crooked tongues magazine News Features

For years we wanted Nike to bring the kinds of shoes you only spot in stores like Champs on a New York trip to UK shelves. The Nike Zoom Turf Jet is one of those shoes. There's a beauty to this model's unconventional looks that some find unappealing, but this shoe embodies the madcap Zoom Air aesthetic of 1997. For designers, the dawn of the smaller approach to responsive cushioning gave them the opportunity to go mental and completely change the look of shoes like this. Jason Kidd's Zoom Flight V was on a similar wave and the Agassi Zoom Ablaze and Zoom Challenge 10 were equally bizarre an progressive. Even jocks were open-minded to strange, comfortable, ultra grippy, nub outsoled shoes like the Zoom Jet — the sequel to 1996's Barry Sanders-endorsed Zoom Turf. With the likes of Brett Favre co-signing this shoe, 1996 and 1997 was the era of the plastic midfoot shank to increase support but keep weight down. Following the lineage of Tracy Teague's classic Air Diamond Turf 14 years prior, this is one of those models that's strictly for those that can pull it off. Not only are we Euro heads getting a rerelease of this model, it's the University of Oregon "Oregon Ducks" edition, with that 'O' on the tongues, gold and yellow on those shiny plastic surfaces, custom sockliners and a general look of menace about it. 'Ducks designs are usually a hard-to-find affair, but recent Jordan-related SMU hype has presumably led to the Quickstrike release of these versions. This is Mad Max footwear and the Oregon Ducks Zoom Turf Jet 97ss are in the Crooked Tongues store right now.