Let me start this negative post with a positive development. The Nike Vaporfly 4%. I love the Vapor Street and Moon Racer to kick around in, but these are on ANOTHER LEVEL. Even though they aren't that durable, they are totally worth the $250. This is a revolutionary design in terms of both comfort and performance. It is a racing flat that sits high (I think it's 21MM heel, 11MM forefoot), has a ton of cushion (incredible cushion-to-weight ratio) and BOUNCE like no other (full-length carbon fiber plate). It is simply an engineering marvel. The FlyKnit upper is very similar to the Vapor Street but the tooling is where all the magic happens. I have just been jogging around in them in typical wasteful fashion, but a couple friends ran marathons in them. I do love traditional road flats like the Mizuno Wave Universe and Adidas Takumi Sen series, but these blow them out of the water as long as you can get over the strange feel of sitting so much higher and feel so much cushion.

Adidas is seemingly out of good ideas and now starting to toy with their tech again. The way they cycle through tech indicates their stuff is not a keeper and is not effective. Sometimes it is though (e.g. Formotion bball shoes). They are just totally trashing their hoops stuff now, Harden 3 is hot garbage, Pro Bounce and D Rose 9 are even worse. They are running the Yeezy line into the ground and I look forward to its slow, painful death. Ultra Boost is still nice but Boost is losing its luster and they don't have anything lined up behind it.

Under Armour better hurry the fuck up and give me some Embiid shit. Curry 6 is the best Curry since the 2 and maybe ever, I gotta give it some more run. Their Rock stuff is trash. I wanna see more HOVR stuff, so far it's more potential than substance but I'm happy it exists.

Jordan Brand I dunno, Infrared 6 is decent quality and I'm glad to have it. Russy 2 has all shit colorways except for some of the NCAA PEs I got, which I don't really wanna wear. Shoe is aight. AJ33 was a huge disappointment. Gimmicky fit system actually works, but at the expensive of premium materials or wow-worthy cushioning. I wanna get those Elevation 23s or whatever that Jimmy Butler has been wearing. Overall not real excited, I thought the 33s would be more AJ3-based aesthestically, use Fly Knit again, etc. I've gotten a lot of the NCAA PEs, pretty cool but mostly they just pass through my hands though I did keep a couple pairs.

Reebok is doing a lot of DMX Retros, unfortunately the IPAK DMX system is just a junky imitation of the original. DMX10 is pretty much in tact and I hope to see some models like the RXT make their way back. Overall they continue to be kind of irrelevant but I do like the promise of more retro models returning.

Nike stuff the Kobe NXT 360 was interesting though totally overpriced and somewhat impractical. I loved the tech they used in the insole and to some extent in the upper, but the outsole kinda sucked. I'd like to see a React/Lunar combo like that but in a midtop shoe with a little more structure to it. The latest Kobes are fuckin' trash, and the next ones seem pretty unoriginal. Not sure what the direction of the line besides being inconsistent and overpriced. New Kyries look nice, got the Taco and Concepts ones. Too flat in the forefoot for me to play serious ball in but for a light-on-his-feet guard they are nice shoes. PG series continues to be dull and forgettable AF, even as PG himself is playing awesome. KD10 is a decent concept, weak execution. Instable, poor support in the forefoot, and another clunker for KD destined for Ross Dress for Less. The man just doesn't sell shoes IMHO, probably because he is not very likable (though I kind of fuck with him). The LeBron 16 is cool but over-tweaked. Just give us the same damn shoe with a better outsole and a small outrigger. The 15 was almost perfect and the "Watch" colorways possibilities were endless. So far the 16 "Watch" looks don't do much for me. Glad to see the LeBron 3 retroed and hoping for an Oilers retro for sure.

I still love buying vintage but so much time has passed that most of this stuff is not wearable. That is depressing. Quality of retros is still ass, which I can't fathom. Selection of models is so scattershot, too, so many worthy models have dropped once or never at all, yet the Air Max Uptempo 3 is on its fourth round of retros or some shit.