Happy new year

From lloydys ball sack

Ok, so this was gonna be a secret

But it's out. Gone mainstream.

Cool grey XI's are at footlocker Queen street.

For those who don't mess with FB

Hit up Mr Newton to get your I heart KB stickers. At only £2 for 100 meters by 100 mm it's a steal.

Great Christmas present for the wife as well. Stick it on her forehead and send a pic to the blog and win a t shirt.

Chris Washington - Fan of god

Nice Kicks: It’s obvious that you are a sneakerhead and ink addict all in one flesh. What, exactly, are your tattoos comprised of? What is the count and placement of all of your tattoos?

Chris: On my leg, I have 14 pairs of sneakers which are all of the shoes Jordan wore during his Bulls career (except the AJ9). I have Air Jordans 1-14 on my leg. The sneakers are on the front of the shin of my left leg and on the back of my left leg, it’s a picture of Jordan dunking the ball, and the picture he took with the six rings on his hand. I actually have two sleeves, and I have my whole chest done. I have a tattoo on my back and on half of my leg also. We usually count each sleeve as one, so I have a total of five.

Nice Kicks: So, what is the origin of your tattoos? What made you want to ink your body up with nods to Michael and his extensive sneaker collection?

Chris: I basically told Derrick, my tattoo artist, what I wanted to do. I went to him and told him I wanted a Jordan tattoo. He actually thought that I just wanted a Jumpman tattoo or something like that. So, I actually broke down the idea of me wanting it to look like the Jordans are falling onto my leg. On the back of my leg, I wanted Jordan doing a dunk or a layup, and I wanted a picture of his face. Basically, he’s my idol. He’s one of the few athletes or even black entrepreneurs that you can think of and not think negative about. I’m into sneakers and that’s a big part of his game, so I needed someone that was going to detail the sneakers and make them look real. Not over-detail them, not under-detail, but make them look exactly like the sneakers.

Someones been shopping hard

Not quite TFB but..

Blake Griffin is a pretty humble, mild-mannered guy. Until you get between him and the rim. Just ask Timofey Mozgov. End up in the wrong spot and you end up on one of Blake’s fast-growing collection of poster shots.

Griffin’s dunks are almost as big on YouTube as videos of kittens, so the next logical question becomes: He is going to do the All-Star Weekend dunk contest? Right? NBA.com’s Steve asked him without openly begging him to do it like I would have.

That would be cool. If it’s something that the league wants me to do, I’ll probably try to do it.
Griffin adds he has never lost a dunk contest. He won the McDonald’s High School All-American one and he said a few other smaller ones. Nothing quite like this, however.

Griffin dunking on Saturday night would be good news, the league needs something to spice up the contest after last year’s nap-inducing event.

Go read the whole Q&A. The Clippers’ Griffin is the kind of person you want on your team and in your community. Not flashy, not intimidated (what Clipper curse?) and a guy more about doing the work than the lifestyle.

He’s not all about the dunks. But he may be for one night in February.

Everyones gone valleys?

The banks are closed





This is Cardiff ghost town on a Monday afternoon





But as long as you got your 20th anniversary hightops and a rally thoroughbred you're good to go.








Which brings me onto the point. Don't miss top gears Christmas special part 1. Tuesday 8pm BBC 2.

It's not a replacement for only fools and horses.. But it's the best we got.

It's only snow people

Here's what you missed while struggling with your permission slips and wondering if United would have Tevez back.

Merthyr vs RCT Gladiators, you know, the first round of the plate that instead of happening at the start of the season was due to happen at the middle of the season got postponed (not because of snow - it was scheduled for Tuesday). So we wait until the new year to find our our first round fate. With that in mind remember, if someone prays for patience, God doesn't give them patience, he gives them an opportunity to show patience - thanks Mike.

January becomes an even crazier month.

In NBA news Gilbert Arenas has gone to the Orlando Magic traded for Rashard Lewis and Orlando also add Jason Richardson and Turkoglu from Phoenix trading Vince Carter and Gortat to the suns. Orlando want to win now. Watch Arenas numbers go through the roof as he gets an opportunity to spot up while Dwight draws all attention in the middle.

In Phoenix Vince Carters expiring contract and the pick up of a first round pick look like the club aim to rebuild... around Dragic?

Anyways, for those tired of panic buying canned goods north of the M4 check some videos..







Better, the dunk or the cool grey XI's?



To celebrate the Clippers getting their first road victory since 1993 at Detroit this week.. the guy presently third in the rookie of the year race (behind John Wall and Landry Fields)... (probably should have put the James White vid after this one)





Click here to check the Shoezeum at Hypebeast - I'm not embedding Vimeo but it's well worth a look.

Remember, 5 days till the cool grey XI's.. 3 weeks until the white/elephant III's... Real heads know whats up.

I'm out Christmas Shopping, but before I go... Knicks vs Heat then.. Game of the year so far? Stoudamire taking the L and getting posterized.......

Top 5?

Michael Jordan, every time he put on his Chicago Bulls shorts for a game, had a pair of North Carolina shorts on underneath them.

Kobe Bryant, every time he has put on his Los Angeles Lakers shorts, has a pair of his old Lower Merion High School shorts on underneath.

We all learned that later fact last night at the dedication of the new gym at his old school — which is named after Kobe now (thanks in part to a $411,000 donation).

Kobe has modeled plenty of Jordan habits but this news came as a surprise to media who have been around the Laker locker room for years. And there aren’t that many secrets in that locker room — when Sasha Vujacic gets traded and ex-girlfriends thrash him on twitter, it is something people around the team almost expected.
The shorts thing, did not see that coming.

Merry Christmas

With the SWVL piss poor at communicating anything, I resort to bring you ebay stories and movie news.

I'll cut to teh chase...

It could be a dream come true. Robert De Niro confirmed to MTV that Al Pacino and Joe Pesci will indeed be joining the cast of 'The Irishman,' a drama based on the real-life story of a Mafia hit man, to be directed by Martin Scorsese. And Harvey Keitel may be along for the ride as well, according to Showbiz 411.

As we reported when the Pacino / Pesci rumors surfaced in September, De Niro and Scorsese have been developing the project for a couple of years. 'The Irishman' is based on 'I Heard You Paint Houses,' a best-selling book by Charles Brandt about the life of Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, who claimed that he killed legendary teamster Jimmy Hoffa in 1975.

The film will mark the reunion of De Niro, Pesci and Scorsese for the first time since 1995's 'Casino.' But it will also mark the first time that Pacino and Scorsese will work together, which is kind of amazing.

Anyone love eBay?

First of all, I am not claiming to have invented this trick. I imagine others have used it with varying degrees of success. I also want to point out that nothing here is embellished or exaggerated.

I had tickets to a sporting event and couldn't attend. I made a 1-day listing and clearly stated that the tickets must be picked up in person within 24 hours (the game was the evening after the auction ended, so there wasn't any time to ship the tickets). A woman won the auction for about $600. The auction had ended at 10:00am and by 5:00pm she still hadn't responded to my emails trying to organize the exchange. Finally, at 9:30pm, I got a one-liner email: "I overbid and my husband won't let me buy these. Sorry and enjoy the game! :)"

I first tried explaining that I wouldn't have the time to resell the tickets (I already got turned down by the losing bidders). She said, "... that's not my problem. It's eBay, not a car dealership. I can back out if I want." I still don't understand the car dealership reference.

I was pretty upset. I was basically going to be stuck with tickets to an event that I couldn't attend. That's when I got the idea to convince her to change her mind.

I created a new eBay account, "Payback" we'll call it, and sent her a message: "Hi there, I noticed you won an auction for 4 [sporting event] tickets. I meant to bid on these but couldn't get to a computer. I wanted to take my son and dad and would be willing to give you $1,000 for the tickets. I imagine that you've already made plans to attend, but I figured it was worth a shot."
At 11:30pm she responded to Payback: "I'll do it for $1,100, no less. I can meet you at the game if you agree. I need your phone number."

At 11:35pm, Payback wrote: "Deal. Here is my number..." (Thanks Google Voice for the throwaway number). She called a few minutes later and made Payback "promise" to go through with the deal. She emphasized that she'd be out a lot of money if Payback backed out. Payback swore he would never do such a thing.

At 11:45pm, the woman emailed me: "Fine. I'll buy them. But you have to drop them off at my house tonight. I'll have the cash ready." So at fucking midnight I drove to her house across town and met her on the road in front of her apartment building. She was a nasty and rude individual. Things didn't get any better when I told her I wanted an extra $20 for the trouble of driving there at midnight (yeah, pushing my luck, I know). It became very awkward and she literally threw 31 $20 bills at me. I counted them before handing over the tickets. I said, "thanks for the great transaction" as she flipped me off while walking away.
At 10:00am she called Payback to make sure they were still on for the exchange. Payback said that he could no longer go to the game and wouldn't be able to do the exchange. She blew her fucking top and I swear to god started speaking in tongues. Payback said, "Ma'am, this is eBay, not a car dealership" and hung up.

I got a rabid email 10 minutes later telling me that I was going to hell and that she's reported me to the local police, FBI, and... the fire department. WTF?

I never heard another word from her. I have no idea if she went to the game or not.
Was this wrong?

EDIT: The Rabid Email
"Fuxking funny fucker! You know you can go to JAIL for this. YOu theef!!!!! [City] cops FBI fire and government already no. Your done. I got your number and your name. This is thefting property FUCKER!!! Give my $620 back or everything bad wiil happen - FUCK!!!!! You cant steal and get away. Refund me now or else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You dpnt want a lawsuit. Trust me. u dont. You can have tickets jut give my my money and be done."
That's the bulk of the email, word for word. There was more at the end too. She must have pressed 'enter' 30 times and wrote "FUCK" and the another 30 times and wrote "HELL". Then she wrote her name which was strange.

You know what to do

I think this is exactly what Mark Zuckerberg had in mind in his Harvard dorm room. Use of Facebook for the greater good.

Dennis Rodman has brought his campaign to be in the Hall of Fame to Facebook. Go there and like it, read what is on the wall — see all the kind words written about The Worm.
Rodman is one of the finalists to be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this year, but he is considered a long shot by most.
Which is a shame. Forget the hair and the off-the-court antics — Dennis Rodman was the best rebounder the game has ever seen. Rodman grabbed 23.4 percent of the available rebounds when he was on the floor over the course of his career. Think about that, he got nearly 1 in 4 rebounds when he was on the court for his entire career.

For comparison, Dwight Howard’s career average is 20.7 percent. Rodman has a better rebound rate than Moses Malone, Dikembe Mutombo, Tim Duncan and anyone else you want to name. The only guy in the NBA having a better rebounding single season this year than Rodman did for his career is Kevin Love, and not by much.

Throw in that he was a fantastic defender and you see why he has five rings — he was among the best ever at doing the dirty work. He was seven-times on the all NBA defensive team. He got boards. He dove into the first row after a loose ball on a Tuesday night in Milwaukee not just in the finals. He intimidated. He won.

That is the kind of player who should be in the Hall, the kind of player that should be recognized. He will not be for reasons that have nothing to do with basketball. Because he once said he wanted to play a game in the nude and was a character off the court. Who cares?

Well, the voters will. And they likely only know about Facebook because their grandchildren are on it all the time. But I say we should support Rodman’s campaign even if it is a futile effort. Because sometimes futile efforts are the most worthy.

You heard it here first

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New Jordans

I loved the 2010's. If I was still playing, and had 19 year old knees, I would be rocking no question. So I was eager to check this years model. Here it is.. With the interchangeable insole. Want air in the left and zoom in the right? No problem.

JB are trying hard to get these taken down..


























Oh.. And more foams :)