Why LeBron James retro-ing his first signature shoe is a surprisingly emotional thing

Hi. I'm old. You're old. LeBron James is old.

The best basketball player in the Milky Way and all other galaxies made a surprise announcement Thursday night. But, even more surprisingly for something revolving around footwear, this surprise is a surprisingly emotional thing.

Ugh. Now we're sitting over here getting all nostalgic and playing that one Green Day song on repeat. So, please: Join us as we explore these feelings.

In a video posted to social media, James announced that "very, very soon" Nike will re-release his first signature sneaker. (In sneaker lingo, Nike will "retro" the shoe, with "retro" being employed here as a verb.)

He made the announcement Thursday night, a day before the Cavaliers play the Kings in Sacramento -- where James began his NBA career on Oct. 29, 2003.

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James also posted the news on Instagram, where it was accompanied by a heartfelt caption reading in part:

When I held these shoes for the first time I couldn’t believe I was holding a Nike sneaker with my name on it AND that they’d forever be known as the “LeBron’s.” ... Mom and I were barely out of the Springhill projects. We only dreamed of days like that and then they became reality. This shoe changed my life, my family’s life, and we’ve been lucky enough to change the lives of people around us. This shoe is for EVERY SINGLE person with a dream and a passion. No matter what your situation is.

The significance of this moment for LeBron is pretty straightforward, and he explained it well. When this shoe first came out, James was a kid who not so long ago had been living in housing projects. Suddenly he was a millionaire teenager entering the NBA behind unfathomable levels of hype. He was touted to become an all-time great. But his future was uncertain, because the future is always uncertain.

Fourteen years later -- after a heel-turn in Miami, a return home, a legendary championship run and more jaw-dropping plays than there are stars in the sky -- James is a straight-up basketball legend. When his first Nike sneaker was released, this had been foreshadowed. But it was far from guaranteed. Now it's reality.

See? Pretty straightforward. From a fan's perspective, though, the surprising emotion wrapped up in James' announcement is a bit more metaphysical.

I'm generally against brand brainwashing. But the relationship between sneakers and basketball -- and the cultural junction at which they intersect -- is a wholly unique thing.

In the popular hoop-head imagination, the Air Jordan I represents burgeoning greatness. The "Space Jam" Air Jordan 11 represents greatness at the height of its powers. The Converse Weapon represents old-school cool. Slightly more personally, the Air Zoom 95 invariably makes me think of Jason Kidd and Bay Area basketball -- even Bay Area rap music -- from the 1990s.

For people of a certain age and inclination, sneakers are up there with scents in terms of instantly plopping you back in a specific time and place. Jordans, Weapons, J-Kidds? Those are all old, man. Old shoes worn by old players.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

But LeBron? That LeBron? The LeBron so many of us grew up watching and tracking as he entered adulthood roughly around the same time we did? Now they're retro-ing his shoe?

Man. That's a low blow. That's some nostalgia we're not ready for just quite yet.

As James alluded to in his Instagram post, that first signature shoe of his represents a whole lot of hopes and dreams. So, so many kids fantasize about having their own sneaker one day as they hoist jumpers on blacktop courts in waning daylight. James is one of the talented and lucky few who got to see that dream come true.

And that's why we get so obsessed with sports. They reflect our own hopes and dreams and aspirations and disappointments -- big and small alike, sports-related and not -- back upon us on an epic scale.

Sometimes, though, these games and all that surrounds them come out of nowhere to remind us just how much time has passed. Congrats to all of us on getting old. Not everyone is so lucky.