2023 - R - 1h 52m | Air (2023) - IMDb
Trailer : Air - Big Game Spot | IMDb
Director: Ben Affleck
Writer: Alex Convery
Stars: Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker
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This movie is a must see. Writer Alex Convery and director Ben Affleck take you back to the time before Michael Jordan started his NBA career. A time before the words Nike and basketball went together. A time when Air Jordan basketball shoes didn’t exist.
Convery and Affleck, along with their star cast, tell the story of how a star basketball player and an okay shoe company collide to create a legendary legacy.
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Everyone can relate to this movie in a personal level because it is a part of history. You don’t have to be a basketball player or fan to remember how it was To Be Like Mike. Be Like Mike Remastered | Gatorade - YouTube
As a kid female basketball player, you just knew the best basketball player was Michael Jordan. It wasn’t something that was up for debate...it was just known. In a way it brought people together.
My Story
It was 1991, I was in fifth grade and the star player for my basketball team. BAC the Burnsville Athletic Club is the city league for the suburb I grew up in just outside of Minneapolis. My mom had just remarried my stepdad who was a well-known basketball coach in the area. In addition to my two sisters, I was privileged to have a stepsister and two stepbrothers. We were all around the same age, got along, and we loved to play basketball.
It was a Friday night, and we were discussing over a domino’s pizza dinner who had basketball games the next day. I had the earliest game. All my siblings were going to come watch. I was beside myself excited that they wanted to come cheer me on. I also knew it was my chance to show my stepbrothers how good of a player I could be.
My stepbrother Curt was telling us how he just got the new Air Jordans. We were all impressed and jealous. He claimed that he played better in them. That they were like magic. We all knew that they were the best basketball shoes you could own and agreed with him. He showed them off. I remember this version of shoe was mostly black with smaller slivers of red. I could have sworn they gave off a heavenly light as he showed them to us.
Then he did what only could be one of the most sacred exchanges that could be done at that time from one kid basketball player to another.
He asked if I wanted to wear them for my game the next morning.
The shoes were about half a size too big for me, but it didn’t matter. I layered the sock and I remember feeling invincible as I put each shoe on and tied up the laces. I played a spectacular game.
To this day it is still one of the greatest honors that my stepbrother bestowed upon me. What it meant for me to wear his Air Jordan shoes. It meant he trusted me with his most cherished possession.
I remember returning those shoes to Curt before his game that afternoon. After a brief discussion, all six of us kids agreed that the shoes really worked. They were magic.
by K.J. Joseph