Sadly these r****ded people are perpetuating the black stereotypes for all of the world to see. Many of the games have limited or collector's editions that are hard to come by, but gamers rarely go full-r****d for them.
Also... they can buy up to two pairs.... a lot of them will keep one and sell the other for ~$400. That's a free pair of J's for themselves... I've also noticed the lines are a lot longer...one reason is the color combination of the shoe, but also because a lot of people are already on vacation to begin with...so again, it's not as big of a waste of time as it seems, especially if they are going to make hundreds off of them. For a lot of people, that covers their whole christmas shopping.
Have you ever been to a midnight release of a video game? The ones I've been to are fun. It's like tailgating. It's people lining up, playing other video games, hanging out, chatting and such. It's actually a lot of fun. Honestly, you don't go to a midnight release to get a game early, that's what modding and torrent sites are for. It never gets violent and the people are all just excited... These are shoes. Just shoes. People get violent and crazy over something that most other people wouldn't notice. Limited supply, who cares?
These shoes are worth what $5? You can bet some chinese workers have already taken the shoes to the street markets, which sell them for $20.
Jordans aren't my thing, but if it's someones thing, and I have a pair or five, and people are willing to buy 2 or 3 times as much, it might be worth it to stand in line for a pair. But, I won't. Not interested in getting shot, robbed, or more importantly, Trampled and pepper sprayed.
I rarely see the news do a live interview like they just did. Perfect job by fox to perpetuate whatever stereotypes we may have had. Just absolute propaganda.
It's not the news channels fault that thousands of idiots lined up for basketball shoes and acted like fools. "Limited Edition," way to buy in to the marketing hype. They are selling TENS OF THOUSANDS of these, that isn't limited. Hard to get? Maybe, but it isn't limited. They INTENTIONALLY limited the numbers to drive up the hype. Congrats, you stood in line and got "limited edition" shoes that tens of thousands of other people have... and hundreds of thousands had in 1996. Marketing directors make billions off this sort of ignorance every year. Collecting shoes is like collecting toys. They only increase in value if you don't use them. If that is the case, WTF IS THE POINT? Shoes are meant to be worn. Toys are meant to be played with. Congrats, you bought something 20 years ago that is now double in price... if you would have taken that money and invested it, you would have far more by now. Someone could wait in line for 24 hours, get two pairs of shoes, keep one and then sell one for double to pay for the other pair of shoes? How about getting a freaking job. A day laborer makes 10 bucks an hour. Work 18 hours and you have yourself a "free" pair of shoes plus six hours of your life back. You also may not lose your life getting trampled or shot in the process.
Just because you don't get it, doesn't mean it's pointless....i can't stress that enough. It's not my thing either, i've only owned one pair in my life, but im not going to knock it because i don't do it. I'm sure there's a ton of people making fun of us for discussing basketball online... Now the shootings and all that, yeah that's bad and stupid, but doesn't that happen on black friday? Can't it happen any other day of the year, if you're wearing shoes they want to take? Why ridicule today's buyers like these people know they'll get shot?? they dont....this is about as bad as i can remember in a while, maybe ever. And like i said, a lot of people are on vacation. From their job. A lot of kids are out of school. Are you really going to hate on them for how they choose to spend their time off? And whether something is limited or not is not based on a specific number. It's based on demand and continued production. It can be 5 or 100 thousand. The shoes aren't limited edition because there's only a few, but because they won't keep making them once they sell out. I don't see the ignorance in that...i think people are just upset because they dont "get it", but looking down on the people buying or waiting in line is ridiculous. It's their choice, their money, their time, and it's perfectly legal. Beating or shooting people for it afterward is the issue and that doesn't make it pointless for these fans of the shoe to do what they do. The real problem is how they run the sales. If they were better organized, then there would be less violence involved.
Michael Jordan doesn't care. We all know what type of person he is. As long as he can swim in barrels of money, he doesn't give a damn.
You don't understand the point. While many do collect shoes to flip them later; the majority collect shoes to collect them. People collect jerseys and other memorabilia like basketballs, game worn stuff, etc. Do they have to play/use them? No!
I'm sorry, but most of those people in line weren't collectors who appreciated the shoes as art... they simply wanted them so they'd look cool, and they could say that they had them. Again, they're being scammed by ad agencies. The top 5 ad agencies in the world bring in $25 billion dollars per year. There is nothing limited edition about these shoes. They say they are limited and restrict the number of pairs per store to INCREASE the demand and DRIVE the price up. According the Business Week, Nike pays $12 per pair of shoes made in Asia.
How is it bigoted? I'm just pointing out the facts that everyone else sees. The vast majority of the people in lines and shown in the chaotic video are black, and that's just facts. I know all black people don't behave that way, thus the reason that the few thousands who are acting like idiots are "perpetuating the black stereotypes for all of the world to see." This news is world-wide, and like it or not a large portion of the world is going to judge America's black culture on what is seen in these videos. You can continue to act like it isn't a big deal or that people aren't going to form opinions from all of this bad press, but I live in the real world and choose to not live in denial.