Le Basketbawl

The time has come! The Air Jordan XXIII (23) will be released this Friday at 23 stores throughout the nation and each store will have only 23 pairs available. The shoe is the 23rd installment for MJ and of course we all know he wore number 23 during his playing career. The shoes are selling for $230 a pair just to continue with the “23′ theme. For a list of stores selling them tomorrow, go here.

Fans have lined up for days to hold their place in line to purchase the monumental shoe from the greatest basketball player of all time. Hasn’t Nike done a fantastic job of promoting this damn thing? Well of course they have and it’s just freakin’ fantastic!

“The AIR JORDAN XX3 is deeply meaningful to me, as a celebration of both my life and career. The number 23 is obviously of great significance to me and the release of the XX3 is a pinnacle moment in the Brand’s history,” said Michael Jordan. “I’m honored and humbled by the AIR JORDAN franchise’s loyal following after all these years. The release of this shoe is exciting and a dream come true for me.”

This is the first basketball shoe in Nike history to embrace the Nike Considered design ethos, where details in the development and design of the shoe seek to reduce waste and allow for the use of environmentally preferred materials wherever possible–all without compromising athletic performance.

Jordan Brand is set to launch several colorways of the AIR JORDAN 23. The first exclusive limited release will launch this Friday, January 25,2008. An All-Star release will launch on Saturday, February 16, 2008 and the nationwide launch will be released on Saturday, February 23, 2008 both with a suggested retail price of $185.

You can expect to see some of these babies on Ebay within minutes of their purchase. You can actually find a posting on Ebay for them already which is absurd.

This has been rumored to be the last Air Jordan ever, let’s hope that claim is completely false, what would we do without MJ?

Here is the version that will be released tomorrow.