Iconoclastic wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. wore these hand painted Nike Vapor Carbon Elite 2.0 cleats before the New York Giants game on December 22nd, 2016. Due to the NFL’s stringent policies on player’s footwear during games, Beckham was only able to wear these one-of-a-kind cleats during warm-ups, switching them out for his game cleats before kickoff. These cleats are Christmas themed, and tell the abbreviated story of a “Good Grinch” and “Bad Grinch” fighting over a Christmas tree. The red painted Nike swooshes on the lateral, or outside, side of the shoe use black dashes to represent a heart that is three sizes too big, while the medial, or inside, side of the shoe has borders the swoosh in dashes to represent a heart two sizes too small. A devious looking Grinch dressed in a Santa Claus costume is pulling a Christmas tree around the heel of the right shoe, while another Santa-costumed Grinch is fiddling with the Christmas tree’s gold star.

     The Grinch painted on the left cleat is wearing Beckham’s number “3” jersey from Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, the high school both Beckham and his quarterback, Eli Manning, attended during their adolescence. The tongue of the cleats, as well as the laces, is volt green. The top of the cleat is painted with a red and white diagonal pattern, the same pattern that is painted on the sole of the cleats. “NIKE” is applied to the back of the cleats, and it has been painted with a multi-colored Christmas pattern. These cleats show very light use, consistent with use in warm-ups for one game. During warm-ups, Beckham paired the cleats with Grinch-themed green socks. In the game, against the Philadelphia Eagles, Beckham caught 11 passes for 150 yards as the Giants fell 24-19.

     Beckham signed the toe of each cleat in black marker, adding his number, “13”, to his signature. These cleats were designed by the sneaker artist Kickasso. The cleats come with a LOA from JSA (Z58633) for the signature and photo matches for use during warm-ups.

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