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To continue the convo that me and some of the other sneaker nerds were having this week…

I hate NIKE Air Force 1’s or as some people are fond of calling them ‘Uptowns’. I totally understand their genesis as a popular sneaker among the masses of Harlem’s teenagers back in the early 90’s. NIKE had moved onward and upward with the designs of their on court basketball shoes. The Air Force 1 had long since been replaced by Air Flights and Air Max Forces as the shoes that any credible baller would wear. The Air Force 1 was relegated to the discount bin at the back of sneaker stores. Due to the fact they were so inexpensive they were easy to replace once they became soiled. The icy white tee shirt and the Air Force 1 became the de facto uniform for Harlem’s street hustlers and teenagers. Crappers who always co-opt street trends in their gamble to appear hip began to follow the lowest common denominator. The Air Force 1 saw a rebirth unlike no other when St. Louis rapper CORNELL HAYNES created the song ‘Urr Furrse Ughhhh’.

NIKE has been releasing some of their popular shoes in colorways that pay tribute to the long forgotten baseball teams of the Negro Leagues. They used the Air Force 1 shoe to pay homage to the Ethipoian Clowns barnstorming team. The Clowns were world renowned for being masterful baseball players who injected slapstick routines into the games they played. Think of the Clowns as the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball.

I had to copp a couple of pairs of the Untold Truth collection because I am a big fan of the Negro Leagues and the NIKE brand. The other positive note about this series is that it has given me a reason to do some research on the Negro Leagues and their impact on the game of baseball as well as America. One of the shoes that I chose was a pair of Air Max 1’s that are in homage to the Homestead Grays, a team from Pittsburgh, PA.

The Pittsburgh Crawfords were a team that also played in Pennsylvania, but when they disbanded their best player came back to play for his former team, the Homestead Grays. JOSH GIBSON, along with DP dot com hero, BUCK LEONARD, powered the Grays to nine consecutive Negro National League Championships and three Negro League World Series titles.

The Air Max 1’s are in a premium leather and they come with a set of blue and grey laces in case you want to do your thing in a ‘home’ and ‘away’ style.