December 21, 2022 • 38 mins
This week C.J. and Alex talk about their favorite holiday sneakers and jerseys of all-time. Plus the NBA Christmas Day game that divided C.J.'s family, and stay until the end for a special message from C.J. and Alex about the future of the show.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
All right, welcome to another episode of Running the Break.
I'm in your host c JS Modano, of course, always
with my co host Alex Wong. Alex very special episode,
the Christmas episode. Now, how are you feeling about that
Christmas is here? We're I mean, that's kind of like,
I know, all Star Break is is, um, you know,
(00:25):
an important midway, but it feels like Christmas is sometimes
when the season really begins. Yeah. Well, you know, I
feel like I feel like we I feel like a
lot of NBA fans, you know, for people who who follow,
you know, die hards like us. You know, obviously, the
the NBA news cycle never stops, but for for the
for the more casual fans, I've always said, Christmas Day
(00:45):
is really the unofficial star, right. This is when the
NBA has their full day, full slate of games, and
they're always featuring teams like the Lakers, whether they're good
or bad or terrible. Um, you know, this is basically
the Lakers episode. Guys, there's gonna be a lot of
Lakers talk. Um. But but yeah, like I think it's
super cool and I think, you know, I wanted to
(01:07):
ask you to this being our Christmas themed episode, like
I know you're a dad now, you know, I know
you're like, you know, there's been changes in your life,
But what is your what is your schedule like on
Christmas Day in terms of making sure you get to
catch the games? Well, you know, there there used to
be a thing where because there's there's all there's games
(01:28):
all day, right, and so I living on the West Coast,
I actually didn't get a chance or just was not
like awake in time for the first game. So having
a kid now and having this like routine where I'm
usually up by five thirty no matter what. Actually this
might be the Christmas where I see the early game,
which is usually the Knicks. So actually shout out to
(01:50):
my son Conrad. He's gonna, he's he's giving me the
gift of getting to see what is its Sixers Knicks
um at nine am s pecific time here on the
West Coast. So I mean, I'm gonna try to watch
as many games. And honestly, with my team not being
you know, they're they're not the best, right, and so
(02:10):
like I'm gonna I'm gonna watch all of these games
and like just like the storylines happen. Usually I feel
like there's such concrete storylines going into you know, Christmas games,
and now it's just the league is almost so all
over the place that I'm excited by, uh so many teams,
so many players, and so many other storylines that I
think I'm just gonna watch as much as I can,
(02:30):
pop in and out when things aren't um, you know,
slower or whatever. But you know, it's just that that's
Christmas to me, just basketball the whole day. What about
you outline what what you're gonna do on Christmas? Yeah,
I think it's the same for me. You know, usually,
you know, I'll spend time with with my family, but
you know, I feel like, well we'll spend a lot
of that time during the day just just with the
(02:51):
TV on and and you know, I you know, you
mentioned the Knicks, and it's funny because like that's literally
just what I remember about every Christmas. It's like, get up,
you know, you do, you do your family stuff, and
then the Knicks are just always on TV. You know
that it's always the Knicks. But I think you make
a really good point to in terms of you know,
I think about I think I think a lot of
(03:12):
teams sometimes will complain that their teams are not being
featured on the Christmas Day schedule. Um but I'm looking
at the lineup. You know, You've got the Sixers and
the Knicks, Lakers, MAVs, Bucks, Celtics, Grizzlies, Warriors, Sons, Nuggets.
Like anybody tuning in is gonna see so many of
(03:33):
these stars that that are just across the league now, right,
like from Nikola Yokis to Luca Dodgers to Joannice, like
to Joel and Be to Jayson Tatum. Um So I'm
thinking about like the younger, younger generation too, because I
think a lot of times the NBA is trying to
market to the younger demographic, get them hooked to the game.
There's no better there's no better day than Christmas. But
(03:54):
I gotta admit, man, sometimes I need a little break.
So usually the five pm Eastern game is the one
that probably skip out on because I just I just
need a break. I probably just go pick up Chinese
food or something during that time that that kind of
that might be the best game on the schedule one,
but that might be the best game. And also too
and we I mean this is exactly why we have
(04:15):
this podcast. But the sneaker and like kick game is
insane on Christmas, So we're gonna go through our favorite,
you know, Christmas kicks. But just like I'm excited to
see what everyone's gonna pull out this year, Yeah, for sure, man.
And I think that's another thing, like it actually brings
me back to when you know NBA on NBC, Like
(04:37):
you remember on the weekends they'd have like the doubleheaders
and triple headers, Like I used to get excited for
those all the time, and part of the appeal was
to see what the guys were wearing two right, And
I think now because of social media, because of leak fits,
because of the tunnel, you you were exposed to that
like on a day to day basis, right, Like you
don't need to wait for like the Marquee game. But
(04:58):
that's why I get excited about christma Us too, because
I know a lot of these guys and obviously the
brands behind them put a lot of thought into what's
gonna be on feet because they know it's gonna be
a huge audience. So I know, I'm definitely excited, man.
So let's let's take a break when we come back,
Let's let's dive right into our favorite Christmas theme sneakers
on the special Christmas episode of Running the Break. All right,
(05:32):
welcome back to Running the Break, c J. I know
this is your super Bowl right here at this topic, UM,
I might just put my mic on mute for you. UM.
You know, I want to talk about our favorite Christmas theme.
I'm gonna just say Christmas team shoes because I feel
like originally I had labeled this as favorite Christmas theme
basketball sneakers, but I feel like we're not doing the
(05:56):
whole Christmas theme shoe economy justice if if we just
a bit of basketball. But I feel like this conversation
has to start with the Kobe six Grinches, which you
have to you know, if if you ask me this topic,
like that's the first sneakro I think of, it's Um.
I mean in every way, it's loud and attention getting,
and honestly, in the last few years it's become probably
(06:19):
one of the most popular basketball sneakers. I think the
Kobe sixes are one of my favorite models in general.
And then just the I think after this shoe, so
many shoes were like green and sort of that vote
color way is is a staple color way, you know,
like we've seen so many other models not just the Kobe,
so Kobe rocking the Grinches and also to like the
(06:41):
mama mentality and his persona of like you know, he's
like the villain you you root for. The Grinches were
such a perfect Christmas shoe. Um and and you look
at it and even if you don't know anything about
about Kobe or Um or the Grinchan, it just screams
Christmas shoe. And so this is this is also one
of my favorite shoes of all time. But the couple's
(07:02):
six Grinches just holds like such a special place in
my heart and as a sneaker head and basketball fans.
So we had to kick this thing off by by
mentioning those No. For sure, man, I think if you're
building just like a sneaker hall of fame, like this
sneaker has to be in there. You know, you mentioned
like the vault color way, and I think with the
red laces too, you know, if you know, forget about
(07:24):
you know, everything that you talked about, which which was
all valid with the themes and stuff, like just aesthetically,
it's a very nice looking shoe. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
And then uh you know, let's let's just move on
to the lebron tent Christmas is UM for anyone you know,
this isn't a visual podcast, but I mean, if you
see the cutdowns, you might see a picture of this,
but look at the lebron ten Christmas is Now, this
(07:46):
is again such a I don't know if Christmas color
ways are like what the sneaker brands think, but I
love this one. This isn't all red and this is
phone posit with hints of like a glow in the
dark green. And again you see these being worn, and
I think it was perfect that you know, he was
on the heat like they kind of went with the uniform.
(08:07):
But the green is such a And this is during
the time when when the I think sneaker a dress
code like you had to wear colors that were pretty
similar to your uniform. And so when you saw green
on these sneakers with the heat uniform, it really took
you off garden. It really stood out. So I love
the lebron tent Christmas is. I actually wore these to
my reception of my wedding UM because this is also
(08:30):
again one of my favorite sneakers. What do you what
do you think about the Lebron Tens. No, I love it, man,
you know, you know, to me like this this is
like to me, this is like everything you want in
a Christmas basketball sneaker. And like I Loki kind of like,
I don't know, I feel like when people talk about
the Lebrons, they don't put the they don't put the
Lebron tens in there, And I don't know, Like now
(08:53):
I think I feel like at the time I might
have been hating on that model, but but now that
I'm looking at this shoe, I'm Mike, I'm I gotta say,
the Lebron tents are kind of slept on, man. And
and then like you know, this is moving off the
Christmas theme, but like I'm thinking about the Lebrons like
I remember back during this phase, like I love all
the what the Lebrons like. I know, we talked recently
to Timothy Goodman on the show, and you know, just
(09:15):
had me thinking about just like sneakers from like an
artistic or like a design you know, process, and you know,
the the what the Lebrons like, they're they're probably some
of the most loudest kind of designs. And you know,
it goes back to are you able to get a
fit off, but I don't know, like those I've always loved,
Like I always love the shoes that are like super loud,
(09:36):
even though I sometimes have to recognize that it's like
it might not be for me. Yeah, two very like
sneaker head details that I noticed is one, we look
at phases of Lebrons and you know, at first he
started zoom generations just you know, kind of classic leather
um and then Lebron and I don't know if they
(09:57):
really say this, but like kind of took over, took over,
but like the phone, like became kind of a foam
positive sneaker, which really spoke well to his game. It
was you know, very very much power and durable um
and so it really lent to some incredible color ways
from like again, another one of my favorite sneakers is
the Lebron fours um and like the gold ones and
(10:20):
I'm trying to think of the other ones, but like
when the tents came out, like this is a perfect
shoe for loud color ways like this. And then the
other kind of detail that I wanted to point out
is the reverse swoosh. Now one of the most popular,
you know, sneakers right now are Travis Scott ones and
how everyone's like, whoa, the swoosh is backwards and it's like,
(10:41):
you go back. These came out in two thousand and
twelve Lebron tents, and the most prominent sort of you
know logo on here is that Nike swush and it's
technically reverse. So for all you kids out there who
are listening to the pod one, thank you for indulging
in a couple of old dudes, you know, trying to
flex on some history. But like, shout out to the
Lebron line for for throwing that reverse sush on there. Yeah,
(11:03):
and since we're on the topic of Lebron's too, like
I want to shout out the new Lebron twenties. You know,
they they're releasing a Christmas sneeker too, and and you
know it's you know, if I were to compare, you know, visually,
you know, these are kind of like the Grinches in
a way, right from a color way standpoint, And and
you know, I keep hyping up the Lebron twenties and
(11:23):
I keep begging CJ to you know, hit the contact
stuff so I can get plugged up for Christmas. But
like the Lebron twenties to me, like I really feel like,
you know, it's it's kind of like revitalize the line.
And I don't know, like when you're talking about just
now the different kind of eras and generations of like
Lebron sneakers, I'm really curious where they're gonna go now
from the Lebron twenty because I feel like they really
(11:46):
struck the court this time of not only a sneaker
that can be an Encourt performance shoe, but but for me,
I think I think that's the silhouette and the design
of the twenties perfect as a lifestyle shoe. Yeah, can
I I just I'm obsessed with these Lebron twenty and
I don't the green this Are they Grinches? Are they?
(12:06):
Or Christmas? Whatever their their nickname these are. I've just
been looking at him and I've been waiting for a
release date, but I'm obsessed with them. Like if you
look them up, everybody, you type in Lebron twenty Christmas
and you can see the details on these are insane.
So it's like mostly green obviously with the red smoosh
and hint, but like the sort of pattern design on
(12:27):
them are like leaves and like Holly. It's like some
of the Lebron or some of the Christmas kicks in
the last few years have been really subtle, Like we've
had Katie's in the past that when they weren't red
and white, they were like blue and like red and
they were calling them Christmas sweaters and whatever. I love that.
Nike kind of went again, like very much Grinch inspired.
(12:49):
I feel like it just went no, Christmas is red
and green, um and and are giving us exactly that?
And so I've been wondering. I was like, one, are
these dropping? And I remember a couple of years ago
the braun I want to say sixteen or seventeens, they
had a Christmas color where they were all read Lebron
didn't wear them in the game, um and I was
always mad about that. But like they dropped a day
(13:11):
after Christmas, and so I was like, what, No, you
gotta drop these before Christmas. And so I'm hoping these
kind of just like quick Strike, drop before Christmas because
I want to rock these like on Christmas Day. Yeah no,
though these are awesome, man um. And you know, a
couple of like we mentioned, we didn't want to keep
it as just basketball sneakers, Like I wanted to shout
out the concepts collapse the ugly sweater speed Dunks, which
(13:34):
I believe I've been released twice I think in like
the past decade. Um. Now, this is just a very loud,
too like picture. You know, your ugliest Christmas sweater, but
you know, on a dunk. Um is is really the
best way that I can describe it. First of all,
c J, you know, are you are you pro or
against Christmas ugly sweaters? I'm very pro. I'm pro them
(13:57):
outside of the holiday season, That's how okay, So you're
not even this is not even a holidays thing you
So are you saying we can wear you can wear
ugly sweaters all year around? Absolutely again, and I've said
it on many episodes. If you're confident in your choice
and you feel good, then that's all that matters. But
I love it like a wild print on anything, you know,
I love an all over print vintage t so like
(14:19):
it's kind of like the Christmas warmer version of that
in my opinion. Yeah, yeah, no, I can definitely see
the ugly sweater in as part of your repertoire. Um.
It's it's right up your alley, like like you measurement.
I think it fits your personal style, like it fits
your personality. Um, and it's super cool. But then you know,
this is a this is this is one of my favorites.
(14:39):
If you're talking about like Christmas theme shoes, Yeah, like
do you The tough thing is would you ever rock
any of these outside of Christmas? I know about the swage,
but what about these shoes? Yeah? See, man, but that's
I think that's like a huge conundrum because like a
lot of these stinkers are very A lot of these
stinkers and like just general shoes are very coveted, so
(15:00):
like it seems like a waste to only save it
for Christmas. Though, yeah you know what I mean, Like,
like you know, like having a once a year's shoe
seems like it seems like a privilege. I feel like
these dunks can be can be pulled off even in
the summer and in the fall as well. So so
I'm voting, I'm voting for all year round. I'm voting
yeah exactly. And then I also like with LaMelo Ball
(15:22):
in his new line, which I think is getting a
lot of traction to Like they came out with this
Rick and Morty um Colorway last season, and I was like,
you guys aren't slick. That's a Christmas colorway. That's a
reason to do it. Like if anyone knows what those
are like to the Mellow ball Ones and there one
one sneaker is is green and the other is red,
(15:42):
and I'm like, and they call him I think, yeah,
the Rick and Morty's, I'm like, no, those are clearly
Christmas Colorway sneakers. So UM, I see I see brands
out there trying to you know, disguise with the name,
but those are you know, those are those are Christmas sneakers.
In my opinion, that's like, that's like the best of
both worlds move you know, like like it's a collab
(16:04):
plus you know, if people want to see it as
a as a Christmas sneaker as well. What else? What
else do you have on this list? C J. I
got the Katie seven Eggnogs, I think um and Nike
just announced that they're rereleasing the Katie three All Stars,
which are all red, but they're not Christmas but um,
I think the Katie line is gonna have this crazy
(16:26):
resurgence in retros. Like I think the Katie sneakers were
slept on. They were kind of like considered a budget
signature line to start with. And now Katie has, you know,
risen Um in that whole time, risen to one of
the top I would say three players in the league.
And so we're it's almost like again, kids are getting
put onto like they're seeing all the sneakers out there
(16:47):
that are big right now and they don't want to
have the same sneakers everybody else. And so now everyone
is hopping on eBay and de pop and Posh marking
all these not to give away all of our spots,
but they're starting to dig for Katie's old katies. And
I'm starting to notice because the prices are a little
bit higher than I remember. Um, but this shoe that
I've been that I've been having my eye on, the
Katie seven. Eggnogs were classic again red and white, but
(17:11):
they're called the Eggnogs and that white is kind of
an off white, like a cream color way that I
think is like it very much is a is a
you know, homage to eggnog. Are you a fan of these?
Are you a fan of actual eggnog? Yeah? I love
eggnog and I'm a huge fan of these of these
Katie seven eggnogs here, and I think it's really interesting
(17:33):
you talk about the resurgence of the Katie line because
I feel like like around twenty six, when you know,
Lebron was, you know, at the height of his powers
and he was back in Cleveland again and they won
a championship. People started talking about the Zoom generations and
started talking about his older sneakers and like, you know,
the saying Vincent Saint Mary color ways, We're starting to
come back, and people were getting really hyped for that.
(17:56):
What do you think, Like, what do you think, how
do you think that works in terms of this the
slight goals because like, you know, Katie is still one
of the best players in the game, but like he's
at the back half of his career now. Is it
one of those things where when a player guess, with
a certain point in his career, he's got enough you know,
signature sneakers in his line that people start to get
nostalgic and look back, like, how do you think these
(18:16):
cycles work? Yeah? I guess that it's a bit of Yeah,
you notice you're like, oh man, we're at the fifteens,
like let's take a look back and what what's good.
And of course there's a players in the leagues who
rock the old stuff on court that kind of just
like you know, it takes one br kicks are complex
to post, like oh, John Moran, where the Katie fors?
(18:38):
You know, and then everyone's searching for those and get
a little bit of hype. And so yeah, I think
it's a combination of things, and a little bit of
it is just like a fatigue of the sneaker market.
You know. It's just like a shoe gets hyped, everyone
goes out and tries to get it. Everybody pretty much
gets it, um and then they all look around like, oh,
we're all wearing the same thing. And then you know
(19:00):
people want to start you know, zagging and grabbing some
other stuff. So I think, um, yeah, it's like when
when a signature again, how rarity is to reach fifteen?
Like the fun of it is like going back and
like one trying to nab some of those ones. But
then also when retro's come out, you're like, oh, I
don't want to miss my chances of like you know,
we talked about on this show a lot too of
(19:21):
like when we we were kids, we couldn't afford everything, right,
and now we've grown up and we're like, we're gonna
grab those silly sneakers and we'd only wear four or
five times, right, So like I think that too, like
the people when the Kati three's came out, Like we're kids,
and now twelve years later they have a little bit
of money and they can go out and get them.
So I think it's a combination of all those things,
and it's what kind of like keeps you know, um,
(19:44):
the signature sneaker market like exciting. Yeah, And it's you know,
like that part of it really does fascinating because like
I'm even looking at more recent players with their signature
shoes like the pgs right, um or even honest, like
those are still lines that are continuing, and like I
found myself even looking back at like the honest like
you know, the ones and the twos and stuff, and
(20:06):
I feel like people are starting to bring those back out.
And then at the same time you have people bringing
back Team At shoes, right and Gilbert Arenas that we've
talked about so and you know, spoiler, like this is
why the sneaker economy is never going to end because
you've got the new sneakers cycling through. But I think
there's just like there's just such a nostalgia. There's such
(20:27):
a nostalgia and like being able to give sneakers like
a second life. And that's that's the part, you know,
before we take the break, Like, are there any other
shoes on this Christmas themed list that that you want
to shut out? Yeah? I guess this has also been
on on my my dream list to own is the
Kobe seven um Christmas color way. And again when we
(20:51):
talked about the ones that are red and green, these
were if you look at them, you don't think Christmas.
They were purple and yellow and cheetah print. Um. They're
going for astronomical prices. I definitely if anyone sees a
good price. I've even considered buying them extremely used UM
and and just like really just cleaning them up. But
I really want to get a pair of those um someday.
(21:13):
What about you? Any other and any other shoes that
we've missed. Yeah, the other off coat one I want
to shut out was just like the Candy Cane sp dunks.
So this has got the this has got the red
and white lining with with the with the with the
white spouge and then it's got a little bit of
green too. Um, And I don't know, man, that's you know,
(21:34):
I like when these sneakers and the designs just you know,
just basically just go all in, just go all in
on the Christmas design. And you know, you know this
is a separate topic, but you know, everybody's wearing pair
of pair of dunks these days, and you know it's
it's it's you know, I feel like I feel like
every time I go out, I see five pairs of
those Panda dunks. Um, but like I think these are
(21:55):
the type of dunks like from a particular era that
that that still really hit from me. Yeah, those are
a lot of fun. I those in particular probably can
only rock around Christmas. But um, if I see those
for a reasonable price, I will for sure trying to ground.
But this is what CJ says about every sneaker. But
if I don't don't take his, Yeah, don't don't don't
(22:15):
take his. Don't take his word for it when when
he picked certain sneakers, because you know c J loves
them all, but but so do I. Man, No, I
honestly think you know, for anyone that you know is
listening to this, Like, just do a bit, do a
bit of research, to a bit of diving in online,
like about Christmas like theme sneakers. There's a lot out there,
and that's super cool. But let's take this break. When
we come back, let's go through some other assorted Christmas topics,
(22:38):
like favorite Christmas Day jerseys. And I want to hear
about your favorite Christmas Day game as well, so we'll
talk about that when we come back. All right, back
(23:01):
and running the break talking Christmas. Okay, one of my
favorite traditions, Alex, we're Christmas jerseys. So why what? What
I will say up top here is Nike. If you're listening,
I know you're a sponsor of the league. This isn't
any criticism. I mean it's in a positive way. Please please,
please please bring back Christmas jerseys. We love it. It's
(23:22):
I don't that's more money in your pockets. Uh, And
and it gets fans excited. And so Christmas jerseys. I
wanted to talk to you, Alex about some of your
favorite ones over the past years and also to give
us your opinion on what you think of Christmas jerseys. Yeah,
I actually love Christmas jersey in general, I think the
NBA should just lean in all the way about every
(23:45):
all the promotion around the Christmas Day slate, right, yes,
like you mentioned, there's so many people watching, and you know,
from from just a fundamental kind of like consumer merchandise standpoint,
like you think about the drawing power of these and
my favorite, I know, we've had a lot of different iterations,
you know, the sleeve jerseys. I felt like we're always
very controversial, especially when Lebron started ripping them um and
(24:09):
cutting them up like during his Finals Finals run. And
we've had jersey's first name jerseysen is is is what
they did where they had the number up top in
the bag and then the first names under that. My
favorite has to be in sixteen when they just gave
the teams the festive font jerseys and people, I think
(24:30):
we'll know what I'm talking about. For me, those who
were just really clean interpretations of of each team and
I cursed the font was just perfect. It's like such
a classic look to me, and it feels like a
jersey that could have existed in the seventies or eighties.
You know, we love you, listen, I think me and
you we love our loud jerseys as much as anyone else, right,
(24:52):
Like we talked about our nineties jerseys with Tom O'Grady
and stuff, But sometimes there's also value in just the simplicity.
And I thought that the festive font jerseys were executed perfectly. Yeah,
it was such a no brainer. And again the Tom
O'Grady episode, I specifically asked him, I'm like, what would
you do if you were tasked with bringing back Christmas jerseys?
(25:13):
And I think this was, you know, as a close
he he had said, like, think about Christmas thing, about
all the designs we see in everyday Christmas decorations and
all that, And so the festive jerseys in fifteen and
sixteen were exactly that with like the script and uh,
you know, there's other Christmas things that can be done,
like like we said earlier as an episode, like ugly
Christmas sweaters. Imagine if every team playing on Christmas Day
(25:36):
had uniforms that look like ugly Christmas winters, that would
be like it would be such a conversation starter or
even yeah, or even that, like like even like if
it was a warm up, right, like pregame warm up,
like a pregame warm up uggy sweater if you won't
if they don't want to go kind of all the way, right,
Like in terms of like the jersey, that would be
(25:57):
great too, because I feel like they have so many
different ways to kind of work that in. And the
other thing too, I think when you talk about the
festive font jerseys, like they could execute that for all
thirty teams, like not even just the teams that are
playing on Christmas, Like sure, you know, you know, maybe
they could have the other teams that aren't on the
Christmas Day slate where them like during you know, throughout
(26:19):
December or something like that. Because to me, that's like,
to me, it's like you know when you think of like,
you know, the Miami Vice uh you know, city edition
jerseys were such a hit, right Like, Like to me,
the script font jerseys are such a great concept that
I would want it executed across every team. Yeah what
about Okay, here's the Nightea. Now we're just pitching ideas,
(26:40):
but this this is actually the whole show every week.
What if it is just everyone's regular jersey but all
of the text is wrapped in Christmas lights, you know
what I mean? Yeah? Yeah, or like we could do
whatever colors. Obviously we talked about sneakers, like you know,
the the vault or the green and the red. You
know clearly those are the Christmas colors. Like what if
(27:01):
we had like a red green kind of alternate for
every single team, like executed at a level that's like,
you know, same themes across, just like the scripted fonts, right,
because the first thing when I saw those scripted faun jerseys,
I was like, man, I want to see what it
would look like for like a Toronto Raptors one, Like
I can just picture that right now in my head,
right with the Toronto scripted maybe it's in red, and
(27:24):
then we got we go with the Raptors purple. Like
I just feel like there's so many ways for them
to capitalize on this. One more silly idea, and I'm
right there with you. One more silly idea is what
if they had like furry white socks, Like everything could
be normal, but then they all had like kind of
how like stockings and like have that that white like
(27:45):
furry trim. That would be something as as silly as
that would be fun. No, I'm totally with you. I
think I think there's just a way to lean in
more right, like like to just lean in more into
the Christmas spirit of it. And I honestly think, like
I don't know, like you know, there's obviously a few
choices to pick from when it comes to Christmas Day
(28:07):
theme jerseys, but to me, like the festive font, you know,
the scriptive font, like that's to me, there's no there's
no like close second to that. One other thing I
wanted to talk about and not not forget to mention
this is the not only the games, but even the
promos and hype for the games. There's this commercial that
(28:28):
I I see people keep bringing back up and it's
one of my favorite commercials and it was ESPNS jingle Hoops. Yes,
made this commercial um to get everyone excited for the
Christmas Christmas games, and it's called jingle Hoops. You know
what goes down in this? Yes, yes, this is the
one where the guys take the shots right and and
then come up with the Is it like a Christmas
(28:49):
carol and something like that, like they used the shots
to create the song. Yeah, they create I'm gonna hit.
I'm gonna I just need to see what players are
in this if I can remember. Sorry, this is might
mess up the ODDI okay, here we go. So in
this commercial, there's five hoops lined up, and there's even
the making of this on YouTube somewhere when it's five
hoops lined up and you've got Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant,
(29:10):
Steph Curry, James Harden, and Steve Nash and a Lakers
uniform which is still really jarring to me to see.
But they all there's like bells and ornaments on the
on the nets and they shoot to make the song
jingle bells and it's like the most brilliant y sounds good.
(29:32):
Don't mess this up? Good as jerseys, like all this
(29:56):
stuff that I think we love around the game. You know,
we we can just push all that stuff on Turbo.
You know, if we push all that stuff on Turbo
for Christmas, I think it would be awesome. Um, you know,
lastly before we wrap up too, I know we talked,
we know we try to talk about off the core,
but I gotta ask you know, you being a Lakers
fan and the Lakers being on Christmas all the time, Um,
(30:17):
you know it doesn't have to be a Lakers game,
but but what what if you have to pick a
favorite Christmas game like what's like one memory that comes
to mind for you. Honestly, it is a Lakers game,
but I was rooting for the Bulls and this exposes
me as I don't I'm I guess I'm our front runner,
but like, um, the Lakers are playing Bulls two thousand
and eleven, it's d Roses game winner. Um, and I
(30:39):
think just like I was so into that d Rose
Bowls team. Um. And I remember I was dating a
girl at the time and I was trying to get
her into basketball and this was one of the first
games I told her to watch. And the fact that
it was cobing d Rose and then d Rose hits
that sort of like um jump hook to win anything.
They win by one, but for the Cats to win
here on Christmas Day, bros, what terms of the lake?
(31:03):
Derek Roofs and the Bulls come back to take a
one point lead. I was like, this is this is
a Christmas game? You know what I mean? Uh? And
to the bull the Bulls. We were talking about the
Knicks and the Lakers, the Bulls to seeing them on
Christmas Day. Um, even though I don't yeah, I don't
think they're playing this year, but like that used to
be kind of the NBA on NBC era, when he
(31:25):
saw watching the Bulls on Christmas Day felt like a
true like a real Christmas to me. So that one
was one of my favorite games. What about you? Yeah,
you know the first one I think of. You know,
this is pretty recent to like when you know, Lebron
and the Heat played Kobe and the Lakers and people
will know, you know, this is when Lebron had made
(31:45):
his move from from Cleveland with his decision and went
to Miami. And you know, this I think says a
lot about just the marquis of the Christmas Day games, right,
Like you want the most high matchup, and the most
high matchup was the Lakers coming off you know, they're
they're two championships and and you know, now Miami's formed
the super team and you know the game I actually think,
(32:06):
you know, and I know Miami ended up winning in
a blowout, but it was just the spectacle of it, right,
like the spectacle of the heatles and you know, the
spectacle of of the Lakers. So those are the games
that you honestly move your you know, your Christmas Day
schedule around to make sure like that's appointment. Viewing man
like I wouldn't. I wouldn't go as far as compare
(32:27):
like Christmas Day to say, like the super Bowl, because
I know everybody gathers for that. But in a way
it feels a little bit like that to me because
like you you do look at the Christmas Day schedule
and you pick the games out of that five game
slate that like truly matter. Yeah, I mean, it's the
league itself. It schedules some of the biggest, most rival
most hype matchups for that day. So in a way,
(32:49):
it's like in the finals shakes out, you know, play
teams have to go to the playoffs, and you know,
stuff happens in the playoffs, but it's like they give
us some matchups that they know the fans are gonna
get hyped about. And so one other one I wanted
to mention was that two thousand sixteen Calves Warriors um matchup.
And so this is post the Calves, you know, coming
(33:10):
back from three one against the Warriors, and then the
classic Draymond calling Katie in the parking lot, recruiting Katie
over the Warriors, which everyone's like, what, that's unfair, And
then you're going into you know, calvs. Warriors at Christmas,
and you know, as a Calvs and Lebron fan at
the time, the sentiment was like this is a wash,
and it was like, to date, it's one of the
(33:32):
most like back and forth games and shout out to
a dude who we're gonna get on the show. Richard
Jefferson has this crazy poster over Clay Thompson. That is right,
it's Jefferson. Talk to everybody, Richard your thirty six. Oh goodness.
(33:55):
I remember being this might be a little too personal,
but I remember watching this. Umyone has different Christmas is.
But I was at my mom's house and she started
dating this dude. Uh so like my mom's boyfriend in
my late twenties. This is how weird is But her
her boyfriend loved the Warriors and his daughter was there
also loves of Warriors are from the Bay and me
(34:16):
and my brother and mom loved the Calves and so
it was like we were watching this game. The house
is literally split into the fandom, and it was just
the most exciting game back and forth. Um So I
wanted to shout out that game. I love that you know,
I love that you called that one out and you
know that was a very back and forth game. And
that was when I think aesthetically too, you know, we
(34:37):
talk about these two teams in the rivalry that was growing.
But like also this the festive font jerseys too, write Like,
I think it was just very aesthetically pleasing. You know.
If there's one takeaway from this episode, it is please
let's let's bring those festive fonts back. All right, welcome
back to Running the Break. We just wrapped up our
(34:59):
Chris this episode, and c J just have a little
news for our listeners. You know, this is our our
final episode for now, and and you know, for for
people that are checking out Running the Break and have
been listening, if you're wondering why there won't be any
new episodes in the new year, you know those shows
just taking a pause, hanging up break. We might come
back down the line, but but for now, I think,
(35:21):
I mean, CJ, I was thinking, I don't know, like,
how many months have we been doing this. I think
it's been more than half seven months. Yeah, it is.
It is as old as my my son. You know,
I think we were starting it right as my son
was born born. I was like, all right, we're we're
gonna you know I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna start
a new podcast while also take care of taking care
of a human for the first time. But um yeah,
(35:43):
we're taking a part. I mean you know what that
that doesn't mean NBA players stopped showing up and fits
stop you know, all the people collecting vintage out there
who maybe have gotten their start from this show. Like
this is a time for us to go and just
get out there and and and uh, you know, do
the things that we talked about how much we love
on this show. Yeah for sure, like you know, go
by your Jordan's ones, Jordan's two's, Jordan's threes, Jordan's fours. No,
(36:08):
I think I think it's super cool. Like just thinking
about all the fun guests that that that that we've
had on on the show. You know, you had a
chance to talk to Robert Ory, you know, I think
we had a couple of a vintage dealers um here,
you know Josh and Gavin from Toronto that that were
really interesting conversations. I think Tom O'Grady, you know, the
former NBA creative director, was one that we really geeked
(36:30):
out over. And even just you know coming on and
chatting with you every week getting an update on kind
of things that you were up to, and you know,
things that you know I was up to here, you
know in Toronto, Like you know, we had a lot
of fun on the show man. I think it was
super cool and and and just want to say thanks
to to to everyone that that helped us behind the scenes,
you know, from Pete, Grace, Kurt and even Sean and
(36:52):
the and the entire I Heart team, like like, this
was super fun to do. Man. Yeah, and deed, I
mean most importantly, And that's what me and you for
for years have been trying to figure out what project
to work on. And I think this was the perfect
first project. And I'll reiterate what you said. We have
a bunch of other basketball and NBA stuff like projects.
(37:13):
If you just follow us on social, you'll you'll be
able to see you'll be occupied by Alex and c
J content, not just through this pod by but by
you know, our constant tweeting about basketball musings and all that.
So we're not going anywhere. Follow us, keep supporting us,
and we thank you for you know, messing with our
opinions and our takes and and and our news droppings
(37:34):
of you know, all the fun stuff that's happening in
the in the NBA. We're not gonna stop doing that. Yeah, no, definitely,
And I think to to just wrap up like c J. Man,
I appreciate you, and I'm sure we're gonna get a
chance to to to work together again and just want
to wish you and your family happy holidays. Man. Likewise,
to you guys up in the North State, stay warm, man,
come back come down to l A. Yeah, I'm trying.
(37:56):
I'm trying, man, I really I really don't like the
winters here. But otherwise, as you know, I'm a big
promoter of Toronto, I believe. Who knows, Yeah, but yeah,
I don't know. We're signing off for now, you know.
As always, you know, this is Alex Wong with c J.
Tol Dono. Thank you everybody for listening to Running the
Break and hopefully we'll talk to you soon. Peace.
All right, welcome to another episode of Running the Break.
I'm in your host c JS Modano, of course, always
with my co host Alex Wong. Alex very special episode,
the Christmas episode. Now, how are you feeling about that
Christmas is here? We're I mean, that's kind of like,
I know, all Star Break is is, um, you know,
(00:25):
an important midway, but it feels like Christmas is sometimes
when the season really begins. Yeah. Well, you know, I
feel like I feel like we I feel like a
lot of NBA fans, you know, for people who who follow,
you know, die hards like us. You know, obviously, the
the NBA news cycle never stops, but for for the
for the more casual fans, I've always said, Christmas Day
(00:45):
is really the unofficial star, right. This is when the
NBA has their full day, full slate of games, and
they're always featuring teams like the Lakers, whether they're good
or bad or terrible. Um, you know, this is basically
the Lakers episode. Guys, there's gonna be a lot of
Lakers talk. Um. But but yeah, like I think it's
super cool and I think, you know, I wanted to
(01:07):
ask you to this being our Christmas themed episode, like
I know you're a dad now, you know, I know
you're like, you know, there's been changes in your life,
But what is your what is your schedule like on
Christmas Day in terms of making sure you get to
catch the games? Well, you know, there there used to
be a thing where because there's there's all there's games
(01:28):
all day, right, and so I living on the West Coast,
I actually didn't get a chance or just was not
like awake in time for the first game. So having
a kid now and having this like routine where I'm
usually up by five thirty no matter what. Actually this
might be the Christmas where I see the early game,
which is usually the Knicks. So actually shout out to
(01:50):
my son Conrad. He's gonna, he's he's giving me the
gift of getting to see what is its Sixers Knicks
um at nine am s pecific time here on the
West Coast. So I mean, I'm gonna try to watch
as many games. And honestly, with my team not being
you know, they're they're not the best, right, and so
(02:10):
like I'm gonna I'm gonna watch all of these games
and like just like the storylines happen. Usually I feel
like there's such concrete storylines going into you know, Christmas games,
and now it's just the league is almost so all
over the place that I'm excited by, uh so many teams,
so many players, and so many other storylines that I
think I'm just gonna watch as much as I can,
(02:30):
pop in and out when things aren't um, you know,
slower or whatever. But you know, it's just that that's
Christmas to me, just basketball the whole day. What about
you outline what what you're gonna do on Christmas? Yeah,
I think it's the same for me. You know, usually,
you know, I'll spend time with with my family, but
you know, I feel like, well we'll spend a lot
of that time during the day just just with the
(02:51):
TV on and and you know, I you know, you
mentioned the Knicks, and it's funny because like that's literally
just what I remember about every Christmas. It's like, get up,
you know, you do, you do your family stuff, and
then the Knicks are just always on TV. You know
that it's always the Knicks. But I think you make
a really good point to in terms of you know,
I think about I think I think a lot of
(03:12):
teams sometimes will complain that their teams are not being
featured on the Christmas Day schedule. Um but I'm looking
at the lineup. You know, You've got the Sixers and
the Knicks, Lakers, MAVs, Bucks, Celtics, Grizzlies, Warriors, Sons, Nuggets.
Like anybody tuning in is gonna see so many of
(03:33):
these stars that that are just across the league now, right,
like from Nikola Yokis to Luca Dodgers to Joannice, like
to Joel and Be to Jayson Tatum. Um So I'm
thinking about like the younger, younger generation too, because I
think a lot of times the NBA is trying to
market to the younger demographic, get them hooked to the game.
There's no better there's no better day than Christmas. But
(03:54):
I gotta admit, man, sometimes I need a little break.
So usually the five pm Eastern game is the one
that probably skip out on because I just I just
need a break. I probably just go pick up Chinese
food or something during that time that that kind of
that might be the best game on the schedule one,
but that might be the best game. And also too
and we I mean this is exactly why we have
(04:15):
this podcast. But the sneaker and like kick game is
insane on Christmas, So we're gonna go through our favorite,
you know, Christmas kicks. But just like I'm excited to
see what everyone's gonna pull out this year, Yeah, for sure, man.
And I think that's another thing, like it actually brings
me back to when you know NBA on NBC, Like
(04:37):
you remember on the weekends they'd have like the doubleheaders
and triple headers, Like I used to get excited for
those all the time, and part of the appeal was
to see what the guys were wearing two right, And
I think now because of social media, because of leak fits,
because of the tunnel, you you were exposed to that
like on a day to day basis, right, Like you
don't need to wait for like the Marquee game. But
(04:58):
that's why I get excited about christma Us too, because
I know a lot of these guys and obviously the
brands behind them put a lot of thought into what's
gonna be on feet because they know it's gonna be
a huge audience. So I know, I'm definitely excited, man.
So let's let's take a break when we come back,
Let's let's dive right into our favorite Christmas theme sneakers
on the special Christmas episode of Running the Break. All right,
(05:32):
welcome back to Running the Break, c J. I know
this is your super Bowl right here at this topic, UM,
I might just put my mic on mute for you. UM.
You know, I want to talk about our favorite Christmas theme.
I'm gonna just say Christmas team shoes because I feel
like originally I had labeled this as favorite Christmas theme
basketball sneakers, but I feel like we're not doing the
(05:56):
whole Christmas theme shoe economy justice if if we just
a bit of basketball. But I feel like this conversation
has to start with the Kobe six Grinches, which you
have to you know, if if you ask me this topic,
like that's the first sneakro I think of, it's Um.
I mean in every way, it's loud and attention getting,
and honestly, in the last few years it's become probably
(06:19):
one of the most popular basketball sneakers. I think the
Kobe sixes are one of my favorite models in general.
And then just the I think after this shoe, so
many shoes were like green and sort of that vote
color way is is a staple color way, you know,
like we've seen so many other models not just the Kobe,
so Kobe rocking the Grinches and also to like the
(06:41):
mama mentality and his persona of like you know, he's
like the villain you you root for. The Grinches were
such a perfect Christmas shoe. Um and and you look
at it and even if you don't know anything about
about Kobe or Um or the Grinchan, it just screams
Christmas shoe. And so this is this is also one
of my favorite shoes of all time. But the couple's
(07:02):
six Grinches just holds like such a special place in
my heart and as a sneaker head and basketball fans.
So we had to kick this thing off by by
mentioning those No. For sure, man, I think if you're
building just like a sneaker hall of fame, like this
sneaker has to be in there. You know, you mentioned
like the vault color way, and I think with the
red laces too, you know, if you know, forget about
(07:24):
you know, everything that you talked about, which which was
all valid with the themes and stuff, like just aesthetically,
it's a very nice looking shoe. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
And then uh you know, let's let's just move on
to the lebron tent Christmas is UM for anyone you know,
this isn't a visual podcast, but I mean, if you
see the cutdowns, you might see a picture of this,
but look at the lebron ten Christmas is Now, this
(07:46):
is again such a I don't know if Christmas color
ways are like what the sneaker brands think, but I
love this one. This isn't all red and this is
phone posit with hints of like a glow in the
dark green. And again you see these being worn, and
I think it was perfect that you know, he was
on the heat like they kind of went with the uniform.
(08:07):
But the green is such a And this is during
the time when when the I think sneaker a dress
code like you had to wear colors that were pretty
similar to your uniform. And so when you saw green
on these sneakers with the heat uniform, it really took
you off garden. It really stood out. So I love
the lebron tent Christmas is. I actually wore these to
my reception of my wedding UM because this is also
(08:30):
again one of my favorite sneakers. What do you what
do you think about the Lebron Tens. No, I love it, man,
you know, you know, to me like this this is
like to me, this is like everything you want in
a Christmas basketball sneaker. And like I Loki kind of like,
I don't know, I feel like when people talk about
the Lebrons, they don't put the they don't put the
Lebron tens in there, And I don't know, Like now
(08:53):
I think I feel like at the time I might
have been hating on that model, but but now that
I'm looking at this shoe, I'm Mike, I'm I gotta say,
the Lebron tents are kind of slept on, man. And
and then like you know, this is moving off the
Christmas theme, but like I'm thinking about the Lebrons like
I remember back during this phase, like I love all
the what the Lebrons like. I know, we talked recently
to Timothy Goodman on the show, and you know, just
(09:15):
had me thinking about just like sneakers from like an
artistic or like a design you know, process, and you know,
the the what the Lebrons like, they're they're probably some
of the most loudest kind of designs. And you know,
it goes back to are you able to get a
fit off, but I don't know, like those I've always loved,
Like I always love the shoes that are like super loud,
(09:36):
even though I sometimes have to recognize that it's like
it might not be for me. Yeah, two very like
sneaker head details that I noticed is one, we look
at phases of Lebrons and you know, at first he
started zoom generations just you know, kind of classic leather
um and then Lebron and I don't know if they
(09:57):
really say this, but like kind of took over, took over,
but like the phone, like became kind of a foam
positive sneaker, which really spoke well to his game. It
was you know, very very much power and durable um
and so it really lent to some incredible color ways
from like again, another one of my favorite sneakers is
the Lebron fours um and like the gold ones and
(10:20):
I'm trying to think of the other ones, but like
when the tents came out, like this is a perfect
shoe for loud color ways like this. And then the
other kind of detail that I wanted to point out
is the reverse swoosh. Now one of the most popular,
you know, sneakers right now are Travis Scott ones and
how everyone's like, whoa, the swoosh is backwards and it's like,
(10:41):
you go back. These came out in two thousand and
twelve Lebron tents, and the most prominent sort of you
know logo on here is that Nike swush and it's
technically reverse. So for all you kids out there who
are listening to the pod one, thank you for indulging
in a couple of old dudes, you know, trying to
flex on some history. But like, shout out to the
Lebron line for for throwing that reverse sush on there. Yeah,
(11:03):
and since we're on the topic of Lebron's too, like
I want to shout out the new Lebron twenties. You know,
they they're releasing a Christmas sneeker too, and and you
know it's you know, if I were to compare, you know, visually,
you know, these are kind of like the Grinches in
a way, right from a color way standpoint, And and
you know, I keep hyping up the Lebron twenties and
(11:23):
I keep begging CJ to you know, hit the contact
stuff so I can get plugged up for Christmas. But
like the Lebron twenties to me, like I really feel like,
you know, it's it's kind of like revitalize the line.
And I don't know, like when you're talking about just
now the different kind of eras and generations of like
Lebron sneakers, I'm really curious where they're gonna go now
from the Lebron twenty because I feel like they really
(11:46):
struck the court this time of not only a sneaker
that can be an Encourt performance shoe, but but for me,
I think I think that's the silhouette and the design
of the twenties perfect as a lifestyle shoe. Yeah, can
I I just I'm obsessed with these Lebron twenty and
I don't the green this Are they Grinches? Are they?
(12:06):
Or Christmas? Whatever their their nickname these are. I've just
been looking at him and I've been waiting for a
release date, but I'm obsessed with them. Like if you
look them up, everybody, you type in Lebron twenty Christmas
and you can see the details on these are insane.
So it's like mostly green obviously with the red smoosh
and hint, but like the sort of pattern design on
(12:27):
them are like leaves and like Holly. It's like some
of the Lebron or some of the Christmas kicks in
the last few years have been really subtle, Like we've
had Katie's in the past that when they weren't red
and white, they were like blue and like red and
they were calling them Christmas sweaters and whatever. I love that.
Nike kind of went again, like very much Grinch inspired.
(12:49):
I feel like it just went no, Christmas is red
and green, um and and are giving us exactly that?
And so I've been wondering. I was like, one, are
these dropping? And I remember a couple of years ago
the braun I want to say sixteen or seventeens, they
had a Christmas color where they were all read Lebron
didn't wear them in the game, um and I was
always mad about that. But like they dropped a day
(13:11):
after Christmas, and so I was like, what, No, you
gotta drop these before Christmas. And so I'm hoping these
kind of just like quick Strike, drop before Christmas because
I want to rock these like on Christmas Day. Yeah no,
though these are awesome, man um. And you know, a
couple of like we mentioned, we didn't want to keep
it as just basketball sneakers, Like I wanted to shout
out the concepts collapse the ugly sweater speed Dunks, which
(13:34):
I believe I've been released twice I think in like
the past decade. Um. Now, this is just a very loud,
too like picture. You know, your ugliest Christmas sweater, but
you know, on a dunk. Um is is really the
best way that I can describe it. First of all,
c J, you know, are you are you pro or
against Christmas ugly sweaters? I'm very pro. I'm pro them
(13:57):
outside of the holiday season, That's how okay, So you're
not even this is not even a holidays thing you
So are you saying we can wear you can wear
ugly sweaters all year around? Absolutely again, and I've said
it on many episodes. If you're confident in your choice
and you feel good, then that's all that matters. But
I love it like a wild print on anything, you know,
I love an all over print vintage t so like
(14:19):
it's kind of like the Christmas warmer version of that
in my opinion. Yeah, yeah, no, I can definitely see
the ugly sweater in as part of your repertoire. Um.
It's it's right up your alley, like like you measurement.
I think it fits your personal style, like it fits
your personality. Um, and it's super cool. But then you know,
this is a this is this is one of my favorites.
(14:39):
If you're talking about like Christmas theme shoes, Yeah, like
do you The tough thing is would you ever rock
any of these outside of Christmas? I know about the swage,
but what about these shoes? Yeah? See, man, but that's
I think that's like a huge conundrum because like a
lot of these stinkers are very A lot of these
stinkers and like just general shoes are very coveted, so
(15:00):
like it seems like a waste to only save it
for Christmas. Though, yeah you know what I mean, Like,
like you know, like having a once a year's shoe
seems like it seems like a privilege. I feel like
these dunks can be can be pulled off even in
the summer and in the fall as well. So so
I'm voting, I'm voting for all year round. I'm voting
yeah exactly. And then I also like with LaMelo Ball
(15:22):
in his new line, which I think is getting a
lot of traction to Like they came out with this
Rick and Morty um Colorway last season, and I was like,
you guys aren't slick. That's a Christmas colorway. That's a
reason to do it. Like if anyone knows what those
are like to the Mellow ball Ones and there one
one sneaker is is green and the other is red,
(15:42):
and I'm like, and they call him I think, yeah,
the Rick and Morty's, I'm like, no, those are clearly
Christmas Colorway sneakers. So UM, I see I see brands
out there trying to you know, disguise with the name,
but those are you know, those are those are Christmas sneakers.
In my opinion, that's like, that's like the best of
both worlds move you know, like like it's a collab
(16:04):
plus you know, if people want to see it as
a as a Christmas sneaker as well. What else? What
else do you have on this list? C J. I
got the Katie seven Eggnogs, I think um and Nike
just announced that they're rereleasing the Katie three All Stars,
which are all red, but they're not Christmas but um,
I think the Katie line is gonna have this crazy
(16:26):
resurgence in retros. Like I think the Katie sneakers were
slept on. They were kind of like considered a budget
signature line to start with. And now Katie has, you know,
risen Um in that whole time, risen to one of
the top I would say three players in the league.
And so we're it's almost like again, kids are getting
put onto like they're seeing all the sneakers out there
(16:47):
that are big right now and they don't want to
have the same sneakers everybody else. And so now everyone
is hopping on eBay and de pop and Posh marking
all these not to give away all of our spots,
but they're starting to dig for Katie's old katies. And
I'm starting to notice because the prices are a little
bit higher than I remember. Um, but this shoe that
I've been that I've been having my eye on, the
Katie seven. Eggnogs were classic again red and white, but
(17:11):
they're called the Eggnogs and that white is kind of
an off white, like a cream color way that I
think is like it very much is a is a
you know, homage to eggnog. Are you a fan of these?
Are you a fan of actual eggnog? Yeah? I love
eggnog and I'm a huge fan of these of these
Katie seven eggnogs here, and I think it's really interesting
(17:33):
you talk about the resurgence of the Katie line because
I feel like like around twenty six, when you know,
Lebron was, you know, at the height of his powers
and he was back in Cleveland again and they won
a championship. People started talking about the Zoom generations and
started talking about his older sneakers and like, you know,
the saying Vincent Saint Mary color ways, We're starting to
come back, and people were getting really hyped for that.
(17:56):
What do you think, Like, what do you think, how
do you think that works in terms of this the
slight goals because like, you know, Katie is still one
of the best players in the game, but like he's
at the back half of his career now. Is it
one of those things where when a player guess, with
a certain point in his career, he's got enough you know,
signature sneakers in his line that people start to get
nostalgic and look back, like, how do you think these
(18:16):
cycles work? Yeah? I guess that it's a bit of Yeah,
you notice you're like, oh man, we're at the fifteens,
like let's take a look back and what what's good.
And of course there's a players in the leagues who
rock the old stuff on court that kind of just
like you know, it takes one br kicks are complex
to post, like oh, John Moran, where the Katie fors?
(18:38):
You know, and then everyone's searching for those and get
a little bit of hype. And so yeah, I think
it's a combination of things, and a little bit of
it is just like a fatigue of the sneaker market.
You know. It's just like a shoe gets hyped, everyone
goes out and tries to get it. Everybody pretty much
gets it, um and then they all look around like, oh,
we're all wearing the same thing. And then you know
(19:00):
people want to start you know, zagging and grabbing some
other stuff. So I think, um, yeah, it's like when
when a signature again, how rarity is to reach fifteen?
Like the fun of it is like going back and
like one trying to nab some of those ones. But
then also when retro's come out, you're like, oh, I
don't want to miss my chances of like you know,
we talked about on this show a lot too of
(19:21):
like when we we were kids, we couldn't afford everything, right,
and now we've grown up and we're like, we're gonna
grab those silly sneakers and we'd only wear four or
five times, right, So like I think that too, like
the people when the Kati three's came out, Like we're kids,
and now twelve years later they have a little bit
of money and they can go out and get them.
So I think it's a combination of all those things,
and it's what kind of like keeps you know, um,
(19:44):
the signature sneaker market like exciting. Yeah, And it's you know,
like that part of it really does fascinating because like
I'm even looking at more recent players with their signature
shoes like the pgs right, um or even honest, like
those are still lines that are continuing, and like I
found myself even looking back at like the honest like
you know, the ones and the twos and stuff, and
(20:06):
I feel like people are starting to bring those back out.
And then at the same time you have people bringing
back Team At shoes, right and Gilbert Arenas that we've
talked about so and you know, spoiler, like this is
why the sneaker economy is never going to end because
you've got the new sneakers cycling through. But I think
there's just like there's just such a nostalgia. There's such
(20:27):
a nostalgia and like being able to give sneakers like
a second life. And that's that's the part, you know,
before we take the break, Like, are there any other
shoes on this Christmas themed list that that you want
to shut out? Yeah? I guess this has also been
on on my my dream list to own is the
Kobe seven um Christmas color way. And again when we
(20:51):
talked about the ones that are red and green, these
were if you look at them, you don't think Christmas.
They were purple and yellow and cheetah print. Um. They're
going for astronomical prices. I definitely if anyone sees a
good price. I've even considered buying them extremely used UM
and and just like really just cleaning them up. But
I really want to get a pair of those um someday.
(21:13):
What about you? Any other and any other shoes that
we've missed. Yeah, the other off coat one I want
to shut out was just like the Candy Cane sp dunks.
So this has got the this has got the red
and white lining with with the with the with the
white spouge and then it's got a little bit of
green too. Um, And I don't know, man, that's you know,
(21:34):
I like when these sneakers and the designs just you know,
just basically just go all in, just go all in
on the Christmas design. And you know, you know this
is a separate topic, but you know, everybody's wearing pair
of pair of dunks these days, and you know it's
it's it's you know, I feel like I feel like
every time I go out, I see five pairs of
those Panda dunks. Um, but like I think these are
(21:55):
the type of dunks like from a particular era that
that that still really hit from me. Yeah, those are
a lot of fun. I those in particular probably can
only rock around Christmas. But um, if I see those
for a reasonable price, I will for sure trying to ground.
But this is what CJ says about every sneaker. But
if I don't don't take his, Yeah, don't don't don't
(22:15):
take his. Don't take his word for it when when
he picked certain sneakers, because you know c J loves
them all, but but so do I. Man, No, I
honestly think you know, for anyone that you know is
listening to this, Like, just do a bit, do a
bit of research, to a bit of diving in online,
like about Christmas like theme sneakers. There's a lot out there,
and that's super cool. But let's take this break. When
we come back, let's go through some other assorted Christmas topics,
(22:38):
like favorite Christmas Day jerseys. And I want to hear
about your favorite Christmas Day game as well, so we'll
talk about that when we come back. All right, back
(23:01):
and running the break talking Christmas. Okay, one of my
favorite traditions, Alex, we're Christmas jerseys. So why what? What
I will say up top here is Nike. If you're listening,
I know you're a sponsor of the league. This isn't
any criticism. I mean it's in a positive way. Please please,
please please bring back Christmas jerseys. We love it. It's
(23:22):
I don't that's more money in your pockets. Uh, And
and it gets fans excited. And so Christmas jerseys. I
wanted to talk to you, Alex about some of your
favorite ones over the past years and also to give
us your opinion on what you think of Christmas jerseys. Yeah,
I actually love Christmas jersey in general, I think the
NBA should just lean in all the way about every
(23:45):
all the promotion around the Christmas Day slate, right, yes,
like you mentioned, there's so many people watching, and you know,
from from just a fundamental kind of like consumer merchandise standpoint,
like you think about the drawing power of these and
my favorite, I know, we've had a lot of different iterations,
you know, the sleeve jerseys. I felt like we're always
very controversial, especially when Lebron started ripping them um and
(24:09):
cutting them up like during his Finals Finals run. And
we've had jersey's first name jerseysen is is is what
they did where they had the number up top in
the bag and then the first names under that. My
favorite has to be in sixteen when they just gave
the teams the festive font jerseys and people, I think
(24:30):
we'll know what I'm talking about. For me, those who
were just really clean interpretations of of each team and
I cursed the font was just perfect. It's like such
a classic look to me, and it feels like a
jersey that could have existed in the seventies or eighties.
You know, we love you, listen, I think me and
you we love our loud jerseys as much as anyone else, right,
(24:52):
Like we talked about our nineties jerseys with Tom O'Grady
and stuff, But sometimes there's also value in just the simplicity.
And I thought that the festive font jerseys were executed perfectly. Yeah,
it was such a no brainer. And again the Tom
O'Grady episode, I specifically asked him, I'm like, what would
you do if you were tasked with bringing back Christmas jerseys?
(25:13):
And I think this was, you know, as a close
he he had said, like, think about Christmas thing, about
all the designs we see in everyday Christmas decorations and
all that, And so the festive jerseys in fifteen and
sixteen were exactly that with like the script and uh,
you know, there's other Christmas things that can be done,
like like we said earlier as an episode, like ugly
Christmas sweaters. Imagine if every team playing on Christmas Day
(25:36):
had uniforms that look like ugly Christmas winters, that would
be like it would be such a conversation starter or
even yeah, or even that, like like even like if
it was a warm up, right, like pregame warm up,
like a pregame warm up uggy sweater if you won't
if they don't want to go kind of all the way, right,
Like in terms of like the jersey, that would be
(25:57):
great too, because I feel like they have so many
different ways to kind of work that in. And the
other thing too, I think when you talk about the
festive font jerseys, like they could execute that for all
thirty teams, like not even just the teams that are
playing on Christmas, Like sure, you know, you know, maybe
they could have the other teams that aren't on the
Christmas Day slate where them like during you know, throughout
(26:19):
December or something like that. Because to me, that's like,
to me, it's like you know when you think of like,
you know, the Miami Vice uh you know, city edition
jerseys were such a hit, right Like, Like to me,
the script font jerseys are such a great concept that
I would want it executed across every team. Yeah what
about Okay, here's the Nightea. Now we're just pitching ideas,
(26:40):
but this this is actually the whole show every week.
What if it is just everyone's regular jersey but all
of the text is wrapped in Christmas lights, you know
what I mean? Yeah? Yeah, or like we could do
whatever colors. Obviously we talked about sneakers, like you know,
the the vault or the green and the red. You
know clearly those are the Christmas colors. Like what if
(27:01):
we had like a red green kind of alternate for
every single team, like executed at a level that's like,
you know, same themes across, just like the scripted fonts, right,
because the first thing when I saw those scripted faun jerseys,
I was like, man, I want to see what it
would look like for like a Toronto Raptors one, Like
I can just picture that right now in my head,
right with the Toronto scripted maybe it's in red, and
(27:24):
then we got we go with the Raptors purple. Like
I just feel like there's so many ways for them
to capitalize on this. One more silly idea, and I'm
right there with you. One more silly idea is what
if they had like furry white socks, Like everything could
be normal, but then they all had like kind of
how like stockings and like have that that white like
(27:45):
furry trim. That would be something as as silly as
that would be fun. No, I'm totally with you. I
think I think there's just a way to lean in
more right, like like to just lean in more into
the Christmas spirit of it. And I honestly think, like
I don't know, like you know, there's obviously a few
choices to pick from when it comes to Christmas Day
(28:07):
theme jerseys, but to me, like the festive font, you know,
the scriptive font, like that's to me, there's no there's
no like close second to that. One other thing I
wanted to talk about and not not forget to mention
this is the not only the games, but even the
promos and hype for the games. There's this commercial that
(28:28):
I I see people keep bringing back up and it's
one of my favorite commercials and it was ESPNS jingle Hoops. Yes,
made this commercial um to get everyone excited for the
Christmas Christmas games, and it's called jingle Hoops. You know
what goes down in this? Yes, yes, this is the
one where the guys take the shots right and and
then come up with the Is it like a Christmas
(28:49):
carol and something like that, like they used the shots
to create the song. Yeah, they create I'm gonna hit.
I'm gonna I just need to see what players are
in this if I can remember. Sorry, this is might
mess up the ODDI okay, here we go. So in
this commercial, there's five hoops lined up, and there's even
the making of this on YouTube somewhere when it's five
hoops lined up and you've got Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant,
(29:10):
Steph Curry, James Harden, and Steve Nash and a Lakers
uniform which is still really jarring to me to see.
But they all there's like bells and ornaments on the
on the nets and they shoot to make the song
jingle bells and it's like the most brilliant y sounds good.
(29:32):
Don't mess this up? Good as jerseys, like all this
(29:56):
stuff that I think we love around the game. You know,
we we can just push all that stuff on Turbo.
You know, if we push all that stuff on Turbo
for Christmas, I think it would be awesome. Um, you know,
lastly before we wrap up too, I know we talked,
we know we try to talk about off the core,
but I gotta ask you know, you being a Lakers
fan and the Lakers being on Christmas all the time, Um,
(30:17):
you know it doesn't have to be a Lakers game,
but but what what if you have to pick a
favorite Christmas game like what's like one memory that comes
to mind for you. Honestly, it is a Lakers game,
but I was rooting for the Bulls and this exposes
me as I don't I'm I guess I'm our front runner,
but like, um, the Lakers are playing Bulls two thousand
and eleven, it's d Roses game winner. Um, and I
(30:39):
think just like I was so into that d Rose
Bowls team. Um. And I remember I was dating a
girl at the time and I was trying to get
her into basketball and this was one of the first
games I told her to watch. And the fact that
it was cobing d Rose and then d Rose hits
that sort of like um jump hook to win anything.
They win by one, but for the Cats to win
here on Christmas Day, bros, what terms of the lake?
(31:03):
Derek Roofs and the Bulls come back to take a
one point lead. I was like, this is this is
a Christmas game? You know what I mean? Uh? And
to the bull the Bulls. We were talking about the
Knicks and the Lakers, the Bulls to seeing them on
Christmas Day. Um, even though I don't yeah, I don't
think they're playing this year, but like that used to
be kind of the NBA on NBC era, when he
(31:25):
saw watching the Bulls on Christmas Day felt like a
true like a real Christmas to me. So that one
was one of my favorite games. What about you? Yeah,
you know the first one I think of. You know,
this is pretty recent to like when you know, Lebron
and the Heat played Kobe and the Lakers and people
will know, you know, this is when Lebron had made
(31:45):
his move from from Cleveland with his decision and went
to Miami. And you know, this I think says a
lot about just the marquis of the Christmas Day games, right,
Like you want the most high matchup, and the most
high matchup was the Lakers coming off you know, they're
they're two championships and and you know, now Miami's formed
the super team and you know the game I actually think,
(32:06):
you know, and I know Miami ended up winning in
a blowout, but it was just the spectacle of it, right,
like the spectacle of the heatles and you know, the
spectacle of of the Lakers. So those are the games
that you honestly move your you know, your Christmas Day
schedule around to make sure like that's appointment. Viewing man
like I wouldn't. I wouldn't go as far as compare
(32:27):
like Christmas Day to say, like the super Bowl, because
I know everybody gathers for that. But in a way
it feels a little bit like that to me because
like you you do look at the Christmas Day schedule
and you pick the games out of that five game
slate that like truly matter. Yeah, I mean, it's the
league itself. It schedules some of the biggest, most rival
most hype matchups for that day. So in a way,
(32:49):
it's like in the finals shakes out, you know, play
teams have to go to the playoffs, and you know,
stuff happens in the playoffs, but it's like they give
us some matchups that they know the fans are gonna
get hyped about. And so one other one I wanted
to mention was that two thousand sixteen Calves Warriors um matchup.
And so this is post the Calves, you know, coming
(33:10):
back from three one against the Warriors, and then the
classic Draymond calling Katie in the parking lot, recruiting Katie
over the Warriors, which everyone's like, what, that's unfair, And
then you're going into you know, calvs. Warriors at Christmas,
and you know, as a Calvs and Lebron fan at
the time, the sentiment was like this is a wash,
and it was like, to date, it's one of the
(33:32):
most like back and forth games and shout out to
a dude who we're gonna get on the show. Richard
Jefferson has this crazy poster over Clay Thompson. That is right,
it's Jefferson. Talk to everybody, Richard your thirty six. Oh goodness.
(33:55):
I remember being this might be a little too personal,
but I remember watching this. Umyone has different Christmas is.
But I was at my mom's house and she started
dating this dude. Uh so like my mom's boyfriend in
my late twenties. This is how weird is But her
her boyfriend loved the Warriors and his daughter was there
also loves of Warriors are from the Bay and me
(34:16):
and my brother and mom loved the Calves and so
it was like we were watching this game. The house
is literally split into the fandom, and it was just
the most exciting game back and forth. Um So I
wanted to shout out that game. I love that you know,
I love that you called that one out and you
know that was a very back and forth game. And
that was when I think aesthetically too, you know, we
(34:37):
talk about these two teams in the rivalry that was growing.
But like also this the festive font jerseys too, write Like,
I think it was just very aesthetically pleasing. You know.
If there's one takeaway from this episode, it is please
let's let's bring those festive fonts back. All right, welcome
back to Running the Break. We just wrapped up our
(34:59):
Chris this episode, and c J just have a little
news for our listeners. You know, this is our our
final episode for now, and and you know, for for
people that are checking out Running the Break and have
been listening, if you're wondering why there won't be any
new episodes in the new year, you know those shows
just taking a pause, hanging up break. We might come
back down the line, but but for now, I think,
(35:21):
I mean, CJ, I was thinking, I don't know, like,
how many months have we been doing this. I think
it's been more than half seven months. Yeah, it is.
It is as old as my my son. You know,
I think we were starting it right as my son
was born born. I was like, all right, we're we're
gonna you know I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna start
a new podcast while also take care of taking care
of a human for the first time. But um yeah,
(35:43):
we're taking a part. I mean you know what that
that doesn't mean NBA players stopped showing up and fits
stop you know, all the people collecting vintage out there
who maybe have gotten their start from this show. Like
this is a time for us to go and just
get out there and and and uh, you know, do
the things that we talked about how much we love
on this show. Yeah for sure, like you know, go
by your Jordan's ones, Jordan's two's, Jordan's threes, Jordan's fours. No,
(36:08):
I think I think it's super cool. Like just thinking
about all the fun guests that that that that we've
had on on the show. You know, you had a
chance to talk to Robert Ory, you know, I think
we had a couple of a vintage dealers um here,
you know Josh and Gavin from Toronto that that were
really interesting conversations. I think Tom O'Grady, you know, the
former NBA creative director, was one that we really geeked
(36:30):
out over. And even just you know coming on and
chatting with you every week getting an update on kind
of things that you were up to, and you know,
things that you know I was up to here, you
know in Toronto, Like you know, we had a lot
of fun on the show man. I think it was
super cool and and and just want to say thanks
to to to everyone that that helped us behind the scenes,
you know, from Pete, Grace, Kurt and even Sean and
(36:52):
the and the entire I Heart team, like like, this
was super fun to do. Man. Yeah, and deed, I
mean most importantly, And that's what me and you for
for years have been trying to figure out what project
to work on. And I think this was the perfect
first project. And I'll reiterate what you said. We have
a bunch of other basketball and NBA stuff like projects.
(37:13):
If you just follow us on social, you'll you'll be
able to see you'll be occupied by Alex and c
J content, not just through this pod by but by
you know, our constant tweeting about basketball musings and all that.
So we're not going anywhere. Follow us, keep supporting us,
and we thank you for you know, messing with our
opinions and our takes and and and our news droppings
(37:34):
of you know, all the fun stuff that's happening in
the in the NBA. We're not gonna stop doing that. Yeah, no, definitely,
And I think to to just wrap up like c J. Man,
I appreciate you, and I'm sure we're gonna get a
chance to to to work together again and just want
to wish you and your family happy holidays. Man. Likewise,
to you guys up in the North State, stay warm, man,
come back come down to l A. Yeah, I'm trying.
(37:56):
I'm trying, man, I really I really don't like the
winters here. But otherwise, as you know, I'm a big
promoter of Toronto, I believe. Who knows, Yeah, but yeah,
I don't know. We're signing off for now, you know.
As always, you know, this is Alex Wong with c J.
Tol Dono. Thank you everybody for listening to Running the
Break and hopefully we'll talk to you soon. Peace.
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