On Air Now
5:30 AM - 10:00 AM
×

Reader gets to “Be Like Mike!” Well, a bit, anyway.

By Craig Reader Mar 27, 2025 | 1:52 PM

What’s up, everybody?  Reader here, and I’m excited about something special I got over my week off.

While I was home at Conquest, I made the 12-minute-or-so drive into Outlook, to visit my cousin Derek.

Out of all my extended family, I’m probably closest to Derek.  We’re the same age, big music, sports and history fans.

For years, growing up, I would spend weeks or weekends throughout the year staying with Derek and his family in Saskatoon (joined in later years by my brother Ward), and he’d come to the farm and stay with us.

We’d have a great time, gorging on snacks, watching TV, playing video games, going to movies, and as we became big basketball fans, playing pickup basketball games in the driveway.

We became big hoops fans over the years, especially of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, and growing up, I always wanted to get myself a pair of Air Jordans..

There was a new set every year, like new models of cars every year, and the shoes were always pretty pricey, so I never really thought about picking up some of my own.

My personal favourites are the Jordan 5’s, by the way!

In fact, I was such a fan of the Jordans, that in school, I wrote a story about a dream I had, that, to this day, remains the dream I remember most.

Picture this…

I’m at the show store (at the time it may have been Foot Locker or another of my favourite sports stores, Champs Sports (RIP), and I had finally picked myself out a fresh pair of Jordans.

I get to the till, and am about to fork over my money, when suddenly, my dream purchase suddenly jumped out of the show box, and ran away on their own.

So I took off after them in hot pursuit, chasing them all over the place, and in fact, all over the world.

(You know those scenes on TV in which the characters are in front of an obviously fake background?  “Look, I’m in Paris!  Look!  Rome!”)

Well, I chase those shoes around the globe, passing the great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum… you get the idea.

And just as I was about to get my hands on them again… I woke up!

I don’t know if I ever did catch those damn shoes!

Anyhoo… back to me and my cousin.

I was visiting Derek last week, and we got talking shoes, and he told me he has picked himself up a pair of Jordan 1 mids around a decade ago, that he had never worn, and had kept up in a closet in their box for years.

He told me to have a look, and if I wanted them, they were mine.

Mind blown.

So, I dug them out, and long story short, now they have a new home.

 

Thanks to my cousin Derek, one of the best dudes I know!

They’re a beautiful shoe – I almost don’t want to wear them, but I will with pride, though not in the snow.  Or the rain.  I want to keep these beauties as pristine as possible!

You know how people always ask if new shoes’ll make you run faster?  Maybe these will make me jump higher, and dunk like #23!

Okay… maybe that’s wishful thinking.  But, if nothing else, maybe if I can’t “Be Like Mike” on the basketball court, I can at least style like the GOAT!

 

Comments

Leave a Reply