Sneakers

The dress code is in, which means that the David Letterman look is out for teachers at the Magnolia Public School. Letterman likes to wear sneakers - even with a business suit - when hosting his late-night television show, but if he were teaching at Magnolia, his outfit would violate the school's new dress code. The school board in August adopted a code for teachers, administrators and clerical staff that is broad for the most part but does ban sneakers. Only physical-education teachers are exempt from that prohibition.

Allen Gore wore his black, low-top Nike sneakers to court yesterday, the same ones he bought the day he and Christopher Demby went shopping on 52d Street. That it was Gore who lived to tell the story of how his friend was killed March 17 over a similar pair of Nikes was merely chance. Gore had managed to hold on to his bag of new sneakers when the two friends were accosted by three teenagers. He was able to duck into a store as gunfire erupted. Two shots were fired, he testified yesterday, but only Demby was struck.

Christopher Demby and his friend, Allen Gore, both 15, went to the 52nd Street Strip in West Philadelphia on March 17, 1990, to buy sneakers. They were stalked, then set upon by three teens, two with guns, who stole their new sneakers and left Christopher Demby dead in the street. Yesterday, the two gunmen, Kenyatta "Yattie" Miles, 20, and Michael Henry, 18, were convicted by a Common Pleas Court jury of first-degree murder in the slaying. A sentencing hearing for the two was set for today.

AS AN African-American, I am appalled by some of the negative reactions of my fellow African-Americans toward Bill Cosby's comments over the decline of moral and social structure in black communities and families. If what Bill Cosby has said does not refer to you, and if you are decent, productive parents, then you should not be offended by his remarks. I agree with Bill. Many African-Americans put too much importance on $200 sneakers, for example, and less on cleaning up their neighborhoods, respecting one another, pursuing a decent education - need I say more?

BACK IN APRIL, on the same day that his famous father, Michael Jordan, was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, Marcus Jordan announced he would play hoops at the University of Central Florida. That was a happy day for the Knights, who beat out the likes of Iowa, Stanford, Toledo, Butler, and Oklahoma for Marcus' talents. But it may end up being a costly decision for the university. Marcus, it seems, will only wear Nike Air Jordan sneakers because, he says, they hold special meaning to him and his family.

For an hour Saturday night, the borough will cordon off the one block of Mechanic Street for its first drag race. No fast cars will be competing on that tiny stretch of hill that is no more than a few hundred yards long. This race belongs to drag queens, who will celebrate Halloween with a race in heels to the top of the hill. The race will begin at 8:30 p.m. Saturday from the corner of Mechanic and Main Streets. The contestant who is fastest in pumps will take home nearly $1,000 in gift certificates to local businesses and a two-foot trophy of a gold-plated heeled sneaker with wings, said Sam Burns, a Chamber of Commerce member who thought up the race.

The crowd shuffled into the Starlight Ballroom on a recent Saturday night, their heads down, their eyes darting left and right. They weren't shy. They were checking out each other's sneakers. "I got these from Australia and I don't think anybody has got these," Sean Hamilton, 31, proudly noted, showing off his silver and blue 2008 Nike Air McFlys. "I've probably got some of the rarest sneakers ever. " The masses were out at the Philadelphia dance club for "Sneaker Pimps," an international six-year-old traveling showcase of unique shoes that attracts both the curious and the collectors - as in people who may have hundreds (like 500)

He took a shotgun blast in the right shoulder in a bloody rampage in an Oak Lane drug house in 1988, but Andre Kinard apparently didn't learn a thing, the prosecutor said. "Sometimes you look at these people and wonder if there was any impact, because they go out and commit the same kind of vicious acts," Assistant District Attorney Joe McGettigan said. Municipal Judge Arthur S. Kafrissen yesterday ordered Kinard, now 18, held without bail for trial over his alleged role in the murder of a 17-year-old boy during an attempt to steal the victim's new Nike sneakers on West Philadelphia's 52nd Street shopping strip.

WHILE millions of Americans know the conspiracies behind who killed JFK and why Elvis is living in a trailer park in Port Orange, Fla., I don't waste my time with such theories. Instead, I live my life and judge people on their athletic footwear. I call it the Sneaker Theory. Growing up, every generation had the fear of having to wear Bo-Bo's. Already the song is creeping in your head: Bo-Bo's, they make your feet feel fine, Bo-Bo's they cost $1.99. Just like you didn't want to be the kid who was forced to eat a urinal cake, you didn't want to be the kid wearing Bo-Bo's.

Sneakers as girly confections? In the male-dominated world of novelty kicks, that might seem a bit of a stretch. But then again, it hasn't ever been tried by the first bona-fide princesses of hip-hop. Vanessa and Angela Simmons, daughters of Reverend Joseph "Run" Simmons, one-third of the pioneer rap group Run-D.M.C., launched their sneaker line, Pastry, on Sunday. The design duo are also the nieces of urban fashion/lifestyle moguls Russell and Kimora Lee Simmons - the couple credited with taking hip-hop-inspired clothing mainstream with Phat Farm, Def Jam University, and the runway spectacle Baby Phat.

The sneakers were a fashion statement, but the Bishop Eustace basketball team made its main point with its play. Wearing fluorescent orange sneakers with their white-with-black-trim home uniforms, the Crusaders took care of business with a hard-fought, 62-54 victory over Pennsauken in an Olympic Conference interdivision game on Friday night. Senior guard Carson Puriefoy and senior forward Sho DaSilva led the way for Bishop Eustace (1-0), the No. 1 team in The Inquirer South Jersey Top 10. Puriefoy, a 6-foot guard, collected 24 points along with five assists and three steals.

"THE FIGHTER" director David O. Russell, in town shooting "The Silver Linings Playbook," and Chestnut Hill-native actress Melissa Fitzgerald announced the winners of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office's Shoot in Philadelphia Screenwriting Competition yesterday afternoon at Vie (600 N. Broad). They joined film-office executive director Sharon Pinkenson and Joan Bressler , director of Greater Philadelphia Filmmakers, in awarding the $10,000 grand prize to Anthony Stitt for his screenplay "The Sneaker Man," about a one-legged stolen-sneaker salesman who gets a prosthetic leg and attempts to pursue his boxing dreams.

1CHESTNUT HILL BANK IS ROBBED AT GUNPOINT Two armed men robbed a Sovereign Bank in Chestnut Hill yesterday, authorities said. The FBI and Philadelphia police said that the men entered the bank, at Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike, about 12:57 p.m., and while one brandished a shotgun with a pistol grip and threatened employees, the other vaulted the teller counter. After obtaining an undisclosed amount of cash, the men fled south on foot through the parking lot. They were last seen getting into a silver sedan with tinted windows, possibly a Pontiac Grand Am, headed south on Ardleigh Street from Evergreen Avenue, police said.

Toney Douglas lined up those loud green sneakers behind the arc one last time and let it fly. When the ball went through, the New York Knicks had to rewrite their record book. Douglas tied a franchise record by making nine of the Knicks' franchise-record 20 three-pointers, scoring 29 points in a 120-99 victory over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies last night that snapped a three-game losing streak. "Once I started hitting, I felt like there was no defense out there," Douglas said.

When it comes to shopping for her beloved sneakers, Prep Charter's Kahleah Copper says it's about quality, not quantity. "Yeah, I don't have a lot," she said. "But I'm pretty particular about the ones I do get. I want to feel and look good in them. " Saturday at Temple's Liacouras Center, Copper, wearing sneakers with eye-catching, neon green-colored soles, scored 15 of her game-high 19 points in the last 13 minutes as the Huskies raced past Central, 49-39, for their first Public League girls' basketball championship.

Great news! There's a new line of "toning" sportswear that loses weight for you. All you have to do is put it on. So go get some ice cream and make yourself a milkshake. Let's lose some weight! Count me excited. I knew this would happen, someday. It proves that America is the greatest country on Earth, making genuine scientific advances, one after the other. Excuse me. Pass the chocolate cake. If we can put a man on the moon, I knew it wouldn't be long until we did something that really mattered.

Over at Temple, there's excitement surrounding Saturday's Atlantic Ten game against St. Joseph's. It has nothing to do with the Owls (14-5, 4-2 A-10) being heavily favored to extend their seven-game series winning streak against the struggling Hawks (5-15, 0-6 A-10). The excitement has to do with participating in the seventh annual Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers Awareness Weekend. Coaches from both teams will wear sneakers on the sidelines of Saturday's game at the Palestra.

They came for the discount hot dogs and sodas and to watch a wrecking ball smash through Philadelphia's beloved Spectrum, but more than anything, they came for the memories. Several thousand sports fans - many wearing the colors of the Flyers and 76ers - and music lovers who attended concerts there gathered Tuesday in a parking lot across from the South Philadelphia arena to share recollections. Amid a block-party atmosphere that included carnival-style games and the retro-rock band Kindred Spirit, they listened to some of Philadelphia's sports icons reflect on their great times at the Spectrum.