XIII

The year is 1997 and I've just begun my career as a high school student within the confines of the cold, stone walls of Johansen High School. One cold rainy tuesday night between the winter of 97-98, on my mom's day off, she took me shopping with her and we happened to chance upon a Foot Locker. It just so happened that they had a pair of Jordan XIII's in white/true red-pearl gray in stock, for a whopping sum of $150. I placed the sample pair back onto the shelves in despair as my mother looked on.

To my surprise, a week later, my mom returned home one day with a silver box with a red Jumpman on the top of the box. She told me that she saw the way that I had looked at the shoe and realized how badly I wanted it, and this was my early Christmas Present. For about a year, I barely wore the shoes at all because I loved them so much. After we had finished our midterms and were let out for Spring Break. Looking back, it was a bad idea to leave my XIII's in my P.E. locker. To my regret, I returned to my locker after the break to realize that my beloved shoes were gone. It devastated me, but I put on the act that it really didn't bug me when I told my mother, who was beyond shocked and wondered how I could take the left of them so lightly.

Ever since, the XIII's have been one of my favorite Jordan's and I had always told myself that I would buy myself another pair if I had the chance. Today, I fulfilled that goal. Another one to cross off that overbearing list...











































Opening this box was seriously like opening a time capsule...these shoes are 10 YEARS OLD! This colorway has never been retro'd! #23's nickname on the court was the "Black Cat" and Tinker Hatfield designed the XIII after a panther, with the soles resembling paws and the hologram on the upper that signified the eye of the cat. These were the shoes that Michael Jordan played his final season in.






















































































Despite some minor flaws, including a faded hologram and some unglued toeboxes, I still feel that these shoes were worth every penny of the $150 that I spent on them. 2 down, 4 more to go!