Once upon a time my desire as a youth was to own a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor's. At that time Chuck Taylor's were the only basketball shoe to own, unfortunately I couldn't afford them. I had to settle for P.F. Flyers which were less expensive but didn't come close to measuring up to a pair of Chuck Taylor's. Converse still manufactures Chuck Taylor's but the whole landscape has changed in recent years there are over 25 companies manufacturing basketball shoes far more than I first thought. At the top of the (shoe) pyramid in sales is Nike but it wasn't always that way. NBA teams of the '50's and '60's wore Chucks, at some point in time the landscape began to change. New companies began springing up here and abroad and the shoe market became high profile beginning in the '70's. Nike, Adidas, Reebok and others pulled out all stops to compete and overtake Converse. After all Converse Dr. J. and several other high profile athletes of the day but Nike was slowing gaining ground. How did Nike do this when they were a company who started out with running shoes. Someone (maybe Phil Knight) had the foresight to sign Tar Heel Michael Jeffery Jordan to a shoe contract. Converse could not maintain pace eventually filing bankruptcy and then all assets were purchased by Nike. Chuck Taylor's and other shoes are still manufactured under the brand name but it's not the same knowing Nike is actually running the company. Nike controls 47% of the shoe market with Reebok at 16% and Adidas at 6%.

Mizzou will lose a player (other than a senior) with it's coaching change. Ricky Kreklow who attended Columbia Rock Bridge High School is leaving the program. Kreklow was able to gain playing time as a freshman under Coach Anderson, his loss will not impact the program greatly. It would have been great to see how this sharpshooter would have played under a more conventional offense. Before I could finished writing this CBSSports.com is reporting George Goode, 6-8 230 pound forward announced his transfer from Louisville to Mizzou. Goode is a Raytown South graduate and would be eligible immediately due to an NCAA rule I had never heard of being utilized. It reads: "a player can transfer for a final year of eligibility if they graduate in four years and their current school doesn't have their desired graduate program. "Goode needs to complete academic work this summer that would qualify him to transfer and play this fall without sitting out a year."

A portion of my family spent the weekend in Hutchinson Kansas at an AAU tournament. Our grandson is a first year player for a team from Mansfield (Dallas) titled Select. We attended games Friday evening, Saturday morning and afternoon. The weekend was concluded with Sunday morning and afternoon games, Select won a "share" of the championship. The tournament consisted of AAU teams from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

(This was written prior to the Mavs winning the NBA Championship) My buddy Sean asked me who I was rooting for in the series. I wasn't sure if I made it clear earlier but win or lose it's the Mavs not because I like them. This series has really begun strange. I thought for sure the Heat were going to win and they still can despite their meltdown in games four and five. But that's another story, the Mavs beat my Lakers which should put this team at the top my hate list. Unfortunately even the Eastern Conference race didn't turn out like I thought so without further ado the Heat are at the top of my hate list. Why, because of "The Decision" which continues to bother me. LeBron James has every right in the world to do what he did, the problem was the showbiz introduction last July and the continued "they all hate us" mentality. Just go out and win, that will shut me and everybody else up.


Winners never quit and quitters never win
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