Zoom KobeVI Christmas day shoe

If you haven’t heard, Kobe Bryant has a few shoes that will be dropping soon. A white one (home), a black one (away), and a green one (Christmas). Andy Miguel, who is Kobe’s brand manager at Nike invited me to the Staples Center for the Bucks-Lakers game to talk about the new Zoom KobeVI shoes and the brand spankin new Nike Vault that’s opening on Christmas day. The Vault is a store that has essentially become a shrine to No. 24.

Zoom KobeVI (home shoe)

Andy was kind enough to give me the home shoe and the away shoe before they hit stores. I’ve spent approximately four hours on court with them and I’m happy to report that my knees don’t hurt. You may be asking yourself why you should care if some schmuck’s knees aren’t sore. Answer, it’s because I have some serious knee problems, not to mention the two broken ankles in the past 12 months.

As you can see, the shoe is a low-top. Not something that’s very common in basketball. MJ never went low, Magic never went low, but Kobe did. His love affair with the game of soccer pushed him to try a on court shoe that’s somewhat similar to a soccer cleat, hence the low-top.

Zoom KobeVI away shoe

Anyway, I’ll stop boring you with shoe info. I’ll let the pictures do the talking for me.

As for the Nike Vault, it wasn’t completely finished, but it was still pretty spectacular. Nike turned one of their stores into a shrine to Kobe and his presence in the city of Los Angeles. The store, located just outside the Staples Center, doesn’t open its doors until Christmas day, but once again–thanks to Andy–I was able to get a sneak peak.

Found some rad stuff inside the vault, see for yourself. Click the pic for the full shot. Follow @BearConsults on Twitter for all things awesome.

Design your own t-shirt wall

The Black Mamba! Huge snake imported from China.

Shoe Kobe wore when he dropped 81 on Toronto

Tribute to Bo Jackson

Black Mamba tail

Tribute to L.A. banner

Mamba art

On the L.A. tribute wall