Did you catch the trailer for the upcoming movie, Unfriended? Here it is.
Interesting storyline that takes the power of social media to the extreme to exact revenge. But why am I not surprised this movie is set in Fresno? The oddest things happen in Fresno.
In 2015, while Nike is worn by 75% of the participants, the swoosh doesn’t have a lock on the top five seeded teams. Only starting from the sixth ranked teams is Nike worn by all represented teams (Providence, SMU, Xavier, and Butler). Interestingly enough, Under Armour has efficiently picked its spots. With its five teams, UA has three teams ranked fifth or better. That would be Notre Dame (#3), Maryland (#4), and Utah (#5). The other UA teams are St. Johns (#9) and S.F. Austin (#12), the sole UA team from the 2014 tournament. It’s no wonder Under Armour stands to make $83M if its teams do well. It’s too bad Utah and S.F. Austin went head to head in the Round of 64. Adidas teams are well dispersed with no more than two teams in each seed.
Gotta like the hyper green Curry Ones worn by S.F. Austin.
Like 2014, the Big 12 is well represented with seven teams in the 2015 tournament. But this year, the Big Ten tied the 12 with seven teams as well. The Atlantic 10 halved their conference representation going from six to three while the Pac-12 lost a deuce with four teams (but represented by all three kicks companies).
The Big West was bound to be represented by Adidas with either UC Irvine or UH. But with UCI’s Big West tournament win, they got the bid with stripped big man, Mamadou Ndiaye.
Nike picked up the pace in 2015 with a 75% representation of the teams making the Big Dance. 48 of the 64 teams (not counting the First Four) don the swoosh. Adidas had a significant lost from 2014, going down seven teams from 18 to 11 in 2015. Who gained from Adidas’s losses? Up and comer Under Armour. From a single team last year, UA sponsors five teams in the tournament, translating to 8%. UA has a good showing with Maryland, Notre Dame, St. Johns, Utah, and S.F. Austin.
This year saw no representation from Reebok, And1, Converse, or New Balance.
Forget pickup of the week, this may very well be the pickup of the year in the young 2015. At a fully restocked Ross, I spied these white kicks on the top shelf with a carolina blue Jumpman logo on the tongue. Grabbing them, I recognized them as Air Jordan 4 but different, more leather, less plastic. But at $55 at Ross, you buy first and ask later.
After doing some research, the style code, 314254-107, corresponds to the Air Jordan 4 Retro “Legend Blue” or “Columbia.” Oddly, these remastered Jordans were released in January of 2015. Ross typically stocks shoes that are around two years old. And these are size 10, my size. You’ll see some quality kicks at Ross but usually in huge or tiny sizes, rarely in the common size 9-11 range. I don’t know why or how these $190 Jordans showed up at Ross, but this kicks collector is rocking’em. 🙂
The second House of Hoops comes to Hawaii at the Waikiki Footlocker location. The Ala Moana Footlocker was Hawaii’s first House of Hoops back in 2011. I’m not sure why it took so long to designate this second location. I would have guessed Waikiki would be busy with tourists looking for shoes during their Hawaii stay, especially the kicks crazy from Japan.
It’s time to restock your t-shirt collection with Masters of the Universe designs from Threadless. Their design contest is underway, and you could win $2000 with the winning artwork. But really, the cash prize pales in comparison of seeing your shirt worn in public.
Not a designer? You can still participate by voting for your favorite designs.
Let this be your muse.
This morning featured a major, six-plus car accident on the H1 westbound. Not wanting to be stuck in that snarled traffic, I sheltered at Starbucks in Kaneohe and snacked on a bacon, egg, gouda breakfast sandwich that earned me 3 bonus reward stars.
Checking Waze and Twitter for traffic updates, it still didn’t look good, so I killed more time at Ross. Looks like they had just restocked the men’s shoe department with shelves filled. What did I find? Nike Air Trainer SC II in black/volt-grey and a real surprise, the Air Jordan 4+ “Columbia.” And what these are going to be redone this year as well? Or are these the rereleases? I have to take a closer look later.
So there it is, my 1-2-3-4+ morning.
What? How does the MORF shirt transform itself into 24 different looks? Yes, 24 looks! Check out the video to understand this Kickstarter project that met its funding goal in a mere six days.
And yes, a MORF Men shirt is planned as well so be sure to pledge your support.
I’ve come to rationalize realize that the Apple Watch is in my future. The journey to this latest in wearable tech started back in 2005 with the advent of the Nike+iPod Sports Kit. The alliance of Apple and Nike, two of my favorite brands, materialized the idea of data-driven workouts for the masses. With a sensor in my Nike+ shoe and a transmitter connected to my iPod Nano, data about my runs was collected on the Nikeplus web site. From this, I knew I hit 100 miles run in 2008 and surpassed 600 total miles in 2010. But even then, my stats showed me that actually I slowed down in 2010. In 2015 as I approach 1000 walks ands runs, I’ve traveled 2417 miles in all.
Related to the Nike+iPod Sports Kit, I was an early adopter of the Nike Amp+ watch. This short lived product acted as a remote control for the iPod which made it more convenient to control your tunes while running, and hey, the Amp+ even told time (albeit poorly).
In April 2012, I had my next interaction with wearables, pledging to the Pebble watch Kickstarter project. Not completely convinced this watch could be become a reality, I became a believer.
Later in 2012, I took another step in my journey supporting the Misfit Shine project. I intended this activity tracker to capture more of my life, thinking I would more conveniently wear this tiny monitor. But after close calls almost losing the Shine and it being washed, I became more conservative with it, not taking it everywhere.
Over the years, most of my wearable tech has gone by the wayside. My Nike+iPod Sports Kit sits idle with the malfunction of my iPod Nano. Even then, my GPS-enabled iPhone 6 has improved and integrated geo-tracking, making the Sports Kit obsolete. My Misfit Shine is still with me, battery-less eating up CR batteries much too quickly. My Amp+ was a poor timepiece, ate batteries, and was eventually stolen. Only my Pebble watch remains viable, even gaining functionality with updates and apps.
Now, here comes the Apple Watch. At the low end price point of $349/$399, the Apple Watch is cost comparable to the first iPod, going for $399 for a 5GB model. With its functionality and growth potential, how can I not get the Apple Watch?
It’s official. I am an older Asian lady. What other stereotype drives around in a Lexus RX SUV and a gold one on top of that?
My older Asian lady namesake? It would be “Nancy.”
I don’t normally start my annual Kicks Analysis this early, but Yoda808 called me out on it, so here we go… Round 1 of the 2015 NCAA Tournament officially starts with the “First Four” as eight teams vie to enter the Round of 64. Here are the eight teams along with their shoe sponsorships.
So that’s six for Nike, two for Under Armour, and surprisingly zero for Adidas. Will the First Four field all Nike swooshes? Probably doesn’t matter since I doubt any of the First Four will make it past the Round of 64. While I couldn’t find pictures of all the team’s kicks, I must say that Robert Morris got their kicks game going with a variety of styles and colors.