1778 Free Soles

An interesting news story was afoot the other day. It had to do with sneakers. Excuse me athletic shoes, though they'll most likely never see the basketball courts for which they are theoretically designed.
It was about a controversial new model made by Adidas. Adidas, normally so adept at athletic accouterment design, apparently dropped the ball this time. They designed a pair of sneakers with shackles.
The shackles appear to extend from little chains at the collar of the hightops to a large band that closes around the shin. They are also bright orange, so it would be pretty hard to confuse them with real shackles.
But they created quite a flame-out of negative responses on Facebook. Most of them related to the racial insensitivity involved, as shackles symbolize slavery and we are not far removed from that heinous act in our own country's history.
Even the reverend Jesse Jackson weighed in, although not with his usual flair. He said they were "offensive, appalling and insensitive." Had he been up on his game he would have rearranged those words to "insensitive, offensive and appalling." Always close with the strongest word or you risk sounding weak.
"Those are appalling and, and, um, insensitive."
"Those are horrible, and, not nice either."
Adidas pulled the shoes, but not before saying the designer, Jeremy Scott, was known for his "outrageous and unique take on fashion."
I don't know. Maybe the designer was more subtle and politically motivated than people think. Maybe the shackles were meant to symbolize slavery, but the slave labor that went into their manufacture. Or the admittedly well compensated, but slavery nonetheless, of today's professional sports system.
You have to ask yourself, what is a free agent free from?
Hmmm. Maybe it's the designer that's the real sneaker.
America, ya gotta love it.