Great Moments in Sneaker-Naming

Gilbert Arenas blogs about his new shoes:

I know this is what a lot of people have been waiting for. For all the shoeheads out there, allow me to introduce you to the adidas GilIIZero. I was calling them the Gil 20s, because that’s how it’s pronounced, but when you go to buy them in the store (which I know you will) it will say GilIIZero on the box. I just wanted to clear that up so you don’t get confused and think Boyz II Men has a shoe or something.

This just seems like a terrible idea. In many fonts, the capital "I" looks so close to a lower-case "l" that the shoes appear to be the GilllZeros with three "l"s.

Comments

Did he sign a deal with Rockport?

Posted by Gabriel | September 28, 2007 11:36 AM

Yes, but will it help you dunk?

I've been grabbing the rim since I was 15, but still can't come up with those extra few inches with which to slam it down.

Any recommendations on that front?

Posted by Bill B. | September 28, 2007 11:48 AM

maybe they were going for one of those european sports car suffixes.

that plastic guard looks ill-advised, but at least it will keep the ribbing clean. a reverse grill.

Posted by paperpusher | September 28, 2007 12:00 PM

What the hell Matt--you read THAT blog post and all you could come up with is you don't like the I's?!?

Everyone, click over and read it yourself. Soak in the glory that is Gilbert's mind.

Posted by Jake H. | September 28, 2007 12:11 PM

Sounds too much like he's pimping the 'Gigli' shoe, bad vibes all around.

Posted by citizen (world) | September 28, 2007 12:30 PM

What the hell Matt--you read THAT blog post and all you could come up with is you don't like the I's?!?

No joke. He's coming out with twenty different shoes.

Posted by Antid Oto | September 28, 2007 1:56 PM

Bill B., you need to do jump squats.

Posted by Chuchundra | September 28, 2007 2:26 PM

Hideous

Posted by Just Karl | September 28, 2007 3:00 PM

In my Google Reader, the "l" and "I" are identical, so I had to click through to get the gist of what you were saying.

Also, Arenas is awesome. See where he declares that there are no such things as shark attacks:
We’re humans. We live on land.

Sharks live in water.

So if you’re swimming in the water and a shark bites you, that’s called trespassing. That is called trespassing. That is not a shark attack.

A shark attack is if you’re chilling at home, sitting on your couch, and a shark comes in and bites you; now that’s a shark attack. Now, if you’re chilling in the water, that is called invasion of space.

Posted by SDM | September 28, 2007 3:09 PM

the capitol I does look like a lowercase l - to the point that as I read MY's post in my head I pronounced Gill's shoe "Gillzero," which sounded like a spoof on Godzilla, which I thought was funny and clever. But Gil-two-zero? that's stupid. And worse, how the hell would I know to get Gill 20's out of GilIIzero? WTF?

Posted by A different Matt | September 28, 2007 3:39 PM