Courtesy of http://firstcuts.com/


FirstCuts: 67 Starburys Or 1 Air Jordan
By Chris Littmann

Sports don't start and end with a referee's whistle. FirstCuts, a blog dedicated to sports culture, will cover everything outside the lines, from games to gear.

Exactly one week ago, a post in this same space decried the pricing at some stores for the limited Jordan XX3 release. In particular, I was critical of R. Sole, an upscale shop in St. Louis. The word I had was R. Sole would charge more than double MSRP -- $500 -- for this limited release that consisted of 23 pairs of shoes at 23 stores across the country.

Hours after posting the entry, we received a call from R. Sole manager Joe Wilson. He threatened to sue us over our "erroneous" report.







Today was judgment day, with the Titanium XX3 Air Jordans dropping at select retailers across the country, and look what we came across. A customer, who wished to only be known by his first name and last initial (Mike P.) sent us this receipt copy from his purchase this morning. R. Sole held a raffle to determine what customers would have a chance to purchase the shoes. Now check out the price they were offered -- $500. Interesting.

A call has been placed to Jordan Brand for comment on today's release and the variety of prices, but had not been returned at the time of this post. And of course, I did call Joe Wilson once again today at R. Sole. He continued to insist the store had not received the shoes last week when our story went up and offered us no comment at this time. We're still gathering information on other locations from today's release because it sounds like there was some funny business at one or two other stores. Those reports are unconfirmed. If you were at a participating retailer today, let us know how it went.

$500+$500+$500= $4500

Most people that know me are aware that I'm almost always trying to do two things:

1) Collect more shoes

and

2) Turn a quick buck

When the two marry, it's a beautiful thing that brings a tear to my eye.

Long story short I knew about the new Air Jordan XXIII being released in only 23 stores around the countrywith only 23 pairs at each store for $230 a pair. R-sole at the Loop was one of them. I made some phone calls and emails with the guys at the store to find out they'd be raffling them off the morning of the release.

I rallied a few co-workers to skip some work and stand in the freezing cold with me to get a raffle ticket. The raffle tickets were passed out and we were also notified that they were going rape us on the price and swell them for $500. Oh well a little less profit. The raffle came, my number got called as well as 2 of my co workers.

The result is $3000 worth of profit after flipping these on ebay...I Love you ebay!

I spent the rest of the day drawing Poo with sneakers on...I'm weird

Band of Horses ride through The Lou

I finally managed to get a Band of Horses ticket for the show at The Gargoyle. The show was sold out before the tickets even went on sale to the public. The policy with the Gargoyle is Wash U students get free tickets. So of course all the little rich pricks got their free tickets and are now selling them on ebay for about $100 a pair. I got mine for $31 which I'm not terribly upset about because I'm so excited to see them at a small venue. But the tickets were originally supposed to be $9..NINE DOLLARS. And these little bastards got them for free and want to make a profit. I guess I've been on the other side of the fence before. I pulled a pair of free tickets to the Cardinals world series celebration and sold them for $300...so I just hate being the victim. I guess what goes around comes around...I think I'm still ahead though.

New Pornographers with Okkervil River at the Pageant, Saturday, April 19

This show is confirmed, but not on the pageant site yet. I can't tell you how excited to actually get to see Okervil River live. AND Neko Case will be with NP too!

Keep checking http://thepageant.com/ for updates.

Applebum - Kicks Box Allstar Collection

I'm not usually into the loud all over print fad, but I would definitely wear this hoodie from Applebum, too bad it's only in Japan

Taking an image pretty pertinent to the sneakerhead crowd, Applebum took their Kicks Box concept to the max throwing it on anything and everything in sight. Within the collection you'll find backpacks, messenger bags, hoodies, track jackets, skate decks, tees, pillows and an ottoman.

Cardinals fans take it in the Pujols

I'm a big baseball fan, so when I moved to St. Louis I was excited because from what I'd heard Cards fans are the best in baseball. That year the new Busch was built and it was impossible to find a ticket. Nearly every game fans stayed in their seats until the end. Of course the Cards won the World Series that year. ONE season has passed and the Cardinals didn't make the playoffs. From the way everyone talks around here you'd think they lost 100 games. Oh the Cardinals are doomed for the next ten years, they are so awful, blah blah blah. After seeing a championship season and believing the hype, I've come to realize that's all it is. St. Louis are the most fair weather of any city I've ever experienced, and that goes for all sports. It isn't realistic to expect a team to win a championship every year. I'll take a Royals or a Chiefs fan over a Cardinals or Rams fan ANY DAY, regardless of how well either is playing.

For a little humor I turn to a very entertaining man, Rick Majerus, coach of the SLU basketball team

Air Jordan XXIII Low

I Love the mid version of the New AJ23, this is the low version, doesn't turn me on as much, but I really dig the big "basting" style stitch and the hurricane outsole pattern

pics courtesy of theshoegame.com

Okkervil River

I can't stop listening to this band lately. The lead singer has a similar voice to the Arcade Fire...Well I guess it's not that similar, but I can't really compare it to anything else. Their Latest album "The Stage Names" is bitchin, Check it out!

Myspace pages I find are the best for sampling music. As Erin from VH1's Rock of Love 2 says " I've learned alot about what's goin on in the world from Myspace."I wouldn't take it that far.

http://www.myspace.com/okkervilriver

Face Melting

I'm a huge fan of John Mayer. It started with the song "comfortable" and has now evolved into all I want to do is listen to him play electric guitar until either my head explodes or my ears bleed. I'm not going to keep up on the gossip, but if I find something musically relevant I'll post it here.

Courtesy of his latest blog entry

I Think That She Knows Interlude

Starting to get back into production head, searching for new sounds on a Sunday afternoon... My (anticlimactic) take on "I Think She Knows Interlude". It's probably not all that close to the actual recording. I'm too lazy to learn it for realz.

Heard this in the car today, wanted to try it out... Collings I-35 through a Roland Space Echo pedal, Cornish NG-2 Fuzz and Fender '64 Vibroverb... Looped through a Boomerang pedal.

Morning Drunk

I thought I'd give this blog thing a try. It seems like it makes everyone sound more witty. I want to be more witty in 2008 so this will be my avenue for that.

I'm at work, doing less than 50% of the workload I'm capable of, which is becoming more of a common occurance.

Last night I went out with a friend and I woke up this morning and experienced one of my favorite feelings on earth. The morning drunk. Its better than the night before because your overall mood is enhanced and you are mostly coherant, able to link sentences together without slurring. AND I always seem to have the "fuckit" lever turned up to full blast. I'm aware enough to notice problems but if it's not life threatening I generally chuckle at it and move on. I would imaging it's similar to taking a xanax...