Since 1999, Nike has been recycling old sneakers with their Reuse-A-Shoe program. They basically dump old kicks into a massive blender-type device and use the resulting "grind" to make all kinds of athletic surfaces, both indoors and out. To date, Nike has shipped nearly 6.5 million pounds of this usable substance to be used as tracks, tennis and basketball courts around the world.I've played tennis and jogged on similar surfaces, and as you'd expect, they're very easy on the knees and other creaky joints. They seem to be able to make the courts in different colors too, so that's cool. But my favorite attribute is the fact that you can play in Jordans while running on Jordans - hard to be more Like Mike than that.
Here's a quick roundup of just a few of the "Nike Grind" basketball courts here in North America:
Los Angeles has a handful of these types of athletic surfaces, including this one at the Challenger's Boys and Girls Club and a couple sweet end-to-end joints at George Washington Carver Park.
Sonics' green and yellow in Seattle.
Watch out for coyotes at this court in San Antonio.
Multiple courts in Portland, Oregon, including this scenic tree-lined pair and this odd one with a smaller court bisecting it. Someone should invent a game where all of the hoops are in play. 4 Ball, anyone?
Heat it up like The Microwave at this Detroit court.
"Boston You're My Home" - looks like there's room for another court next to this green one in Dorchester. I'm going to lace 'em up and head to this court soon and get a feel for it - review to follow.
Someone's popping an elbow jumper at this tidy little court in Toronto (you may have to zoom all the way in for this one).
Center-court Swoosh in Jacksonville. Looks like this one has two smaller courts running through it.
Take your pick at these two black courts in San Francisco.
Did you go for 40 on one of these courts? Let us know at stories@basketballworldtour.com
