Man, at least you didn't hype up the Snakes (also elephant) clothing gear:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/soleredemptionsneakernews/~3/18522736/

Those are wack-a-docious!

Those shoes remind me of 90s. They're totally radical!

The hats look like....ewww.

Not hot! As a general rule: animal patterns + sports attire = NOT a good combo. Think the Bengals' awful post 1980s duds. I see your point about the retro hip-hop appeal, DJFL, but along those lines I far prefer the original pair of Air Jordans I bought at Copeland's on Shattuck in fall of '86.

But take it with a grain of salt, since I'm a purity curmudgeon. For me the classic of 20th century design can never really be topped

If I have to go less generic, the coolest of all-time may be Bill Russell's kickass one-stripe beige-on-black low-tops. Dude was a f***ing badass, and, it should be noted, still has nearly twice the rings -- ELEVEN in thirteen seasons! One for the big toe! -- as MJ.

Where can I buy a pair of these? Are they Converse? Any details from your crack research staff would be appreciated.

And just to throw another before-your-time reference in the mix ... any discussion of snake iconography needs to start with the seminal Avedon/Kinski photo, which if nothing else exposes Britney for the retarded poseur she is:

But I agree with you on the distinction between mammalian and reptilian/herpetological. Snakeskin is a rad material. To throw out a reference the kids will actually get, I think we can agree that this little reptilian outfit has a certain, um, mystique...

And for the GSoM demography files... I may be an old dude (38) by GSoM standards but I'm definitely not old enough to remember the Russell years. Full disclosure: I grew up in Boston as a fan of the mid-70s Celtics of Havlicek, Cowens, JoJo White, and this crazy dude

I always liked the Rick Barry/Clifford Ray-era Warriors, too, but didn't officially switch allegiances to the Ws till my Cal years in the mid/late '80s -- beginning the Sleepy era, reaching fever pitch in the Run-TMC years. (Listening to Greg Papa every night while typing away on My old Mac SE may have done the trick...)

I'll take "Old Skool" -- the others always sound vaguely pejorative. I always think "throwback," for example, does total injustice to our awesome "The City" jerseys. It may be an old design, but I'd guess 95% of Warriors' fans prefer it to the current unis. Simple, clean, cool. Really, in a perfect world "The City" should just be the regular team jersey. They could trot out all the orange/midnight blue Thunder-crap once in a while for special "newfangled" nights.

On hoops history: looking at that amazing Russell/Chamberlain photo does bring up an interesting topic, not really snakes-related, but certainly relevant to the eye of the tiger -- i.e winning attitude -- that the Warriors have lacked since forever. Take a look at the eyes and posture of the two players. Wilt may be 3-4 inches taller, and an all-time superstar, but you can see that Russ, far above and beyond boxing him out, has him TOTALLY beat mentally. Wilt, for all his prodigious talent, was basically a gentle giant -- think Karl Malone, or Alex Rodriguez. Russell, on the other hand, was/is/will always be a badass assassin. Michael Jordan, yes, but also Michael Corleone. This has of course been confirmed by tons of sportswriters and by a 60-something friend of mine who watched them both extensively. In the presence of Russell, I'd bet Samuel L. Jackson would start talking in Dave Chappelle's "white" voice...

Anyway, maybe a topic for a new diary, but the question for me is, how can the Ws get that look? I don't think JRich really has it ... and lord knows none of our big men (Murph, Biedrins, Foyle, POB) will ever have anything like it. Hardaway, Mullin, and Arenas had it, I think, if not quite to the degree of Russell. Could Diogu or Monta develop it? Can Nellie instill it? Would "The City" unis help at all? Or is it just innate?