The Game Plan by Champs Sports Presents Year in Review

The New Year is approaching, and it’s time to pop bottles! 2013 brought Safari prints, retroing of signature silhouettes, and tributes to cultural classics. adidas Originals called out more people than Kendrick, Nike’s LeBron VII soldiers celebrated LeBron in Michael Jordan fashion, releasing countless championship-inspired sneakers, and Kobe’s Superhero signature showed his career is far from over. It wouldn’t be quite a year without a few unexpected moments. Jordan Brand’s Bel Air collection surely inspired the signing of Drake, and the Nike x Hasbro Megatron collection pushed creativity a step further transforming its own sneaker box. Needless to say, 2013 was just a flat-out ridiculous year for sneaker lovers, and we only hope the same for 2014. To properly bring in the New Year, we are recapping the Top 10 Champs Sports collections from The Game Plan this year.

How can you really go wrong with a Transformer action figure and sneakers? You can’t, especially when Nike took the time to create an AllSpark sneaker box. This is definitely one of the year’s favorites, with Nike bringing me back not with retro models, but with a retro memory.

The Oregon Ducks Collection made the top NFL superstars want to trade their jerseys in. Showcasing the feathers of the Mighty Ducks you can’t help but be a fan of Puddles, and arguably the most loyal fan base in college football. Now if Nike did something with the really old school Mighty Ducks, yes the hockey movie that every kid loved, that would be bananas!

Derrick Rose, Big Sean, Nicki Minaj… Nike may have more athletes, but adidas brings it home with this Originals series! Nike Inc. actually took a page out of adidas book, and just signed its first big artist, Drake. Excited to see what happens in 2014, especially with Kanye on board.

If we are talking about culture, and the Fresh Prince was present today, he would win hands down! Jordan honors the ’90s megastar understanding without Will, snapbacks would be a thing of the past, and Jordans would not be worn at weddings or proms. Jordan finally produces an official Bel Air collection, rather than having everyone give its playground name to anything grape or green.

Ken Griffey Jr., not much more can really be said. After writing this piece, I had over four of my friends say to me, “You brought me back, I definitely remember playing Ken Griffey’s Super Nintendo game and eating his Wheaties.” Of course, I couldn’t take all the credit. Nike has a part in it too, like designing the best baseball signature shoe of all time.

Always up for a good cause, and even more so when a company does it in complete style. The month of October filled the NFL with pink cleats, arms bands, socks, shoelaces, maybe even underwear. Rather than to over-do the color, Nike took a step back and made it simple again. Of course they had to show everyone who is still boss with the Oregon pink helmets…but hey, people were getting too comfortable.

This might as well be called the Deion Sanders Collection. It ranks so high on my list, just because it brings back so many memories. The Diamond Turf ruled the playgrounds for a solid three school years (arguably more popular than the any signature Jordan at the time), and I even remember my dad having a pair of these not just for comfort, but he thought the “slashes” on the sides were cool. SMH.

Besides this collection being everything I wanted to get for Christmas when I was younger, this concept of a sharable digital wish list is easily one of the year’s highlights. No more ugly Christmas sweaters, no more clearance sneakers, and definitely no more hoping if your hints were good enough. This are one of the few times I wish I was a Millennial baby.

This package is vintage Nike, from the old-school Nike logo, to the infrared, and of course, the Safari print. This was a tough choice because you can’t get much better than three classic Nike silhouettes and throwback t-shirt cuts—pretty sure Michael wore one of these tops in a Gatorade commercial back in the day. This collection has never made me more proud to be an ’80s baby.

Jordan being No. 1 is not uncommon. Whether it is basketball or sneakers, it’s hard not to go with classics, especially if they include the Jordan 1 and 3. If you even took those two away from the collection, it would still rank tops on my list because of the XX8s. When these first came out people had mixed feelings, but they inspired the Kobe 9 extra high-top. Greatness is timeless, and it’s not truly appreciated until enough time has passed. And I can’t think of a better way to end the year than by highlighting The Game Plan’s very first collection.