ESPN Article: Eastbay was more than just a magazine for basketball players

[Public Enemy]

'It was the Bible and then my Eastbay catalog': The magazine that impacted a generation

The apparel-filled pages from the now-defunct company were a part of the fabric of sports culture for a generation.

www.espn.com

Part of the article:

"
Today, kids are only a click or swipe away from buying the latest must-cop sneaker.

As Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone explains, his daughters will never understand the anticipation some of his generation felt for weeks before a new Eastbay catalog or an order would show up in the mailbox.

"Kids today, that is like a foreign concept," Malone, 51, told ESPN. "Wait, what? Mail? You couldn't go on the internet? You couldn't go on the sneaker website? My girls go on sneaker websites all the time and they order shoes.

"But back then, without the internet ... you had to wait for the new catalog to come out, flip through, place an order and wait for the order to go through and then get your delivery. "



Good article. Man I miss Eastbay. Those increase-your-vertical shoes were always in there waitin.

 

[Public Enemy]

Cracked up at this part

"FORMER SEATTLE STORM guard Sue Bird has been "chilling" and enjoying retired life since playing her final WNBA game last September. But it was a December email that left the star feeling empty.

As a "valued customer" for decades, Bird went from waiting monthly for the catalog to arrive in her parents' mailbox as a kid growing up in Syosset, New York, to finding out in her digital mailbox that Eastbay was retiring as well.

"Low-key, I was still buying my socks off Eastbay," Bird told ESPN with a laugh. "Eastbay was my go-to to get this one pair of Nike socks.

"I mean, maybe I'm the only 42-year-old in the world [who] was still buying s--- off Eastbay."

 

[executive76]

It was impressive that they kept so many brands running under one umbrella basically competing with one another for as long as they did

Eastbay exclusive colorways

Eastbay would come in clutch with backordered/pre-ordered kicks where they wouldn't charge until they shipped

 

[wavycrocket]

Super fond memory of East bay. Just one of those nostalgic things that takes you to a certain good place. Super simple, but major

 

[aepps20]

Loved them and will miss then

 

[DB Cooper]

Getting the Eastbay catalog and Footaction release book as a teenager.

 

[ajiiiplatinum]

I played soccer and basketball growing up so I would also get the eastbay type feels combing through the eurosport catalogue

 

[finessence]

My moms use to let me circle all the kicks I wanted. Money orders for the win!

One year, when she paid off her car. I think 1997 or 1998, I got like 10 pairs of shoes within a 3 month span.

I still have a few Eastbay mags at the crib. Shouts out to my boy Calvin

We use to bring them things to school like classwork


I used to bring Lowrider magazines and Eastbay’s to school

 

[finessence]

Getting the Eastbay catalog and Footaction release book as a teenager.

Footaction Calender

 

[TURBO UNO]

Lunchtime with my boys chilling next to the basketball courts and we’d huddle around the one who had the Eastbay catalog.

“You like those?”
“Man, those are the new Jordans?”
“Ayye she’s looking at you”
“Oh ****, this color is dope!”
“Can I kill the last of that Sprite?” ....etc.

 

[illvine]

Mannn bringing the catalog to middle school and going through it with the homies were some great times

flipping through it at lunch while we ate before went to run some ball for like 20 minutes treating those games like it was game 7 had me mad sweaty for the whole next period of class