your opponent is.If you dont come with the necessary commitment and the focus and the discipline and that type of a mindset, you run the risk of getting beat, regardless of who your opponent is. I know weve got a capable gro

Editors note: Starting next week, ESPN.com is counting down the best basketball sneakers of all time, #NBArank style. But first we asked a few writers to share about their favorite kicks.The Air Force 1 is, at the end of the day, in this entire sneakerhead epidemic, a shoe for the people. Forever reppin what the marriage between the game and the soul of the game is supposed to be.This to me was the most important shoe in basketball history, said Ray Butts, architect of Sole Provider: 30 Years of Nike Basketball, when?reflecting on the Air Force 1.The true story of the Air Force 1 is closer to the story of the black renaissance, and the reason gear, fit, and merch mean so much to lower-income minorities, especially many African-Americans, who throughout history have used sports, entertainment and hustle as a lifeline to survival and escape.But it has also lived the life of excess. Its been on Jay-Zs feet in concerts and commercials. Its been in songs by Nelly, then a classic by Kanye, KRS-One, Nas and Rakim. Its been on Seinfeld!?For true, it is a shoe for the people, but it still has a vainglorious history of the fab life.Put it best this way: If it were a city, itd be Brooklyn: Park Slope and Bed-Stuy.What began in 1982 as an innovating design and construct with the intent of revolutionizing the sole of the game, the Air Force 1 went from being the shoe that defined the games of Bobby Jones, Michael Cooper, Jamaal Wilkes and Moses Malone to the shoe that defined everything Rasheed Wallace was about as a player and a person.And somewhere in between, the streets took hold.Part of the reason the hood took ownership of the Air Force 1 is because of the affordability. Staying 100 (unless they were LEs, PEs, signatures, customized or bespokes) for less than $100 is an art. With the AF1 having a design so universally clean and simple, it adapted to damn near any trend of black fashion and style.The Air Force 1 is the only shoe that belongs to a particular culture, said Isaac Perry, former host of a Nike digital shoe documentary Laced, speaking on the shoes 25th anniversary in 2007.And because of that, the value of the shoe has not diminished.And it never will. Even as the landscape of both basketball shoes and lifestyle sneakers evolve into a Westworldish/Westbrookish future, the one that started it all still lives the life of champagne wishes and concrete dreams.Harlem to Hollywood. And back.A life, uninterrupted.Chicago Bulls Shirts . The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 for Jones (19-1). It was the champions closest call. Despite the loss, it was a remarkable show by the confident Swedish challenger, who had the best of the early rounds and then hung on in the fourth and fifth. Chicago Bulls Pro Shop . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. https://www.cheapbulls.com/ .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. Chicago Bulls Store . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Custom Chicago Bulls Jerseys . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding.PITTSBURGH -- It might be difficult to label a game as a first-place showdown when it comes before the Christmas break, but certainly there will be a good story line Tuesday when the New York Rangers visit the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.With a regulation win, Pittsburgh (20-7-5) would tie the Rangers (23-10-1) atop the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference, although New York has two games in hand.By pretty much any measure, the Metropolitan has been the NHLs best division this season, and recent hot streaks by the Penguins, Rangers, Philadelphia and Columbus have underscored that. Add in Washington, and five of the division clubs are above the 40-point mark.New York, just a point behind Chicago atop the league standings, has won six of its past seven games. Pittsburgh is 7-0-2 in its past nine games and is coming off back-to-back overtime losses.Theres no doubt that at this present time in the NHL, we are the dominant division, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. You go back a couple years, the West looked like they had the better teams, but right now, (it is) our division, because of the wins.But I look at the league and the parity. Every night, players bust their gut to try and get two points.There might be a little extra burst in their skating stride when they play games within the Metropolitan.We pay attention. Its hard not to, Rangers defenseman Marc Staal said of the division standings, according to the New York Post. You can fall behind pretty quick with teams like that that keep streaking. Its something we looked at the other day when we were within three or four points of like six, seven teams. So you have to keep getting points.The teams split a home-and-home series in their first two meetings of the season, with New York winning 5-2 at Pittsburgh Nov.dddddddddddd 21 and the Penguins playing what they called one of their best and most complete games in a 6-1 win Nov. 23 at Madison Square Garden.After Tuesday, the Rangers play their next five games outside of the Metropolitan.Pittsburgh, in contrast, is beginning a stretch of five games against division clubs sandwiched around the NHLs holiday break.I just think every games hard, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. It doesnt matter who you play in this league. Every game is hard. Its a good league. Theres a fine line between winning and losing, regardless of who your opponent is.If you dont come with the necessary commitment and the focus and the discipline and that type of a mindset, you run the risk of getting beat, regardless of who your opponent is. I know weve got a capable group. When we play the game the right way, we can play with anybody in the league.Pittsburgh has an extra challenge right now. Two of its top defensemen, Kris Letang and Trevor Daley, got undisclosed injuries in the past week and are expected to miss this stretch against Metropolitan Division rivals and probably beyond.Among defensemen, Letang leads the Penguins with 19 points and Daley is second with three goals.Its going to be hard, fellow defenseman Olli Maatta told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review of filling in for the two swift-skating players. When you dont have those two guys, theres not that one guy that can jump in there and fill in. Theyre that good of players. ' ' '