Style Of The Game!

Once you put on the compression shorts and the undershirt or compression top, and slip on the jersey, there is now another big part of game preparation that goes hand and hand with an impressive performance on the court. We hear the quote “not only are we going to win, but we are going to look good doing it”, now this can be interpreted many ways but individual players take that to their head and come  up with different ways to wear their shoes, wristbands, headbands, sleeves, etc. to show their style while they do what they do. In the beginning of the game there were the legendary named “short shorts”, jokingly called “booty shorts”. These were the standard around the NBA and everyone wore them as a part of their game day attire. Also, there were not always "basketball shoes", there were low top shoes. Thats right low top, with no ankle support, no extra patterns and performance enhancers, just the every day tennis shoes.(Above: Jerry West's basketball shoes) Moving along in the timeline of style, the big thing that teams wore before the game were warm-ups. At the start, teams wore snap warm ups; also called, “Snappies” so players could warm their bodies up before the game and then just snap off their top and pants and be ready to play. 

Over time style has changed by influence of music and social changes, and with this it affected the style of sport. For example at the University of Michigan, the “Fav Five” started a trend of wearing black socks. This had never been seen done, no one had thought about changing the color of their socks and it was popular in the African American community. This was mostly influenced by the music at the time being mostly about African American society and negative effects of racism.

After Jordan retired in 2006, he continued his movement with selling shoes; kids were running wild to grab hold of his “exclusive” releases of retro shoes that he had once played in. Some would wear the shoes and some would collect but either way, Jordan continued to get paid. Around every Christmas time, there is a guarantee that a teenager who plays basketball asks “Santa” for a pair of Jordan shoes to top off the sneaker game for the year. In present, society; a more violent and dangerous one, kids are being robbed, beaten, and killed just for a pair of sneakers that are too exclusive to get hands on. It is a shame, but as long as people keep buying, Jordan will keep producing.  (To read more about Jordan’s and other exclusive sneakers, Check Out http://Sneakerheadsfix.Blogspot.com/  and buy at www.kickkspott.com !

With so many other accessories on the market, athletic brands such as: Nike, Adidas, Under Armor, and NBA have thrived of making new released of simply socks and sleeves. The famous “Elite” sock has made a killing in the markets with the release of team colors and different special edition styles to keep kids interested. Each company has made their own type of “Elite” sock specifically for some colleges or high schools that they are sponsoring can have. Along with the socks, they have the sleeves and combat gear. With the sleeves, players like to match the shooting sleeve with the jersey to make their appearance seem “god-like” when they step foot on the court. Combat gear was a series created by Nike that leaned towards the crowd of players who played physically, all of the sleeves, compression shorts, and compression tops had padding on them in order to protect the player from injury. One can never go wrong with ‘armor’ and style. With all of these different types of accessories and companies releasing the hot new gear, it may be hard to keep up, but with a little help from the NBA players modeling them every game, kids will always be up to date with “what is hot in the streets”.  So what is your style when you step on the court?