crooked tongues magazine News Features

Nike are going in with their Air Force 1 offerings for the shoe's 30th anniversary and with it being the Dream Team's 20th anniversary this year too to coincide with some kind of McDonald's sponsored sports tournament this summer, it's a good time to break out Nike Basketball's classic colourway too. After that ruling was lifted to allow for the greatest collection of NBA stars ever amassed, the Dream Team managed to infiltrate popular culture beyond sport shops. Even cereal packets (was it Golden Grahams that gave away the mini-posters?) took Mullin, Barkley and Stockton's mugs to the breakfast table. The fact it all seemed to coincide with Nike's strongest basketball output since 1988, changing the aesthetic of the game's shoes and the Fab Five helping merge basketball attire with street fashion was helpful too. Trying to work the USA colours and some gold into a shoe could have all gone a little too Apollo Creed 'Rocky IV' ring entrance (actually, that's no bad thing), but Nike worked it all in with near-restraint and these highs and lows are made to bring back memories of the highs rather than lows (think the dark 2002-2004 nightmare era) with regards to previous tournaments. Both makeups are a decent complement to the original brace of Force 180 Lows, More Uptempos and BB4s that recently made a reentry onto the shelves (leading to UK appearances for both Sir Charles and Scottie Pippen) and they're in the Crooked Tongues store right now...