PHIL KNIGHT BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME SPEECH

Phil Knight, co-founder and current Chairman of Nike, Inc, summed it all up in this phrase:

"As Bernard Malamud pointed out 'Without heroes we don't know how far we can go", and we saw that as part of our job.

And what a fun job it was - to expand heroes in the public consciousness. A task done right not only sell shoes, but expands the game."

THE WISE OWL

FADE TO BLACK.

If you are familiar with Jay-Z, then call this my Black Album.

There are 3 things I want to share:

///First.
As soon as I can open my eyes, my father has been encouraging me to watch basketball... And not just basketball... but LAKERS showtime basketball.

My first vivid memory of a great basketball game was way back 1991. It was the Bulls visiting the Lakers. The finals. I think that was game 1... I was 6, and my Dad, a die-hard Laker, was urging me to root for Magic and the showtime squad. I admired Magic, more so now because I mostly play point - but that Jordan guy was very, very hard to hate.

I didn't want to be like Mike... Because Magic, then and even now, is my only peg of a great basketball player. But as a kid growing up in a Laker household, I felt really guilty for being a Jordan fan. I felt awful coveting those black and red shoes that Mike had on... With the Porsche-like spoiler... And clear bottoms. I didn't know what they were called back then... All I knew was they were beautiful.

But at some point I realized, with the help of my Laker-loving family, that what I was feeling was not anything negative - rather a deeper sense of respect for the game.

And so, very much like Magic's beautiful game, Mike in these shoes were instrumental in birthing my love for basketball.

///Second.

I wouldn't call this my retirement... Because no one really does.

All it is is a conscious effort to end the days when I'd come home with 10 pairs of limiteds in the trunk of my car after just one night, or doubling up on a pair just for the heck of it, or doing something really financially stupid involving my wallet and eBay. I would still buy once in a while, a pair here, a pair there... But my "ball-so-hard" days are now behind me.

Truth be told, when all is said and done I wouldn't want to end it with copping just any pair. If I'm going out... I'm going out with a bang... switching hands in mid-air, banking it on the glass, and I would make it count.

And just like Jay-Z's ALLURE, I'll never leave this, I just can't. I don't think I can turn my back on this THING, this hobby that has made me so happy. I'm just taking a step back. I'll return... Wearing 45. I'm sure of it.

///Third.

In this game, we always put a premium on the footwear a little more than the people who wear them. Fortunately for me, I fell in the right circle. I'm pretty blessed to be with this group of people who, if I may say, are way more valuable than any pair of limiteds. You can't buy them, you can't trade them, and you can't cop them from eBay.

Clear soles yellow. Air units pop. Needless to say, shoes turn to dust. But these people, these friends... Brothers... Are all solid individuals.

Honor amongst hustlers - that is the rarest of all the grails in this culture. I am truly humbled to be in rarified AIR... In the company of great men.

Mackie Correa and Jason Tan are two of those people. These dudes gave "Presyong Kaibigan" (Friendly Price) a whole new meaning.

Mackie, thanks for hooking me up with these. And Jason, Pare, thank you for entrusting them to me. I can't thank you enough. Haha you lied tho, bro. You said they were VNDS... They seem very DS! Haha!

///

I know it's a lot to take in just from a pair of Infrared 6s. But please indulge me... I've come full circle.











What more can I say? :)

OH CRAP... IT'S VALENTINE'S

FREE AT LAST.

Remembering Dr. King. This is for all you dreamers.

AYALA MUSEUM DESIGNTALKS X WINI CAMACHO

With all the hooplah from DOT's new tourism campaign meme, it's hard not to be proud of your country and her children. It may be controversial and not-so-original, but you can't deny that its simplicity carries its realness. There is nothing more golden that the fact that it's more fun in the Philippines... Ask Kobe! LOL

I was telling my girl Cess on our way to Ayala Museum that the campaign was not so much about the tourist spots as it was about the citizens in it. See how one simple, borderline boring slogan became an interactive, collaborative and communal sensation... Whether we hated it or loved it, our people made it work.

Our people make our country fun.

One such Filipino is Winifredo Camacho, lead designer at Mercedes-Benz, and the dude responsible for the new generation E-Class.

Do you have any idea how bad-ass that job description is? LEAD DESIGNER FOR MERCEDES-BENZ... And yet he is one of the coolest cats in the industry of design. Very low-key and humble, despite the fact that he has every reason to brag about his dopeness.

Anyway, AYALA MUSEUM's DesignTalks hosted the event and invited industry people, design fiends, and motor heads to this rare opportunity to pick the brain of one of our generation's most influential automobile designers. My designer/architect alter ego went "0-60 in 2 seconds" crazy upon hearing the event - There is no way I'm letting this blow past me. Besides, I've been raised in a family where all grown men own and ride a Benz... So there's that deep-seeded admiration for anything Chedeng.

Of course, curating then blogging all the wisdom and inspiration I picked up from the lecture is next to impossible, but I took a few photos to show you how it went. I'll try my best to share with you the moment.

///

The poster. Understated, yet powerful. Benz style.


Talk starts at 3:00 PM. It's already 3:10 PM... Pinoy time. HAHA All good, though! We were late ourselves!


The man of the hour... Wini Camacho.


Wini showing off his childhood sketches. Check out the middle panel. Yep! Those are sneakers!


A trike design he did when he was in college. Thought of the Nerf IVs!


A Vespa-inspired bike.


A biomorphic motorbike. Straight up weird, but right up my alley!


He did an interior study for a Mini Cooper... Design plate for school.


A conceptual roadster. Once again, when he was still in school.




A conceptual SUV/buggy. Made of pure steel and chock-full of technology.


A conceptual sedan he did for a Cadillac design plate. Just gorgeous.




Not sure if you can see it, but the aluminum strip that runs along the side of the car is just... WOW.




A rough tech sheet for a proposed Callaway roadster.


This was my favorite slide. He was telling us how they had to do hundreds and hundreds of schemes just to get it right. True in this industry.




Again... Hundreds and hundreds.


Front 3/4 view of the Callaway F-1/GT Hybrid.


Tech sheet for the Callaway Hybrid.


More renderings.


A 1:4 Scaled model of the Callaway Hybrid.


A view of his workshop when he was in design school.


After that part, he asked us to put our cameras away because most of the slides that he will show us are classified and are top-secret Mercedes-Benz designs.

The stuff he showed us made me really excited about the future. Let's leave it at that. :)

Q&A time, and Don Jaime is in the house!!! I want to be either one of those guys when I grow up.


Some of Wini's sketches for the E-Class.




Not sure if these are E-Class sketches or concept SL drawings. Either way, I want one!




It was an honor meeting this man. Your inspiration will not go to waste, sir!


And thanks to Mercedes-Benz Philippines/CATS motors for the dope swag bag.

100 : 1

100 : 1.

DEFENSE TAKES NO DAYS OFF.

Word.

LOST ONES.

If you've been in the Locker for a minute and you've been peeping the music I've been fiendin' on, I guess you are no stranger to the fact that J.Cole is my favorite MC.

If you haven't heard of him, check out LOCKER MUSIC; some of his earlier mixtapes are archived there. But if you're like me and you've been on his joints since he was Therapist, or at least since The Warm Up, you'd be familiar with his honesty. How he relays truth thru his lyrics, emotions thru his beats, and passion thru his tenacity.

Whether he followed his mentor's blueprint (who happens to be Jay-Z, no pun intended) of painting life in its purest form and banking on being real, J.Cole has crafted himself a niche in the age of YouTube dancing new n****s, skinny jeans playas, Purp drinking rappers, and auto-tune driven musicians. His limitation as a person ultimately became his strength as an artist.

LOST ONES is a track that dropped (or leaked) way before The Sideline Story released. And even though it spoke real, it contains more honesty than the usual J.Cole track. It's about a young man's struggle after learning that he got his girl pregnant. That internal conflict between being responsible for the consequence, taking it on the chin and just man'ing up, and being a helpless kid just grasping the dire situation that he got himself, his girl, and his seed into.

Fellas, don't front, I'm sure in some way you've faced this dilemma. When you want to do the right thing, but the gravity of the moment is just too big for you that you'd rather look for a quick way out... And I'm not sure how often ladies read my blog, but if you're a girl and you stumble upon this... Take time to listen to the song. Might get something valuable.

Is LOST ONES this generation's SONG CRY? What do you think? Check it the video after the jump. Shot by dudes I look up to, BBGUN.

KAPPO WISDOM.

How to make it. #LIFTEDWISDOM