Things that changed my life, Part One: AND1
Part of a series of things that impacted me, from shoes to music, games and movies etc.
When it comes to lists of anything, ranked or not, I am known to favor some odd picks here and there. One of the reasons is that I am not easily swayed by the mainstream hype around certain things. Another is I have specific preferences and a love for detail and atmosphere. I also like many people, go off of feelings. What did I feel when I tasted a dish or beverage for the first time? Why did certain characters resonate so strongly with me? Which games do I end up replaying again and again after many years? Which shoe gives me the most comfort and confidence when I wear it? Which album do I put on and keep thinking “Damn, this is perfect front to back”?
So this will be an ongoing series of things that impacted my life in a meaningful way.
Part One: AND1
In particular the shoe models Mad Game Woven and Uprise Mid.
It was the turn of the millenium and I’d started my journey of organized youth basketball with a local club on the northern outskirts of Berlin called VfB Hermsdorf. After playing my debut season in a navy kids’ size pair of FILA Stackhouse, during a fall practice of my second season I happened to “Zion” a pair of white and baby blue hi-top Reeboks two weeks into wearing them.
My mother raised me on her own and money was always short, so a failed investment like that presented a sizeable blow because even though we kept the receipt, the store refused to refund us. Disappointed, I swore off Reeboks forever and it’s still fuck’em to this day, and not just for poor build quality (see BDS - Boycott Reebok).
That weekend, I was expected to play an away game in Marzahn, all the way out in the eastern part of town. I wanted to play, so I took my fresh pair of all-white Nike Air Force 1 Lows (aka “Uptowns” iykyk) and laced them up, earning the puzzled faces of my teammates because nobody hoops in these by choice. We won that game and I managed to score 21 points on drives and free throws, but my feet were completely sore after the game.
At the time, I was an athletic slashing wing, constantly up in the air for layups and rebounds, so I needed ankle protection and shock absorption. Not something I could expect an 80s retro model to provide. Even if my favorite NBA player at the time, Rasheed Wallace, opted to play in the hi-top version of it. As a pro, he had access to custom orthotics to make up for the obvious shortcomings of that shoe.
Back in high school in the early 2000s, my six-week summer holidays were largely spent on outdoor courts, like the tiny cage at Monbijoupark by the Spree river or the burning black tarmac of the legendary court at Alexanderplatz that both Adidas and Nike had once sponsored before the ugly ass ALEXA mall replaced the whole thing and you can’t even find a reference to it online anymore. It was a time where streetball culture was at an all-time high.
Me and my friends then were regulars at the 3x3 midnight tournament under the team name “Hardwood Classics”, a nod to the Mitchell & Ness throwback NBA jerseys that were all the rage back then. Of course, the fit wasn’t complete without baggy shorts and the complementary accessories. Countless ballers wore a durag, a branded headband, a bandana, or even a combination of them. It was Allen Iverson’s world, and our longsleeve-wearing selves were all happily living in it, while blasting the newest Rocafella, Ruff Ryders, Dipset or Big Tymerz records as we faced off against each other.
Enter AND1. The AND1 Mixtape series was our version of YouTube highlight clips and names like Skip to my Lou, Alimoe, Hot Sauce or AO were on everyone’s mind, the popular debate being who among them had the best handles. In 2002, playing for Hermsdorf’s U14 and U16 teams, I took part in an international tournament in Vienna. I had begun playing in a lightweight low-top slip-on pair of AND1 Mad Game Woven in a grey-shaded colorway that gave it a gritty patchwork look. I ran that pair through hell but its firm, low to the ground polyurethane midsole didn’t give, until about two years later, the upper had begun to tear and the outsole had been utterly worn down. I finally retired my pair, pleased with its service. I also wanted to keep wearing AND1s, and my mom’s wallet agreed with the wisdom of my choice.
In 2004, the highly successful AND1 Rise Mid, once popularized by the Detroit Pistons’ Chauncey Billups (no, I am not getting into the current investigation he’s under), was followed by the Uprise Mid, and I was enamored with its white and blue colorway. Having saved up some money for it, I bought it, and it would become my last pair of basketball shoes that I’d wear as a player of competitive organized youth basketball.
The TPU-reinforced synthetic leather upper was a sweatbox and my feet were a biological weapon after each session, but one wipe and they were good to go. The outsole hardly ever slipped on me, and while by today’s standards, the PU midsole was firm, it also came with a decent enough stack to balance court feel with impact protection. Four years it lasted me. Four years! So what killed it? The air bubble in the heel had eventually collapsed after hundreds of dunk attempts, thousands of jumps and the continued beating on hardwood, asphalt, concrete, tartan and PVC courts that the shoe took over the years.
After that, I had two pairs of Nikes, one white pair with Air Max and one in white and blue with Zoom Air, but I don’t remember the names of them. By then, I had given up on my hoop dreams already thanks to heart conditions that forced me to quit competitive play. In my twenties then, I was just reluctant to give up on a part of my identity that had defined most of my teenage years besides music.
It was in my AND1 Mad Game Woven that I got a reverse layup off on NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady at the Mellowpark in 2003, when he promoted his Adidas T-Mac 2 coming off of winning the scoring title as a member of the Orlando Magic. It was in my AND1 Uprise Mid that I debuted my second 3x3 Midnight Tournament run, with new friends and the new team name “3 Da Hard Way”, before we promptly renamed our squad “Ball Don’t Lie” after Rasheed Wallace’s famous exclamation when a player he thought he didn’t foul missed a free throw.
Today, I’m an overweight, recently reemerged recreational hooper in his mid-30s with the rough outlines of Boris Diaw’s playstyle. My current shoe rotation might be entirely thrice-striped — more on that later — and the midsole might say “Bounce” or “Boost” instead of “Duraspring”, but damn, I will never forget my pairs of AND1 Mad Game Woven and Uprise Mid. These shoes are classics.
Long story short: Thank you, AND1.