OK, after CuDi and MJ, what else is there today, you ask??? Well, the Air Yeezys and me, we go back long time. But today I finally can hold my own pair in my hands.

But there is a bittersweet taste to it. And I’ll tell you why I finally gave in.

In the afternoon of May 1st I got ready to drive all the way to Cologne for the release of the black/pink Air Yeezys (covered here), but as I arrived, there were already 60 people on the list for 40 pairs of shoes, to say nothing of the chance to get a pair in my size. After a short tour through the Cologne nightlife (I had to do at least something there, right?), I made my way back to Frankfurt, not even thinking about going to Hamburg a few weeks after for the next release of the tan colorway.

The matter was closed, but as we were in Tokyo on our recent trip and checked out all the stores, we came by the UNDFTD store. It was closed, but the renewal opening was only days later, when we still were in town. On a sign they displayed all the sneakers, they were releasing that day, including the Air Jordan 60+, the AJF 4, Air Jordan 7 DMP pack, the New Balance White Pigeon, some adidas shoes and – to our very surprise – the Nike Air Yeezys, picturing all three colorways. Worrrrrrrrrrrrd??!???

Chris couldn’t make it to the store on that Saturday, because he had an interview scheduled. I wanted to go there as early as possible – that would mean: take the first Metro train. The night before we missed the last one and had to walk some meters to our hostel and got there maybe around 1:30am. Because of the heat and the snoring of another guest, I had to pull an all-nighter and then decided to get a shower around 4:15am before leaving the hostel.

I made it to the second train at 5:15am, but after a while we got overground, which was, as I said it into the camera, “fucking wrong”! But after one hour and fifteen minutes I finally made it to my destination. At 6:30am, there were two people there, a nice couple, so I was third in line. They were really friendly as we got to talk a little bit. The guy was trying to get a pair of the New Balance White Pigeons, we copped a few days before. To have a feeling for the next three and a half hours of my life, click the play button on that video.

The next person in line came maybe at 8:00am, but until 10:00am quite a lot people (around 100) showed up for the opening. Then, a staff guy grabbed a bag, shook it and presented it to the couple that was in front of me and they each picked a piece of paper out of it. Then he came to me and the next guy in line. I didn’t understand a word, but by now, I pretty much knew, what was going on. A raffle. I drew #77.

That meant, that I should come back at 11:50am. I couldn’t believe, what just happened. I was standing on the side, as the store manager asked me what number I got. I showed him. He shrugged. I asked, how many pair of Yeezys they have, but he couldn’t tell. He revealed though that they only have the tan colorway and in size 12 and even 13, so a little bit of hope remained.

As I had nothing better to do I stayed there, sat down on a small wall and watched as the first people got into the store. One of the guys in line, that immediately caught my eye when he first came to the scene, because he looked like having my size, asked me in English what size I have. I said “12″. He, too. Ouch! He asked, what shoe I was looking for. I didn’t wanna share my target, so I said, whatever I can get. I asked him what shoe he is looking for. He said – actually looking down on me with a killing glance in his eyes – “Yeezys”!

Everybody stepped out of the store carrying a bag with Nike Sportswear boxes, specifically the Air Yeezys. Soon, I was instructed to get back in line, still not understanding any words. Right in front of me was the guy who was behind me on the first line, right behind me was the guy that was originally in front of me. He who was looking for the White Pigeons.

Of course, they didn’t have any Yeezys left when it was my turn, so I stayed inside the store – still not believing all of this – until this nice guy came in after me and checked everything out. He seemed very pleased about the new store and I think he would be ready to die for the store, as he knew every staff member in there and was wearing UNDFTD gear from head to toe. Literally.

If he wouldn’t have gotten the White Pigeons in his size, I would have offered him my size 10s for the regular retail price. But how I understood it, he had. Still there are two things I didn’t understand about this whole thing. He and his girlfriend were there at 6:00am, well knowing that they had a raffle going on anyway. So maybe they were just dead serious about it. But I don’t think the slightly better chance of getting the #1 spot can be compared to waking up so early and waiting there for four hours with also the chance of getting the very last spot. Of course, there came tons of guys, that I could tell won’t be wearing any of these shoes, instead they just tried to make quick money. Show up 10 minutes before the raffle. If you draw a small number, you have the chance to double your investment in just a few minutes. If not, so what. I really doubt that system.

The second thing is, that a few days before we went to Mita Sneakers and it was so easy to get those White Pigeons (video). We were there 30 minutes before store opening, while the first guy in line was there one hour before the opening, so I really, really don’t understand how they were out there since 6:00am.

There was also a reseller in Tokyo, that had the Yeezys in size 13 and I told Chris before the release, I won’t be leaving this city without the Yeezys. But they still were a size too big for me, even though a pic of me in front of the store wearing the Yeezys and holding up both middle fingers would have been so dope, but still not worth the requested price, as the shoes aren’t really my size.

My tweet from that day just speaks for itself: “this could have been my best day in tokyo, maybe even the best day in my life so far, but then a number came into play… #77!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!“

So, after all these hours, wasted time of my live, the pollution from my ride to Cologne, eventually missing out a good party in Tokyo, because I finally needed some sleep – as Chris told me about it the next day, it sounded really good to me at least -, I decided to end this ongoing saga and at the end of the day everybody seems relatively happy. I made me some kind of happy now, I made a reseller certainly happy, the White Pigeon guy was happy as nobody else all the time anywayz and the UNDFTD guys were happy that day, too, I think.

So… Happy ending?

The Ballatician