Video: 2011 Pro Football Hall Of Fame Finalists

Here's a video post of all 17 finalists up for enshrinement into the Football Hall of Fame. The official announcement as to who will be enshrined will be made today at 7:00 PM ET on the NFL Network. Out of these 17 finalists, who will be called for enshrinement into Canton?

Jerome Bettis	Tim Brown	Chris Carter
Dermontti Dawson	Richard Dent	Chris Doleman
Marshall Faulk	Charles Haley	Chris Hanburger
Cortez Kennedy	Curtis Martin	Richter/Hanburger
Willie Roaf	Ed Sabol	Andre Reed
Shannon Sharpe	Deion Nike Commercial	Deion Sanders

Kicks: Nike Air DT Max (Deion Sanders)

image courtesy of Sneakerfiles.com

I normally chronicle a basketball sneaker in the Kicks Series posts, but one of the craziest looking footwear creations was actually born on the gridiron with the Deion Sanders inspired Nike Air Diamond Turf (DT) Max kicks. These came out in 1996 when "Neon Deion" was the best shutdown corner in the NFL. Opposing teams didn't even throw toward the side of the field that Sanders was lurking. Was it the shoes that helped make Sanders so great. Not likely. Although the DT Max kicks are pretty sweet looking, Deion was a bona fide superstar before that '96 season. However, Sanders and the Dallas Cowboys did win Super Bowl XXX that year. I'm just saying… they're pretty good looking sneakers and it takes more than just sweat and hard work. It takes some fly looking kicks to get things done sometimes.

image courtesy of Sneakerfiles.com

No question, the most interesting design element of these Diamond Turf kicks is the tiger stripes or waves depending on your perspective. They're wild and abrasive just like Deion was. The visible Air Max mid sole is always cool too on Nike's creations. These sneakers were originally released in '96, but have been re- released as retro's. They came out just a couple of weeks ago for $125 with a few slight changes to the original design. The upper (Upper: Sneakerhead lingo for top part of the shoe/sneaker that holds the foot to the mid sole) has some always popular patten leather on the versions with a white background in the color schemes (In the case of the images from this post, the white and red Diamond Turfs). Another change is the lack of Deion Sanders image on the visible Air Max pocket on the bottom heel of the outer sole. I'm assuming this is because Nike no longer has an agreement with "Prime Time".

Speaking of Nike agreements, Deion was a spokesman for Nike all through the 90's. As a two-sport star and general load mouth, Sanders was a prime candidate to be a pitchman for Nike. It also didn't hurt that when the stadium lights were turned on, Deion's neon never shined brighter. Here's a YouTube clip of Sanders promoting the Nike Air DT Max:

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