Naturally, I couldn’t sleep, if you saw on Twitter, I kind of freaked out.  Then official word came down this morning that Wade was in fact moving to Jordan.  The move comes with 3 years left on his Converse contract.  I am dealing with a range of emotions that goes from anger to excitement and everything in between.

If you know me, I tend to be a really positive person.  Life is too short to let stuff drag you down.  So while I could write this post as a bitter fan that wishes nothing but bad things for Wade, I’ll take the high road.  But I do have my concerns and issues which I will discuss.

Which is why I’ve titled this post Converse A.D. (After Dwyane).  The big question isn’t why, because it’s already happened and nothing is going to change.  The real question is what’s next.

First, we’ll deal with some logistics; three of the upcoming Basketball products have been scratched, for now anyway.  The Wade Team Clutch 2, Wade Team Undeniable, and Wade 5 are no more.  This brings the total number of team shoes to 2.  But more importantly it takes away two shoes featuring the brand new Converse Balls technology.  For the Fall of 09 that only leaves the Weapon EVO with the new technology.  No word yet on the holiday 09 lineup, but hopefully there will be at least one more shoe with the tech.

Secondly, if Dwyane was unhappy at Converse, then he needed to leave.  What good would it be to have an athlete with a signature shoe if he doesn’t wear his own shoe?  This was the case with the Wade 4 last year, who knows if he was going to wear the Wade 5.

Thirdly, this is where we can start to look forward.  Converse now has a boat load of money freed up from the Wade contract.  This is only a positive if they actually use it to increase the number of players they have in the NBA or the number of teams they have in college basketball.  As it stands right now they will have fewer players this year then they did last year, which was less then the year before that.  I’ve always been told if you’re not growing your dying.  With this freed up money they can go out and sign a hand full of players that no one else seems to have money to spend on…Blake Griffin, Stephen Curry, Johnny Flynn …etc.

Those are my early thoughts from the Converse end of things.  However, from the Nike end this just doesn’t make any sense.  Jordan and Nike already hold an unbelievable market share of the basketball market and it only makes sense that a strong Converse would help the whole portfolio.  I’ve never been a huge fan of the Nike purchase and now my fears are starting to come true.  Nike doesn’t care about Converse and if they do I’d really enjoy an email or a phone call from someone in Beaverton to try and convince me otherwise. Jack Boys, before Converse was purchased by Nike, expressed interest in branching out into the running and training performance categories.  This would’ve helped to strengthen the brand and might have led to re-entrance into Tennis, Football, and Baseball.  I feel this way because the people now running Pony were in charge of Converse before they sold to Nike.  This was right after Converse had signed Wade, Bosh, Hinrich and others.  Who knows where Converse would be without Nike, in some ways I think they would be better off.  That being said, the potential for Nike to take Converse higher is there, they just don’t seem to care.

I’m very frustrated, but I’ve been a Converse fan for a long time.  I’ve been through leaner times than this, like when Andre Miller was the only NBA player Converse had.  The truth is Converse still has Elton Brand, Jameer Nelson, and Kirk Hinrich to name a few.  It could actually be a lot worse, which is usually always the case.  I’ll end with this, Johnny Cash once sang in A Boy Named Sue, “I knew you’d have to get tough or die.”  This is the challenge for the people at Converse, Get Tough or Die!

You can roll over and give up or you can fight for brand…I’ve been fighting since 1996 and unlike Dwyane Wade, I’m not going anywhere.

TCB:  I want to start off by thanking you for taking time out of your extremely busy schedule to do this interview with TheConverseBlog.com. Speaking of being busy, you’ve been all over the internets recently. Where do you find the inner strength to run a successful company and relentlessly challenge Dwyane Wade at the same time?

CCM: I am very talented. I find the inner strength I need from starting every morning eating an egg hard-boiled. It is good protein. Next question.

TCB: You’re obviously a very confident and ambitious person, how did you arrive at the decision to challenge Dwyane Wade to a game of 1 on 1?

CCM: The decision was a very simple one. Dwyane Wade is the best. I am better. Better hates the best. If you fail to understand this simple premise than I think you are a pant(y) waste.

TCB:  You’ve just woken up stranded on an island, which book, album, and movie do you wish you had brought with you?

CCM: What an interesting question, sir. As there is only one book I would want with me and that is “Obstacle Get Out Of My Way – The Charles Charles MaGalls Story.” Because it is fascinating. (http://www.magallsindustriesglobal.com/obstacle.htm). The rest of that question is stupid and irrelevant and I will not answer it because islands do not have electricity and if they did then why would I leave if I could run my empire there unless it was like that island on the television where the people are stranded and there is the ghost monster in which case I would want a movie that would teach me step by step how to build a boat to get off the island and if there is an educational musical album that accompanied the movie and taught me the same thing or navigation by stars so much the better.

TCB: We’ve seen your challenge to Mr. Wade on billboards, ads at arenas, social networking websites, and Youtube, but can we expect to see a national TV commercial?

CCM: Probably TV commercials. I am in talks right now to develop a Broadway Musical for my challenge. I think I will call it “Defeating Dwyane Wade to 10 by 1 Gotta Win by 2 – The Musical.”  My research and development team is looking in to “to 10 by 1 gotta win by 2” skin grafts that will soon be popular on the beaches of Miami. Of course, maybe none of these things as uncertainty is my sixth man, you see.

TCB: Has anyone ever said, Charles Charles MaGalls, the man so nice they named him twice? How does that make you feel?

CCM: No. I am fine with that.

TCB:  I’ve noticed that you’ve been at a few Heat games recently; can the fans expect to see you during the playoffs?

CCM: There is only one person that must see me and that person is Dwyane Wade. From what I heard he is seeing me often. I now hear he demands of team members in practice “Play to the level that Charles Charles MaGalls would play me” and “Dunk on me like Charles Charles MaGalls would dunk on me” and so on including “Revolutionize the sport of basketball like Charles Charles MaGalls revolutionizes the sport of basketball” and such.

TCB:  Seeing as how this is The Converse Blog, I’d be amiss if I didn’t ask you about your choice of footwear. I’ve seen you wearing some Jack Purcell’s and some Chucks; do you have a shoe picked out to wear when you finally get to play Mr. Wade?

CCM: I would like to defeat Mister Wade in pair of Wade 4.0s because it is what’s known as poetic’s justice. You see the shoes have Mister Wade’s name on them and in many ways it would be like he was dunking on himself and I imagine this new reality would make him sad and question his very worth on the basketball court.

TCB: If you could travel back in time and change one thing in history what would it be?

CCM: Agreeing to this interview.

TCB: On a lighter note, can you tell us some more about MaGalls’ Asphalt Kids?

CCM: A lighter note? Are you crazy?!?!?. The Asphalt Kidz are one of the most serious things in my life. As a friend of children everywhere and an enemy of Dwyane Wade in Miami it is my goal to make sure that these citizens of tomorrow become sworn rivals of Dwyane Wade today.

TCB:  It seems that Mr. Wade has been ignoring you, have you thought about buying Converse from Nike in order to get his attention?

CCM: Finally, a question of journalistic integrity!!!. You seem to understand the Charles Charles MaGalls psyche of always thinking one step ahead on the checkers board. That is the Charles Charles MaGalls way. We could use a man of you keen intellect at MaGalls Industries Global, Mister Martin. Perhaps you would consider employment?

TCB: We’ve seen your challenge to Mr. Wade on billboards, ads at arenas, social networking websites, and youtube, but can we expect to see a national TV commercial?

CCM: You asked me this question already. I rescind my offer of employment.

TCB:  Last question, if you’re fortunate enough to get a 1 on 1 game with Mr. Wade have you thought about what kind of trash talk you use on him? If so can you share any with us?

CCM: There is no fortune involved, Mister Martin. I will play Mister Wade. Mostly I will make fun of his losing to me by 7 or 8 points. Or I will make fun of his career high of 55 points. My research shows that in that very game I could have scored 61 points. That is at least 6 points more!!!. Or I will make fun of his freakishly tall height. You see Charles Charles MaGalls has many secret weapons that will make Mister Wade insecure as both an opponent and as a person. I am not afraid to play dirty.

Two things I want to make mention of…this was an email interview and I changed the order in which some of the questions were and I forgot to delete the TV Commercial questions from it’s original location.  I didn’t realize until I had already sent Mr. MaGalls the question.  I left it in here because his answer is classic, even if he did pull back a job offer to me.  My bad Mr. MaGalls I’d really like a second chance to earn your trust.

Secondly, my favorite question is the one about which shoes he would wear.  I am a man that enjoys some good irony and if he were to play him in the Wade 4’s it would be the best thing ever. We all know that Dwyane never played in the Wade 4 but depending on how this plays out it could move a few more units of the shoe if Mr. MaGalls wore them in their game.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the interview and you can look for more coverage if or when Mr. Wade and Mr. MaGalls meet on the court.

A few years ago Converse had a line of trail shoes going by the name of Converse ECO.  I actually had a pair of these in a different colorway.  These shoes were build tough, and wore them while helping to build an outdoor classroom in my high school biology class.  In fact I would still probably be able to wear them had I not been an idiot and tried to put them on while they were still tied.  I know we all do it, but we really shouldn’t.  I messed up the heel cap and now sometime sharp sticks out and attacks my heel.  Oh well, I am still holding out hope to find a pair on the eBay someday.

Anyway, you don’t come here for UK sports, so lets get going with today’s Weapon Wednesday. These Weapons just popped up on TaoBao and are one of the better Chinese exclusive Weapon’s I’ve seen in a while.

There is a lot going on with these shoes but I am sucker for Neon Yellow and Teal on anything so I am digging these.  Not really a fan black as a main color for a shoe, but it really helps to bring out the colors I mentioned above so it works really well here.

Some late breaking news, I just got word that Dwyane Wade will be wearing Chuck Taylor All Stars tonight, at least to start the game.  From what I’ve heard Dwyane Wade lost some kind of wager with Udonis Haslem and whoever lost had to wear some Chucks in tonight’s game.  Hopefully I can post up some pictures tomorrow.

Thanks for checking out the Converse blog and Happy New Month!

This colorway won’t be making it to retail, but there are 3 other colorways of the Wade Slash on sale now.  Check out Converse.com to pick a similar White/Navy colorway today.  I’ll post some actions pictures tomorrow.

As you can see from the picture above, Dwyane Wade finally wore something different than the Wade 1…okay, well sort of. He brought back out the Wade 1 Playoff edition, which featured the Converse circle and star logo for the first time. I really don’t understand Dwyane’s continued assault on The Wade 4’s. He should have figured out before they released that he didn’t like them. I’ve seen around the web that a lot of people aren’t really feeling the 4’s and most them seem to mention the fact that Dwyane won’t even wear them either. Oh well time will tell, if Dwyane isn’t wearing the 4’s by All Star weekend, he probably never will. That’s just a guess though, but by that time will it even matter. Man I can get depressed quickly haha. Anyway that’s it for today, thanks for checking out the blog.