Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Early Memories
Shaq sells shoes more people can afford | IndyStar.com"She was crying so much, I reached in my pocket and handed her some money," O'Neal said of the Orlando, Fla., woman. But she didn't want money. Instead, she begged O'Neal: "When is somebody going to make some shoes affordable?" That's how O'Neal, with the Heat since 2004, formed his Shaq and Dunkman brand shoes, which retail for less than $40. Today's athlete signature shoes run $90 to $125.
That is pretty cool Shaq. It's not really something that you see a lot of people do...lower their brand association to have a cheaper product that they are endorsing. I don't know whether I'm just over cynical or what, but there has to be something else to this. I spent a few minutes looking for what price the shoe company is paying Shaq for this contract. I was unable to find out how much he is making, but the Dunkman's were the best selling basketball shoe at 6 million pairs, so they sold roughly $240 million in shoes. Even if they are only making 30% margin, that is still $72 million in profit. So, just because the shoe is cheap, it doesn't mean that Shaq isn't making a killing off of them.
Back when I was younger (think 5th, 6th, 7th grades) I was all about Jordan's. Well, I have not bought an athletes brand of tennis shoes since probably 7th or 8th grade. I just can't plunk down the huge sums of cash for shoes that really are no better than anything else. I am usually content buying Asics, New Balance, or Saucony. The last two years I've went through a ton of running shoes, and probably bought more than I really need since I found some hella deals last spring. Anymore though, I am wearing dress(ish) shoes or my Oakley pseudo skater shoes most of the time. I very rarely wear tennis shoes out and about anymore.
My past few days posts have been pretty depressing/negative/sad...so it's time to talk about better stuff. If you know me in real life then you know that I love to tell stories, so it probably wouldn't hurt to tell some on here. Granted, if you started from my first posts in February and worked your way up to here, then you would have a pretty good idea of who I am, but you really wouldn't know what made me who I am. So, I might start regularly telling stories/memories of when I'm younger. Hell, I can even use some of them 40 years from now when I start to write my memoirs! Uh oh...no one will want to buy my memoir if I've had the memories online for years. Oh well...
Ok...so lets start at the beginning...my earliest memory. I've spent a lot of time trying to think of my earliest memory. I can think of a lot of stuff that happened when I was younger,but the hard part is trying to find something to benchmark just how early that memory is. Yeah, talk about a pain in the butt! How do you put a time to a memory that occurred before you really had the concept of time? Well, by a stroke of luck I believe that I have my earliest memory narrowed down, although there may be earlier memories, this one is the oldest that I can get for sure date for...so here it is...my first memory.
It's strange the little things that we remember, little details such as where I was standing, where my parents were standing...what the floor looked like...but don't remember some things. I am in the kitchen in my first house on Bittersweet Rd in Mishawaka, it is somewhere between September 1981 and February 1982, so I'm between 2 to 2 1/2 years old. My parents are standing next to each other right in front of me. I'm standing next to the dishwasher, which is actually taller than I am. I remember looking at the floor, it was this fake red brick linoleum stuff. It was arranged by two bricks at right angles to one brick. It was pretty ugly, but all the rage around 1980.
My parents asked me if I would like to have a little brother or sister and if I would like to be a big brother. I can't remember who asked me, whether it was mom or dad....so, that leads me to how I know when it was. My brother Brad was born in June of '82, and my mom was not showing yet (at least not in the eyes of a 2 year old). I was born in August of '79...so by going off of Brad's birthday, then he was conceived in September of '81, placing me from roughly 2 years old. So...that is my earliest memory.
What's your earliest memory?
I wonder at what age it become normal to start to remember long term? I'm sure that I could find it out in a few minutes of searching online, but I'm not really feeling too searchy right now. I think that I'm going to watch some TV and call it a night. This work week is nearly over and the weekend will soon be here. I think that I'm going to head north for the weekend and visit with family. It's been a while since I've seen them, and it is always nice to visit. Next week it looks like I may go up to Detroit for two days or so for a class. I think that I'm going to drive, but I should be able to split the drive by stopping at home there and back. While I'm up there I'll visit with SR, haven't seen him in a while and there is no use being that close to a friend and not doing anything together.
Ok, off to watch some TV, drink some apple cider, and eat some Halloween candy that I have due to the lack of kiddies last week.
