Nike Italy dropped this excellent ad featuring Kobe Bryant and several Serie A stars. Liverpool reject Alberto Aquilani also makes an appearance. Pay it forward I guess.

Enzo G. Castellari, cult Italian director of 70′s exploitation movies, introduces us to a hidden treasure taken from his filmography, Milano Kalibro Kobe.

This commercial is screaming for a Materazzi head butt. Lotto wouldn’t have missed that.

Sweatshop enthusiasts and Michael Jordan rectum cleaners NIKE have proven that scientists can recreate the technology unfurled in the classic Back II the Future series. Film buffs will recall that Marty traveled to 2015 to impersonate his loser son into declining Griff’s invitation to do a robbery; thus disrupting the space-time-continuum.

Now if only they could replicate the flux capacitor, which we all know is what makes time-travel work:

If you are holding heavy, and have about $75,200 beans to drop on a pair of these limited edition kicks, do it. You only live once, and god only knows how long it will take for them to finally release a hoverboard!

Get with it Mattel!

There are some people that will never forgive Michael Vick for the things he did, and no question they were cruel and inhumane. Not cruel like when I lied about my family to my current girlfriend; but more cruel like when I left my family for her. My ex-wife is her high school math teacher too, so it was a little touch-and-go for awhile. Especially at the junior prom.

Regardless of my fond memories of infidelity, sports, are a business. Vick may not be a saint, but neither are you and something about stones…or the cast of the Rolling Stones…what am I a book of life lessons!? At least he went to prison, and I don’t think they would release somebody convicted of a crime if they ever thought they would commit another crime again, now would they?

Anyway, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and one-time convicted felon Michael Vick linked up with Nike four years after they dropped him, terrific news for Vick’s family and creditors, not-so-terrific news for whiny overzealous animal lovers that think this guy should just leave the earth in a pod towards the sun.

“Michael acknowledges his past mistakes,” Nike said in a statement. “We do not condone those actions, but we support the positive changes he has made to better himself off the field.”

Vick was voted The Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year after missing two seasons and playing sparingly in 2009.

“Michael is committed to working with Nike and wants to utilize his platform as a professional athlete to have a positive impact on our youth,” said Andrew Stroth, the Chicago-based attorney who negotiated the deal for Vick.

Nike and Vick initially renewed their relationship in 2009, when the company announced it had “agreed to supply product” to the quarterback, who was not under contract. Nike has similar agreements with several athletes with whom it doesn’t have endorsement deals.

Vick was nasty last season, and I hope he does well again this season. The UFL needs the support.

Also, I want to apologize for what I wrote up there, earlier. I am sure the NFL will have a season and that the UFL will remain the haven for has-beens and never-will-bes that we have envisioned for it.

After last year’s little bang-bang incident, Gilbert Arenas couldn’t get an endorsement contract from Smith and Wesson, much less a shoe company. So, at the start of the 2010-2011 NBA season, Gil found himself in the extreme minority of professional basketball players: he had no shoe deal.  Even the scrubbiest of scrubs get deals that at least nets them free shoes, if not gear, thousands of dollars, and much more.  Gil used to have this with Adidas.  In fact, the legendary shoe company actually created a line dedicated to Agent Zero himself.  After Gilbert decided to take his guns to town, it all went bye-bye.

Despite all of this, Gil was not to be perturbed.  A well-known sneaker-fiend from his days back at the University of Arizona, Arenas decided to forgo seeking a shoe contract for this season and instead dipped into his own personal collection of incredible kicks.  Each night, sneakerheads were mesmerized by rare Air Jordans and retro Nikes.  The coup de grâce: a pair of hi-top Dolce & Gabbana sneakers that retail for around $400 (but now on sale for $277!).  Suddenly, the much-maligned Gil was developing an underground following that dare I say it — started to admire him.

Well, so much for that:

What happens when you REFUSE to pay your pregnant babys moms her CHILD SUPPORT CHECK for nearly 3 months . . . if she’s a hood chick like Laura Govan . .. you get JACKED!!!

NBA superstar Gllbert Arenas found that out the HARD WAY!!! According to a VERY WELL PLACED insder, Laura was SICK and TIRED of Gilbert dodging her and not giving her any money, so she sprung into action.

Many of Gilbert’s possessions, including his sneaker collection, wardrobe, and his shark tank are now in Laura’s posession. According to our snitch, she’s “Going to sell his stuff, so that she can have diapers and formula for their [fourth child].”

While Gil hasn’t confirmed this report, feel free to hop on over to the DC Craigslist and try to confirm it.  I hear he wears a size 14.5.

h/t Nice Kicks

The man sitting next to Michael Jordan in the picture above is legendary sneaker designer Tinker Hatfield.  Take one look at Hatfield’s portfolio and you will quickly surmise he is responsible for some of the most iconic sneaker designs of all time.  Naturally, when Nike signed Jordan’s heir apparel apparent LeBron James, they assigned Hatfield to King James in order to develop the next line of legendary basketball shoes.  Just like Mike, right?  Well, not exactly.

Apparently, Hatfield jumped off the LeBron account because of the entourage Bron-Bron surrounded himself with (skip to 1:30):

Money quote [sic'd]:

Tinker stated that he used to work on the signature lines of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James; however, in regards to LeBron, he said, “I used to work on LeBron’s [shoe line], until his entourage kind of pissed me off.” He later stated that LeBron was ‘cool’ but his entourage is obviously Hatfield’s problem.

Now, let’s keep in mind that LeBron’s line of shoes and apparel do pretty well without Hatfield on board: the eighth edition of his shoe released last week with a $160 price tag and there is no doubt they’ll sell well.  However, none of the previous seven versions of his shoe have reached iconic status like Jordan’s — leading one to wonder if things might be different with someone like Hatfield on board.

Regardless of what LeBron’s biggest detractors have said about him, there isn’t much disagreement about the effort he puts in to becoming the best player he can be on the court.  However, Hatfield’s comments, taken within the context of “The Decision,” tend to make me think he could stand to put at least half as much effort in selecting the people he has represent him off the court.

(h/t to Nice Kicks)