Why I Do This - The Rodney Wein Grail Story

My family and friends have asked me why I spend significant time on my social accounts, this newsletter, and SneakerPing when I have a busy full time job, a family, and a social life that includes a lot of Oregon Ducks sporting events. My recent experience with Rodney Wein (@weinrodney) is the answer.

Rodney is a finance manager in Omaha, Nebraska. I’ve never met Rodney, and Omaha is a long way from Oregon. Rodney started collecting sneakers in 1985 when he used a paper route (remember those?!) in order to buy a pair of original Jordan 1s. In high school he went to Michael Jordan's basketball camp and called it the best experience of his life. Over time Rodney also fell in love with Oregon football due to the exciting players, the jerseys, and the shoes.

Rodney followed my Instagram account late last year. He started sending me direct messages of the Oregon Ducks sneakers and clothing he was rapidly acquiring. He also shared pictures of the sneakers he got his kids as holiday gifts and some of his other sneaker collection pickups. I liked chatting with Rodney as I could tell he was clearly passionate about sneaker collecting and passionate about Oregon.

A few weeks ago Rodney let me know he was hunting for some Oregon grail sneakers to add to his collection. He’d found three pairs on eBay that he found great prices on, only for all three to fail authentication. Rodney was getting frustrated with trying to find any at a fair price in his size that were also legit pairs. He reached out sending me two more eBay listings and wanted my opinion on whether the sneakers looked real and the asking prices were fair. One was a Jordan 4 Oregon and one was a Jordan Tinker 3 Oregon, two pairs that have had rampant replicas in the market. I couldn’t see anything wrong with either pair from the pictures compared to my pairs, but I’m also not a professional authenticator.

Rodney started negotiating with the seller of the Jordan 4, and quickly became skeptical when the seller wanted to move the transaction off of eBay in order to "save them both the transaction fees". This is always a red flag as then the sneaker doesn’t go through eBay’s authentication. I also went through the seller’s reviews, and while the seller had a very high aggregate rating I did find a review of someone who said they got scammed when he moved the transaction off eBay. No good.

Rodney passed on that scam but ended up negotiating with the Jordan 3 Tinker Oregon seller and landed on a fair price. I educated Rodney a bit on the history of the sneaker, and shared the original product shots for them which are some of my favorite ever. Rodney bought the sneakers hoping that they would pass authentication. Rodney messaged me a week later and said they had passed and were on the way to him! I could feel his excitement through the DM when he shared that news.

The day the sneakers were set to arrive, Rodney messaged me they were supposed to arrive in the afternoon but he was going into surgery that morning. I got worried that and was really hoping Rodney had no surgery complications and that the sneakers also weren't going to get grabbed off his porch. I wondered all day and let out an audible "YES!" when Rodney sent me a message in all caps that he was home and the sneakers had safely arrived. He immediately sent me photos of the sneaker with the matching Ducks Jordan jersey and hat he had acquired to go with it.

I shared with Rodney some of the pictures of celebrities wearing the pair like Big Boi at the Super Bowl halftime show, Justin Timberlake, Lebron James, Steph Curry, and more. Rodney was in elite company with the sneakers he can't wait to get on his surgically repaired foot.

That's why I do this. Putting my love for sneakers and collecting out there lets me share and experience the joy of that hunt and experience for me or people I can relate with but have never met. Thanks Rodney.

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