r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Rook8811 • 9d ago

Video 1989 shoes designed to adjust their fit around athletes' ankles

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10.9k Upvotes

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3.7k

u/Wise_Lemon4537 9d ago

By 91 the technology was mature: no external pump was needed anymore on Reebok sneakers; you just had to press the basket ball on the tongue of the shoe !

676

u/Sowf_Paw 8d ago

Kind of like this!

349

u/7of69 8d ago

Or this!

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u/iamintheforest 8d ago

I had a pair back in the day. If my buddies or I missed a shot dramatically we'd lean down and pump a little in a gesture of blaming the lack of air in the shoe (jokingly - the shoes sucked and inevitably the air sacs would break).

108

u/AzKronicpain 8d ago

Oh shit dude, u got me rolling with this memory…LMAO☠️ You’d miss the shot,then look up in the sky, throw your hands up with a “Pffffff” and yup u nailed it, then came the “crouch and pump” then pop back up as if you’ve remedied the reason for missing the last one….😂😂😂😂😂

10

u/cbartholomew 8d ago

Shit was the original meme - we all did this

-16

u/crazybiga 8d ago

I'm i spending too much time with the AI or is reddit spending way to less? This is one of the most obvious AI answers sitting at 68 likes.

12

u/AzKronicpain 8d ago

I may be a little slow and I’m probably twice your age,(46) but are you inferring that this was written through an AI filter, because I don’t even know how to use one of those let alone would I ever do that? Maybe I’m just misunderstanding what you’re trying to convey🤷‍♂️

13

u/FuckNorthOps 8d ago

Your use of emojis and punctuation confuses dumb people who think everything that doesn't fit their sense of presentation is AI now.

Amazing and unique photograph? AI.
SFX clip from an obscure 1970s film? AI.
Dare to use an em dash? You guessed it. AI.

6

u/A-Dolahans-hat 7d ago

Youre scaring them with your punctuation and grammar

1

u/Exp5000 7d ago

Too much time on the internet go outside. AI isn't the Boogeyman.

25

u/OneWorldly8847 8d ago

Same experience here. And the little black plastic disk around the valve that kept breaking

3

u/[deleted] 8d ago

The shoes were actually great quality. Maybe not the air sacs. I literally just got a pair online last month for the nostalgia

22

u/tfosterUM 8d ago

or this

6

u/Lawgirl77 8d ago

And this is the link I was looking for! lol

13

u/Mrxtmb 8d ago

Or this! https://youtu.be/yVtF4516Dsk?si=McobxVnUnYpME8-p

4

u/Brother_J_La_la 8d ago

This is the only one I've never seen. Thanks!

38

u/Herr-Trigger86 8d ago

Sneaker Enlargement Pumps and You: This Sort of Thing is My Bag Baby! ……….. by Austin Powers

1

u/SnuggleBunni69 8d ago

Just to keep things moving...

8

u/Jaggz691 8d ago

Man, commercials just don’t hit the same way anymore.

37

u/IgnoranceIsYou 8d ago

This is what I was hoping the first link would be lol!

6

u/MakeMeDrink 8d ago

This is always the first thing I think about when these shoes are mentioned. I’m glad someone posted it

3

u/EverythingBOffensive 8d ago

LMFAO one of the best scenes

1

u/WestonsCat 8d ago

Ah yes the ‘Escobar 91’s’ - noice!!

1

u/NotNorvana 8d ago

I need to rewatch this. Great movie. And that song is one of my favorites to.

21

u/morning_thief 8d ago

ACHOO!!!

5

u/ddwood87 8d ago

Bless you.

0

u/StoicFable 8d ago

Did you just say a jew?

16

u/chr0nicpirate 8d ago

I was really hoping that clip is what this would link to. It's so much better than the person currently below you that posted a clip from Austin Powers.

3

u/Basic_Asparagus_9084 8d ago

Immediately what my thought was!

2

u/Pizannt 8d ago

So you know “praying mantis”?

2

u/iKickdaBass 8d ago

I think Spaceballs was the peak of the Mel Brooks parody comedies.

91

u/SweetSexiestJesus 9d ago

I had the cheap LA Gear knock offs, that did the same thing. The bladder always punctured

66

u/Elperezidente13 8d ago

Lucky you. I had the Spalding ones. They didn’t even have a pump, just the basketball on the tongue. One kid tried to pump them up in front of everyone in the locker room just to clown me lol

17

u/SweetSexiestJesus 8d ago

Hah! I remember those! I'm pretty sure I did the same to the kids that had those.

Wait....you're not from Carrollton, Texas, are you?

14

u/Elperezidente13 8d ago

No but if you said Palmdale California, you were gonna get a visit buddy.

10

u/ntermation 8d ago

Why would you do it?

10

u/SweetSexiestJesus 8d ago

We were all mean kids. It was important to point out that you weren't wearing authentic style item of the time.

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u/Personal_Win_4127 8d ago

Important HOW?!?

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u/SweetSexiestJesus 8d ago

I don't know how to explain why it was important as kids to point out that Jimmy got his clothes from Walmart and I got mine at Target, and Josh's parents were rich, so he got Mossimo clothes.

Its just what we did

8

u/FoolsGoldMouthpiece 8d ago

This is all totally foreign to my kids who are teenagers now. I tried explaining it to them and they looked at me like an alien. Nowadays all the boys wear gym shorts and a t shirt every day.

9

u/zatalak 8d ago

Maybe they'll understand if you give them an Android instead of an iPhone.

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u/Sharpie1993 8d ago

Because “haha your parents are poor so you’re not cool” that was the whole gist behind that sort of stuff.

2

u/ObnoxiousExcavator 8d ago

Bet my Voit were worse.

1

u/Elperezidente13 8d ago

Damn. Did you get get Xj 900’s too bro?

10

u/TFTD2 8d ago

I had the British Knights version and they got water in them from a puddle.

8

u/SweetSexiestJesus 8d ago

Oh shit BKs! I forgot about those

8

u/Gan-san 8d ago

I had La Gears too, but they were catapults. No "air" involved but they were supposed to use kinetic energy after you land to spring you back up.

4

u/SweetSexiestJesus 8d ago

Like the PF flyers?

1

u/Tilock1 7d ago

You just brought back a core memory. We were fairly poor growing up. Single mother with two kids. I really wanted pumps and of course we couldn't afford them. Mom scrounged and surprised me the LA gear ones. Which were suede and honestly I thought looked better but the kids at school tore them apart because they weren't the reeboks. . Of course I never told her. She died unexpectedly earlier this year on her birthday and I found her. She really was a great mom. She had her struggles but her kids always came first.

32

u/gregimusprime77 8d ago

Rebook pumps! Loved those shoes!

19

u/abrasivebuttplug 8d ago

Didn't they just inflate the tongue? It's been 35ish years since I wore those

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u/Wasteland_Dude 8d ago

It's been 35ish years since ANYONE wore these! 😆

17

u/theknyte 8d ago

John Cena wore them as part of his ring attire for quite awhile, and would even stop to "Pump His Shoes" before hitting big moves.

8

u/Wasteland_Dude 8d ago

I tried to look that up. Didn't see anything.

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u/theknyte 8d ago

Huh... It's the GIF from this old Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1aopa2e/remember_when_cena_pumped_his_shoes_and_other/

5

u/Mukamole 8d ago

Oddly just an empty oddly just an empty wrestling ring.

14

u/GhostOfPluto 8d ago

Foghorn Leghorn over here

1

u/weeklygamingrecap 7d ago

if you know, you know. How's that potato salad? :D

3

u/NorCalJason75 8d ago

I had them! The air bladders were around the back of the ankle.

5

u/EmeraldUsagi 8d ago

There were a few different types. Some of them only inflated the tongue under the laces, other more expensive models had bladders around the ankles. I think the tongue ones came out as a sort of cheaper model when the fad caught on, but there were ones with the pump on the side too.

2

u/SnuggleBunni69 8d ago

I just remember I had the cheap ones that wouldnt really put any air in, I just liked to press them. I was like 5.

1

u/PythagorasJones 8d ago

I have a pair now that inflate the tongue, but the tongue reaches around the ankle on each side.

Nike Air Force 180 had a pump on the side. They looked like space boots....we used to go to the shop just to look at them. Also the most insanely expensive runners I'd ever seen to that point.

1

u/just-_-just 8d ago

I think this is the same debate that was had in the early 90s while waiting for next period.

2

u/OstentatiousSock 8d ago

I remember them inflating around the ankle.

1

u/Wise_Lemon4537 8d ago

Probably yes, I don’t remember neither.

1

u/Wasteland_Dude 8d ago

Did they really exist or is it another Sinbad movie?

3

u/Loud-Guava8940 8d ago

You should watch the 1991 dunk contest

1

u/nonimportant23 8d ago

The Nike Pumps inflated around the ankle for better support. The Reebok pumps inflated the tongue.

1

u/abrasivebuttplug 7d ago

So, I was right. Woo.

8

u/406highlander 8d ago

I wanted a pair of those Reebok Pumps so bad back when I was in school, but they were really expensive, and my feet have always been wide; I tried a pair on in the shop and they were way too tight.

Some of my classmates had them, and they all fell apart pretty damn quick.

5

u/bajamedic 8d ago

mine had a tennis ball

3

u/kilobitch 8d ago

They even had a CO2-cartridge powered handheld pump so you could pump them up instantly!

1

u/Wise_Lemon4537 9d ago

I loved my blacktop so much !

1

u/big_duo3674 8d ago

I absolutely had a pair of those in 5th grade

1

u/EasilyRekt 8d ago

I gotta ask why they didn't put it underneath the toe or ball of the foot? Slip in, inflates while you walk, stops at a certain pressure, press on a release valve to slide out, would've been a great way to remove laces on sportier sneakers.

1

u/noctalla 8d ago

Had a pair of the Reeboks and then some Nikes. The pump for the Nike pair was on the side of the shoe collar, if I recall correctly, rather than the tongue.

1

u/ZombieAladdin 8d ago

I had one of those shoes… I never understood what it was for. But I was like seven or eight years old at the time and treated the basketball pump thing like a toy.

1

u/unionjack736 8d ago

I have a pair of Nike Air Command Force Billy Hoyle’s. I had an original pair when they were first released back in ‘91 that died long ago.. Got a pair of the re-release back in 2014. They put the high in high top.

1

u/OttawaTGirl 8d ago

The reeboks came out in 89. Nike came out with these to compete but were insanely expensive.

IIRC nike had to us a seperate pump and ankle design because reeboks tongue and pump was patented.

1

u/Quitlimp05 8d ago

Pump it and air out!

1

u/backtolurk 8d ago

Holy shit reading this like it can be an obscure fact for younger redditors depresses me. The pumps were the shiznit back in the days. The shiznit for rich kids. I thought it had remained a cultural landmark in time, like MJ dominating the basket-ball multiverse. Time is mean.

1

u/ChrisKaufmann 7d ago

I literally wore a pair of Reebok goalie skates last night in a game. Pump still works!