My brother-in-law, Paul, broke his arm about a month ago during a so-called friendly game of basketball and while in recovery, he vowed to go back to the sport in style. Sure, he had an injury to get over, not to mention a bruised ego as well, so I assumed it was just a figure of speech. But over the weekend, while licking his wounds and itching to hit the court again, he went discount shopping. He bought two identical pairs of the Jordan IV online and bragged about how unbelievably cheap he got them for. It turned out that when he buys rubber shoes he has to have two pairs of each kind -- one to wear and one to hold. I immediately thought he was crazy. How and, most importantly, why would anyone do that? So I took the liberty of doing a little investigative work to appease my fledgling curiosity. Sure enough, I drove the car out to see them yesterday. After all the family salutation rituals, we sat down and lounged for the rest of the afternoon. I took that as an opportunity to grill him about his lavish hobby.



On the drive home I was surprisingly contented with the information I got. The rationale behind his obsession was simple, really. The shoe-a-holic confessed that he got his kicks out of basketball kicks. I suppose anybody who collected anything would have a similar excuse. Paul's collection started when he was still very young. One Christmas, he received three pairs of shoes that were exactly the same. His mom offered to exchange the other two pairs at the store but for some reason, the idea of having three pairs excited him. He almost immediately knew what he would do with each pair. That turned out to be his very first best Christmas and, consequently, the not-so-humble beginnings of his extravagant past time.

I've learned that "practical" collectors have a rather rigid yet optimistic criteria in buying their most prized yearnings. When Paul gets a desire to buy shoes, he seriously contemplates on the purpose of his immediate purchase and the value it provides. The first point is matter-of-fact, simple, objective, and no nonsense -- basketball. The second started off as a little bit blurry to me but after hearing him talk about his collection with so much gusto, I wondered why I even had to ask. He is a self-proclaimed basketball addict and if he had the chance to play the game everyday, he would, with no questions asked. Obviously, he would buy a basketball shoe that he can wear when he plays the game. He also buys shoes if he finds them attractive and that could be directly dependent on just how rare they are. Anyone who thinks a pair of shoes is rare finds it attractive, while attractive shoes are rare because a lot of people want them. According to Paul, it's a consuming cycle and it can be very hard to say no. With that sentiment, he said that the shoes he buys are mainly retros or remakes of the original shoes that Michael Jordan and other NBA players wore during the peak of their careers.

The Jordan 3, which was released in the late 80's, was his first bona fide collector's piece. He stood in line at six in the morning in downtown San Francisco just to buy two pairs. He was in line for a good two hours, got in, paid for his kicks, and was out there in minutes. It was a crazy experience but looking back he said it was worth it. He bought two pairs for a grand total of $215 and was able to sell them both years later for around $600 even though one pair was worn. This just shows how truly valuable rubber kicks can be. Through the years he has bought a lot of branded classics including the Jordan 4 (1989), Jordan 5 (1990), and Jordan 11 (1997) from limited retail outlets and online. You can check some of them yourself at www.multikicks.com and www.tradekey.com to compare prices and read reviews of featured items. You might just get a kick out it, too.