Photo by Unknown

Back in the day, being a soccer fan and playing soccer in the US wasn't cool. Nowhere near. I played because my parents wanted me in a sport where I would get out my excessive amounts of energy, but the more I played, the better I got and the more I loved the game. Unlike every other sport, you couldn't catch much soccer on tv and just about no one was marketing to soccer players. That's why these commercials were a revolution in my world. We used to go to the library in high school and watch them online, and were amazed by both the creativity and talent, and the amazing concepts. Yesterday when I was in San Fran, I hit up Niketown with a friend where I saw two of the coolest shirts I had ever seen, one was good vs evil 96 and the other was airport 98. Hopefully I can figure out how to upload these pics so I can post them, but until then, here is some old school goodness that had Nike ahead of the curve before the curve even existed.

Young Ronaldo shows the dirtiness to come. Plus, Cantona is so French and ballin. The collar flip is always A plus work. This video inspired the first shirt I saw.

This is probably my favorite video ever. The creativity behind the video plus the creativity in the video really magnifies the beauty of the beautiful game. Pre-world cup, I remember seeing this commercial on tv and being in awe. This was behind the second shirt I saw. A masterpiece with a sneaky guest appearance.

Davids at his finest. “The Mission” was the release of the Zoom Air, and another concept that made Nike gear a force that emerged unexpectedly into the soccer world globally. The coolness behind this video was like nothing we dorky American soccer players had ever seen.

Ronaldo plus Ronaldinho's brilliance are devastating. Who needs to play on the field anyway? Another tricky idea from Nike with sneaky brilliance in the cameos that you have to pay attention to catch.

These are some of my favorite videos for sure, and I hope you enjoy the cheekiness and skill as much as I do. Old school brilliance brings something to the table that truly is breathtaking.