He graciously surrendered those shoes to me, since he was now a size 13. He and I made an agreement that if he found the shoes at a good price or prove that I won't find them any  lower, I'll indulge his “shoegame”  as long as he maintaine his grades.

A night at the Movies

One evening at the movies, I looked at his feet and he's wearing mismatched shoes.

“Boy, you got on mismatched shoes!” I whispered.
“No, I don’t”, he whispered back. “They're both KD VI. This is my shoegame swag.”

I didn't even touch it.

This is Getting Out of Hand

His shoegame did not become a problem until the  AAU season started for our youngest daughter,  Kerrigan. Three-day trips every other weekend. While putting my bag in the back of our SUV, there are 6 Nike shoe boxes stacked back there.
“What is this?”
“Dad, I can't risk being in the same gym with someone wearing the same shoes.”

I shook my head and started the engine. That evening when we arrived at the hotel,  I googled Sneakerhead and could not believe this trend. Young and old; men and women were all a part of this movement. A Harlem teen, Chase Reed, started a pawn shop for sneakers. I even learned that an episode of the television series Numbers was named Sneakerhead in which “A stolen pair of "kicks" leads the team into the world of sneaker collecting after a foreign Ambassador finds his prized pair missing.”

I relented and entertained Chandler's Sneakerheadness* by asking, “How far do you plan on taking this thing?”

He replied:
                                          When I sign my NBA contract, get a Wall Street job, or take
                                          over the world(which ever comes first), my house will have
                                          a dedicated sneaker room. Those will be my “show” shoes.
                                          My everyday shoes will be kept in my two-story, walk-in
                                          bedroom closet.
Silly me followed by asking, “What pair of shoes would make your collection complete.”
“The Tokyo 5's.” He stated with a bit of reverence and admiration in his voice.
“When will those drop again?” I asked.
“Don't worry about it, Dad.” he said.
“No, I may get them for you.”
He replied. “ If you can get them, they start at $1,000.”
The following books are a great place to start  for people interested in “upping their shoegame.”
                                                         

I'll leave the shoegame for the young people. I'll keep it plain and simple. My son's sneakerhead and I love him.   I'll just be glad when he can afford his own habit.

* Chandlerism