4TH & GOAL Earl Watt
After a few years of watching some rough basketball games, the Saints have got off on the right foot with a competitive style of basketball in the first year under head coach Austin Downing.
The Saints are off to a strong start with talented guard play and muscle in the lane.
I’m still working on everyone’s names, but there has been another identifier when keeping track of the Saints on the floor — their shoes.
In 1989 Mars Blackmon debuted a commercial for Nike with Michael Jordan asking why Jordan is the best basketball player in the universe.
Blackmon came to one undeniable conclusion.
“It’s gotta be the shoes.”
This was an ad for Nike, but the phrase became as iconic as the swoosh.
Where teens today are making a reference to “six seven,” which is either a phrase used to confuse older people or, according to Webster’s Dictionary, means “so-so,” teens back in the late ’80s and ’90s knew exactly what you meant when someone would say, “It’s gotta be the shoes.”
Any athlete will tell you how much confidence they put in their footwear.
I had my own Converse shoes that I swear upped my city league game until Heather threw them out and bought new ones.
I was devastated, and I was never as good without those shoes.
Even though my footwear may have had better days, as I began to refer to them as ex Cons, I believed in the phrase, “It’s gotta be the shoes.”
With the turnaround in the Saints start to the season, many may believe it lies in coach Downing.
That is a no brainer. Downing has high expectations and is getting his team to perform.
It may be the talent Downing has recruited.
These guys are good.
But a look at their feet and you can’t deny, it’s gotta be the shoes.
