BACKGROUND:
So Nike released three different colorways of the Air Yeezy sneaker, which for those of you who don't know is Kanye West's first signature shoe, and actually the first signature shoe Nike has given to a non-athlete. The three colors in chronological order were: Zen Grey/Orange, Black/Pink, and finally Tan/Pink. Each colorway was limited to 3,000 pairs worldwide, and only an estimate of 36 pairs made their way to Michigan. My favorites were the Black/Pink followed by the Zen Grey and last but definitely not least was the Tan/Pink. When I found out the Yeezys were officially dropping, I was determined to do whatever it took to get them on my feet. If you are buying a shoe and do not intend to wear it, in my opinion you are not buying the shoe for the right reason. It is FOOTWEAR at the end of the day, and if you want something to stare at then go by some fine art. Anyways, retail price on the shoe was $210 and the 2 stores in Michigan, Burn Rubber in Royal Oak and Puffer Reds in Ypsilanti were both charging $250 plus tax, which was very understandable because of the very limited supply of the item and the fact that stores in NYC and LA were charging upwards of $450.

ZEN GREY/ORANGE YEEZYS:
I arrived at Burn Rubber at around 12 PM on Friday morning, 22 hours before the shoe was set to release. At the time I thought this was crazy because I have never waited more than 3 hours in line for a shoe, but I wanted to take all the necessary precautions in order to secure my pair. I ended up being 3rd in line, and was ecstatic to hear that neither people in front of me wore the coveted size 9.5 that I was there for. This was my first time going to Burn Rubber in over a year, but when I walked in I found it to be a very cool place to hang out, and found a lot of people that shared some of the same interests as me (Shoes, Clothing, Music). I figured this would make it very easy to pass time. The owners Rick and Ro were very down to earth which made me even happier to give them my business. Hours passed, the weather got worse (-0 F with the windchill) but we all passed the time together and in waiting for these shoes we also made some friends in the process (shoutout to Boogie, Ray, Lige, Matt, Dariante, Trae). The first 14 people in line were the only ones who would be getting their shoes, although the line had over 25 people (from Toledo to Toronto) in it by the time the store opened. I walked out happy, and the people who didn't get them this time vowed to be back next month for the Black/Pink.


BLACK/PINK YEEZYS:
When the Black/Pink Yeezy was set to drop I was prepared to do the same thing to get my pair. This was my favorite pair of the bunch, so I was definitely ready! It happened to be the Thursday before they released at around 12 PM when I got a call from Boogie telling me that 2 people were already in line at Burn Rubber, and there were 5 more people on their way from Cleveland. I was stuck at work until 8 PM. I knew I had to have this shoe and I refused to pay $700-1000 for them on eBay, so I lied to my manager and said one of my friends was stranded on the road on the way to the airport and that I was the only one who could pick them up. I was still about 1 hour away from having my stuff packed and making it to Burn Rubber, so I called my friend Revan who luckily had the day off work and only lived about 15 minutes away from Burn Rubber, and told him that he needed to go hold my spot in line until I could get there. What was also different about this time is that I had my little brother come along as well so that he could get me a 2nd pair which I would sell for a hefty profit. I arrived to Burn Rubber around 2:30 PM with Revan holding the #4 spot for me. The #1 and #2 spots were occupied by two brothers (shoutout to H-Deezy and E-Weezy McFly) and the #3 spot by Dariante who was just barely snubbed out of the Zen Grey/Orange pair. From then on it was a waiting game, and although I originally had not prepared for a two day campout, I was determined to ride it out and get my Yeezys. We again talked about every topic under the sun to kill time, and even watched crackheads freestyle. But it wasn't till Friday night that any problems occurred. We estimated about 12-14 pairs of Yeezys to be available for sale, since that was about the amount alotted the first time around. As soon as Burn Rubber closed up shop on Friday night, manager AZ came out and broke the news that there were only 10 pairs of Yeezys that were going to be for sale, and that only the first 9 people in line would get them, because of the raffle Burn Rubber had for the #1 spot in line. People that had spent over 24 hours outside waiting now found out that they were not going to be able to get the shoes they so badly wanted. Everyone was pretty upset about the raffle as a whole, and the raffle winner actually ended up taking the #1 camper's size. I ended up with a size 8 and my brother with a size 13. Besides the fact that Burn Rubber had raised the price of the shoe to $300 now, I was even more upset that in the #4 spot in line I was going home without my size. I eventually worked a few deals and now happily have my size. Looking back at this campout I definitely had a great time, but it was definitely the most stressful of the three because of the fact that quanities were lower, price was higher, and I couldn't initially get my size.



TAN/PINK YEEZYS:
Right off the bat I made sure I took the Thursday and Friday before the Yeezys came out off work, and I conveniently get off at 3 PM on Wednesday. The rumor that was going around was that Burn Rubber was again going to be raising their price on the Yeezys, but to $350 this time. That along with the uncertainty about the quantities they were recieving led me to Puffer Reds for the last pair of Yeezys, who were still charging $250 for theirs and guaranteed 14 pairs available to the public. Ray a fellow sneakerhead and I had kept in touch since we had met at the first Yeezy release and had planned to shoot out to Puffer Reds together on Wednesday afternoon at the earliest. I had planned on bringing mysef and 3 other people with me in line, so that I can not only get my shoes, but make a profit of over $1000 in the process. All that changed on Monday afternoon when Ro, the owner of Burn Rubber posted that two people had begun camping out for the Yeezys on his Twitter page. It was really unheard of to campout 6 days early for a sneaker release in Michigan. I was worried and called Ray and told him what had happened, and he assured me not to worry about it and that people would not be at Puffer Reds till Thursday night. I was still worried because I could not get off work in anyway until Wednesday afternoon and was scared that I would be too late at that point. Tuesday rolled around and I frantically looked for anyone who could hold my spot in line for one day until I could get up there. I unfortunately had no takers on my offer. Later on that night at around 8 PM I got a call from Ray that almost ruined everything. He told me that there were already 10 people in line at Puffer Reds. He did not have a ride to get up there, and I did not have anyone to hold my spot in line. So the two of us put our resources together and came up with a compromise. I would drive Ray up to Puffer Reds, and he would bring his girlfriend to hold my spot in line for a day until I could get up there, and then I would have to drive her back home. So to recap I drove 20 minutes to pick the two of them up, an hour to Puffer Reds, another hour back home, went to work the following morning, drove another hour back to Puffer Reds to pick his girlfriend up, one more hour back to drive her home, and one last hour to finally go back to Puffer Reds to hold my spot in line. That is 4 and a half hours of driving just to secure a spot in line. Just a litte FYI my car has a V8 engine and 21 gallon tank that only takes premium. YES I KNOW, ALL THIS FOR SHOES?!?! To make matters worse I would not be able to get my size 9.5 and would have to try and squeeze my foot into a size 9. At this point I was just happy/relieved to know that I would be getting a pair. It was Wednesday afternoon at this point and Saturday morning seemed a very long way away. Just like at Burn Rubber the people that were waiting were very cool, easy going, and down to earth. We passed time by talking about sports (KOBE > LEBRON), clothes, and of course kicks. FYI trying to sleep in the backseat of your car is not the most comfortable experience, so unless you want your legs to be numb when you wake up, try to stay away from it. Thursday everyone in line went to Buffalo Wild Wings and watch the NHL and NBA Finals games (Go Wings, Go Lakers!), and we all had built a pretty good friendship with one another. Everyone was really good about sharing supplies with one another, and when Friday came around we knew it would fly by. The day started off as any other. I woke up, drove to Starbucks, ordered my Venti Iced Caramel Macchiato with extra caramel and came back to chop it up with everyone. My boy Nardie suggested we play some Texas Hold 'Em to help pass some time. I had never played before, but he assured me that it would be easy to teach me. He taught me the basics and let's just say your boy is a monster now! Time flew during the time we played Hold 'Em and before we knew it, it was nearly midnight. We all hung around a little bit longer, and went to sleep knowing what we had waited so long for was right around the corner! Nardie who had my size 9.5 on lock told me if he could squeeze the size 9 then he would give me the size 9.5. We all woke up and were ready. Nardie tried the size 9 and it fit him perfectly, so the size 9.5 I had wanted was mine! I left Puffer Reds at around 11:30 AM, dropped Ray home, got home myself and took the shower of a lifetime! Everyone at Puffer Reds was great. From allowing us to charge all of our phones, laptops and whatever else, to buying us pizza and KFC, they made the experience as enjoyable as they possibly could, and I can't wait to give them future business. We were all happy to get back to our normal lives, but the experience was indeed a great one.


IN CONCLUSION:
So you now got in an depth look into the mind of a Sneakerhead. The Nike Air Yeezy in my eyes is the best original shoe designed by Nike in the last 10 years. I haven't had a shoe that has made me go to such extreme lengths as the Yeezys have, but in the end when I have them on my feet it is that much more fulfilling to remember what I had to go through to obtain them. If you think I'm stupid for going through what I did for a shoe, you are by all means entitled to your opinion, but at least now you have some perspective as to why. I honestly work very hard on this blog, especially in posts like these, but at the same time I enjoy doing it because I really feel like I have a very unique perspective on a wide array of topics. Thanks for reading.

Sincerely, $Money Mike$