SI’s MMQB notes Browns’ draft plan has history of success
May 6, 2016Prelude to a sweep? Cavaliers vs Hawks Game 3: Behind the Box Score
May 6, 2016Late Friday night, as I was buried in my couch watching the Portland Trail Blazers come from behind to beat the Clippers in a deciding game, the Cleveland Cavaliers updated their Twitter feed and Snapchat story with a quick, innocuous mention of the LeBron 13 Elite—the very sneaker worn by James during this year’s playoff run, the very sneaker mentioned around these parts a month ago. Rewind to a little over a week ago as the Cavaliers were in the throes of a first round series with the Detroit Pistons. After his on-camera availability during practice, I asked LeBron about the shoe. How does he like them? Are they comfortable? Are they noticeably lighter? Affirmative all around, James said. And while he had not seen Kevin Durant’s shin-high Elite edition in person, he was a huge fan of what Nike had been able to do for him this year, giving him a shoe that provided all of the same lockdown stability of the LeBron 13, but also several ounces lighter so that it was as if he played the entire regular season with ankle weights on, shedding them for the postseason run. I smirked as I thought about how unfair this seems, that someone can be the best player in the world, excelling over the course of six months, yet doing so while being encumbered by less-than-ideal equipment. If anything signaled that the regular season was merely 82 high-intensity practices for the Cavaliers, it was this.
So when the Cavs had signaled some form of a contest that revolved around these shoes, I was intrigued. I have a passion for sneakers1 and have a bit of a competitive streak. Any sort of challenge that could lead to me obtaining a pair of Nike’s latest and greatest, I’d be damned if I didn’t at least try. Saturday morning, the team updated both Twitter and Snapchat saying that there would be a scavenger hunt in partnership with James’ chief endorser. To Cleveland I went, taking the 20-minute hike up I-71. I parked in my garage2 and walked to Public Square. If I was going to have to be nimble, I wanted to at least be centrally located.
The entire scavenger hunt would be hosted on social media. When the first video popped up, it was Steph Floss, Cavs’ in-house DJ and a representative from Nike, foreshadowing the impending events. I could tell that they were down at the East Bank of the Flats—my super sleuthing skills recognized the Main Avenue Bridge in the background—so I high-tailed it down to West 10th and over to Lakeside where I had believed they were filming. Turns out I was right—they were in the East Bank; they had also just jumped in a truck to head to the first location. Here I was, already out of breath, knowing I had to hike it back up the hill and over to Public Square.
Before I made it to my original spot, another video popped up—they were at the Science Center, a pair of red LeBron 13 Elites on a podium, just chilling, in the grassy area out front. B-line commence. When I finally made it to the Science Center—sweating, a quarter-sized blister forming on my right ankle thanks to an ironically poor choice of footwear—I hustled over to the group of photographers and Nike employees who were waiting. Out of breath, I was able to get out the words “Did I make it?” I had. There were five hexagonal shaped boxes, each housing a golden ticket and a numbered locker key. I was to bring said key and said ticket to Fan Fest outside of The Q that following Monday for Game 1 of the second round of the playoffs. I was to be a part of the LeBron 13 Elite Experience.
Scott Sargent/WFNY
Having no idea what to expect, I arrived to Fan Fest about 10 minutes earlier than ordered to find that I would be joined by 22 others. Nike Basketball and the Cavs had teamed up to distribute boxes at four total locations—two in Cleveland, two in Akron—and 23 participants was the perfect, LeBronian number. After waiting in line for a few minutes, completing the check-in process, we boarded a bus parked outside of Progressive Field. The bus took us around E. 9th street and into an entrance I didn’t know existed prior to that evening, eventually leading down into the player’s garage at The Q. Silver and black SUVs lined the walls, each shining brighter under the fluorescent bulbs above than the last.
“We don’t do these often, but don’t be the reason we never do them again,” we were instructed, asking the two dozen of us to embarrass neither ourselves nor the parties who allowed us to participate in such an exclusive event. We walked in through the player’s entrance and made our way to two rows of courtside seats where we could watch various members of the Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks participate in pre-game warm-ups, this roughly an hour before the doors would open to the rest of the fans. The only folks inside the gym were players, coaches and various media members. Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye took turns working on their inside game; Iman Shumpert and Matthew Dellavedova worked inside-out. Timofey Mozgov would join the fray, working with the big men, while Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera stood by, court-side, getting an up-close look at the early evening work.
Scott Sargent/WFNY
After the Cavs social team took a few shots for their various channels, those with keys were asked to come up to the main concourse. Adjacent to the social section at The Q was a Nike-stamped area complete with carpeted flooring and double-stacked, black lockers with LeBron James branding magnetized to the front. Each locker was numbered to match the keys which were handed out two days earlier, as we all took turns locating ours and sliding the key inside the gold locks that kept them secured prior to our arrival.
Upon opening the locker, we were each greeted with a black and red LeBron-branded backpack hanging from the hooks inside. Below the bag were two individually wrapped LeBron 13 Elites—the red pair had been released earlier in the spring; the white pair would not hit shelves for a few days. A “Witness” hat and lanyard topped off the entire presentation, the former being homage to a campaign that was rooted in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, the latter providing access to Nike’s suite on the fourth floor of The Q.
The Nike folks made sure to share all of the specifications of what we were provided. Inside the bag were a James-branded t-shirt, shorts, and socks, all fit to size thanks to the information that was gathered during the scavenger hunt. The shoe, as mentioned, is ostensibly an evolved version of James’ 13th signature sneaker. The devil, however, is in the details, as Nike introduced what is called a Kurim cage upper, a polymer that couples extreme flexibility with extreme durability while being as light as sock. The LeBron 12 introduced us to the hexagonal-shaped Zoom Air; the LeBron 13 took it up a notch by turning the sole into two separate pieces to allow for added flexibility of the sole.
Some of the folks swapped into their 13s immediately; I bagged mine back up because I’m a weirdo and need to wait for the perfect time to break them in. Once we all took our requisite photos and videos for our respective social channels, we were encouraged to head upstairs to check out the Nike suite—the very suite where we would take in Game 1 against the Atlanta Hawks.
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The Nike suite was actually two suites perched above the Cavaliers’ bench, joined in the middle by another door, allowing us to roam freely back and forth. Between both doors in the club level hallway is a doorway-sized reminder of who was inside. The entire suite was decked in Nike and James-branded items. LeBron 13 Fathead stickers were on the walls, a suite-sized LJ crown logo graced the ceiling, 11-by-14-inch swoosh stickers were placed on the back of each stool. Each seat in the suite had a Nike indoor basketball on it to add to our souvenirs, every inch of the bar area was taken up by a Sterno-lit catering tray with some sort of edible ranging from pizza and sliders to pasta and wings. The canoli came later. No one said we were here to lose weight.
From there, we all joined in singing the National Anthem, cheering as Ahmaad went through the starting lineup announcements, and into the start of the game. Throughout the game, various members of the Cavaliers’ in-game entertainment staff paid visits—Cavaliers girls, the Scream Team, Sir CC—and posed for pictures. Midway through the second quarter, Ahmaad came up to give his hellos before making his way to the front of the suite where a camera was waiting. During a timeout, a video displayed on the Humongotron that explained everything that took place before panning over to the suite to give us all our 15 seconds of fame.3 In the second half, I made my way into the hallway to offer a testimony of the entire experience, some of the items prompted, the majority of which were on the fly.
Following the game, a huge win that left everyone feeling good, we made our way down to the court where Steph Floss and Olivier Sedra, the team’s P.A. announcer, waited for some additional photo opportunities. We took a few additional shots, Floss updated his Snap story with us all in the background, and we departed into the night, backpacks in hand.
Nike, meanwhile, has been all about experiences when it comes to their newest pieces of apparel, especially those in Cleveland. Shoes are shoes and gear is gear—until there is a story involved. The “Inferno” colorway of the Kyrie 2 that came out earlier this year was released in limited edition boxes made for fire extinguishers. The Kyrie “Effect” was right there, housed in a box that looked like it had come straight from the hallways of Will Hunting’s MIT. As if the LeBron 13 Elite Experience wasn’t enough for a host of Cleveland fans, come this time next week, a Krispy Kreme donut truck will be rolling into downtown, but it will be selling more than just glazed deliciousness as it parks outside of Fan Fest.
Yes, those are special edition Kyrie 2s complete with Irving’s “KI” branding; and yes, they come in a donut box. Genius marketing? Sure. Genius marketing that has various social media channels ablaze as they await its arrival? You bet. Good news is: I ran all over downtown on Saturday, burning all sorts of calories, making everything I later digested no more than a balancing act. Better news is: The Q is even closer than the Science Center, making my trip to the next experience that much shorter.
