21 In True Crime: New York City, players have to search for special-edition Puma sneakers and return them to shoe stores. Puma produced the actual Puma x True Crime RS-100 sneaker, and they could be found in the same stores featured in the video game.
22  When the original Nike Dunk pack was released in school colors to NCAA basketball teams (Michigan, Syracuse, Kentucky), Georgetown wanted to have its own distinct model. As a result, the team received a Terminator that read "Hoyas" across its back.
23 In 1985, the NBA banned the red and black Air Jordan Is because they were "too colorful," and fined Jordan for wearing them. The move spawned the marketing campaign "Banned By The NBA."

24 On May 27, 1990, a huge shipment of Nikes got lost at sea.
In one of the strangest shipping accidents ever, 80,000 pairs of Nikes went missing in the Pacific Ocean en route from South Korea to the U.S. Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer has been recovering Air Solo Flight, Strike Force, and Pegasus from that overboard shipment ever since. "Nike makes durable shoes," says Ebbesmeyer. "Apparently they\'re tougher than the ocean." Now, Ebbesmeyer tracks their movement. "If you follow the shoes you can follow the currents." He says a shoe from the spill can drift at an average rate of seven miles per day. "There\'s 24,000 miles around the Earth at the equator. So they\'ve been floating long enough to go around the world twice." Dope floats, indeed. (RD)

25 Sneakers got their first shine on the silver screen in 1961.
In addition to talking deer and magic nannies, Walt Disney Pictures was also the first movie studio to highlight performance sneakers. In the 1961 film The Absent Minded Professor, physical chemistry prof Ned Brainard invents a gravity defying substance called Flubber ("flying rubber") and successfully tests it on the struggling basketball team. With a little dab of Flubber added to the soles of its players\' sneakers, Medfield overcomes a 43-point deficit and defeats rival Rutland College. Knicks fans, relax; movies are make-believe. You\'ve got about as good a chance of getting your hands on Flubber as you do getting Starbury and Stevie Franchise to improve their teammates. (TG)

26 Bulletproof?
When hip-hop and skateboard culture converged, it was a no-brainer that some poor skate kid was gonna get shot. Luckily for Dante Formosa, he was wearing pro Colin McKay\'s signature Havocs from DC Shoes. On July 4, 2004, Dante-12 years old at the time-was enjoying a Philadelphia fireworks show when shots rang out. "I looked down and saw a hole in my shoe. I took my shoe off. It was all bloody," Dante told NBC News. "My friend pulled out a bullet." Apparently DC\'s rugged design, meant to protect from grip-tape abuse, slowed the stray bullet. Dante was wounded, but it could have been much worse. "I am happy that our durability can stop a bullet; my next shoe will have Kevlar sides just for that reason," jokes Colin McKay. "Oh, and they will work well for skating, too." While never intending to produce a shoe that could withstand a blast of lead, DC does build skate shoes tough enough to handle the rigors of skateboarding. "We test our kicks in the most abusive way possible-with a skateboard," says DC Founder and Chief Brand Officer Ken Block. He wouldn\'t comment on the possibility of stealing G-Unit from RBK. (BS)

27 The Beatles felt Nike subverted their "Revolution."
In 1987, Nike used the Beatles song "Revolution" in a commercial after reportedly paying Capitol Records Inc. $250,000 for the North American licensing rights. Apple Records, the Beatles\' recording company across the pond, had adamantly opposed the transaction and sued Nike Inc., Capitol Records Inc., EMI Records Inc., and the Wieden+Kennedy advertising agency for $15 million. Capitol-EMI said that Apple director and shareholder Yoko Ono had supported the deal. An out-of-court settlement eventually resolved a tangled web of lawsuits between the Beatles and their American and British record companies, and the terms have been kept secret. In March 1988, Nike stopped airing ads featuring "Revolution." When in doubt, blame Yoko. (JM)
28 Michael Jordan nearly ended his Nike sponsorship after his first two sneakers. In an attempt to convince MJ of Nike\'s commitment to him, designer Tinker Hatfield included him in the design process-an unprecedented move at the time. The Jordan III was the first in the line to featurethe Jumpman logo, and it helped convince him to stay.
29 Michael Jordan wanted to sign with Adidas in 1984, not Nike. He was a self-described "Adidas nut," and told his agent that if the deal was even close he\'d sign with them.
30 Members of the Heaven\'s Gate cult, which conducted a mass suicide in 1997, died rocking fresh black leather Nike sneakers with a white swoosh, giving new meaning to the term "fresh to death."
31 Ès and Emerica are  divisions of Etnies Sole Technology.
32 The limited edition New Balance 547s, attributed to graffiti/graphic design legend Haze on eBay, were actually designed by Josh Widcomb. [See p. 25, flip, for Haze\'s real NBs.]
33 Nike employed Hunter S. Thompson collaborator Ralph Steadman for the launch of its 180 Air line.
34 Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars, first marketed in 1917, are the all-time best-selling sneakers, with total sales nearing 600 million pairs.
35 In 2005, Air Force 1s accounted for $1 billion in Nike sales, and a profit margin of 70 percent.
36 In 1980, the branded athletic shoe business was less than $1 billion. Today, industry experts put it at close to $8 billion, not including accessories and clothing.

37 Computer love
Launched in 2005, the Adidas 1 running shoe features a magnetic sensor, a microprocessor capable of five million calculations per second, and a motor-driven cable system that adjusts compression and cushioning based on your weight and the strength of your footfalls. It is not the first computer shoe, however. In 1984, the Adidas Micropacer boasted a digital pedometer in the tongue that displayed distance, time, average speed, and caloric expenditure. By 1985, the more complex Puma RS featured a computerized pedometer that could transfer data to an Apple IIe or Commodore 64 after the run. With improved technology, now humans can serve their computer masters even while running from them! (JM)

38 Footloose
Eccentric, 6\'11" NBA center Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins was a true pioneer. In 1975 he was the first high school player to go directly to the league, and he made history by shattering a backboard with a dunk in 1979. His oddest groundbreaking came in \'82, when the Nike-endorsed behemoth was offered money by rival brand Pony. Instead of taking sides, he took the money and wore one shoe from each company (Nike wasn\'t amused and promptly dumped Dawkins). Okay, considering that Dawkins claimed to hail from the planet Lovetron, where his girl Juicy Lucy still lived, it may not have been his oddest moment. (JM)
39 The name Adidas was derived from its founder, Adolf "Adi" Dassler. Puma was started by Rudolf Dassler, Adi\'s brother, in 1948, after the two had a personal falling out.
40 Nike did not terminate Kobe Bryant following his arrest for sexual assault in July 2003.

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