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At a childrens party this weekend, a 4-year-old walked in wearing blue-and-white Velcro shoes from an unexpected signature athlete.Michael Jordan? Nope. LeBron James? Definitely not. Stephen Curry? Not these.They were Stan Smiths.It has always been a great shoe, Smith told ESPN in an exclusive interview. So clean and simple.How did little Sammy come to be wearing the shoes of a 69-year-old tennis player who was last No. 1 in the world eight years before the childs parents were born? Its thanks to what might be the greatest sneaker revival of all time.Adidas, which has made the sneakers for more than 50 years, now sells Stan Smiths in black, in pink, in blue, in mens, in womens, in kids and infant sizes. There are knit Stans, suede Stans and Stans that are dipped in gold. And if you cant find a pair to your liking, you can go online and customize your own. Youll see them on feet from New York to Tokyo. In its 2014 annual report, Adidas revealed that the Stan Smiths were the companys best-selling shoes of all time, with more than 40 million pairs sold. Buoyed by the Stan Smiths, sales of Adidas Classics in the U.S. are up 60 percent for the first six months of 2016.But Stan Smith -- the tennis player, not the sneaker -- started out as one of those guys who was just at the right place at the right time.In 1965, Adidas made a plain white tennis shoe with green accents for one of the best tennis players in the world at the time, Frenchman Robert Haillet. Unlike other Adidas shoes, it had perforated holes in place of companys iconic three stripes, and it displayed Haillets signature on the side.The shoes were popular at the time, as the leather made it the best performance shoe available, but Adidas thought it had a problem in 1971 when Haillet retired. Horst Dassler, the son of Adidas founder Adi Dassler, reached out to Donald Dell, the former U.S. Davis Cup captain who started a sports agency the year before with two tennis clients: Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith.Dell suggested Smith as a fill-in for the line. Though the ATP and its official rankings system hadnt been created yet, Smith was considered the best player in the world. Horst Dassler took Dells advice and signed Smith to a small, five-year deal. Adidas, judging by the way its executives acted, didnt have much faith that Smith had staying power. Although Smith was the lead endorser, he was wearing a shoe that still had Haillets name on it.I became friends with [Haillet] because of the shoe, Smith said. His son called me when Robert died in 2011. That son had also been upset years earlier, when Adidas took his fathers name off the shoe.That change came in 1978. Adidas put Smiths signature on the tongue of the sneaker for the first time, along with an image of Smith -- that strangely featured him without a mustache.My whole adult life I had one, save for a year [when I was] 23 and 24, Smith said.The signature, which features an S shared by both Stan and Smith, was created with the help of Kathy Andrews, a Delta flight attendant whod met Smith at an autograph signing years before.She thought I had a boring signature, so I did it with one S, Smith said.On the shoe heel, Adidas added another green panel with Smiths full name and the Adidas trident.In the 1980s, as the Stan Smiths started to lose relevance as tennis performance shoes, they started to become popular as fashion shoe. At some point, Smith got used to it.I was at the US Open in the early 90s, he said, and some young man recognized me and told me, Your shoe is really big in the hood.In 2001, his then 14-year-old daughter, Austin, told him he was famous.She told me that Jaysee had put me in his song, said Smith, who rotates through 50 pairs in his own personal collection. I said, Who is Jaysee? She said, No, its Jay Z.She wasnt kidding. Lampin in the Hamptons, the weekends man/The Stan Smith Adidas and the Campus, Jay Z says in a song on his 2001 album The Blueprint. Smith has also been name-checked in songs by A$AP Rocky, Joe Budden, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne, among others.As the shoe found a second life as an iconic element of fashion, Smith earned a flat fee each year until 2005, when Dell was able to convince Adidas officials that Smith deserved more -- a royalty structure paying him for each shoe sold. Neither Dell nor Smith would reveal how much Smith was earning from those sales, but it cant be too shabby given how hot the shoe now is.Im not making Michael Jordan money, Smith said, laughing, referencing the more than $100 million MJ is said to make each year in Nike royalties.In 2011, Adidas executives had a meeting with Smith and Dell. The executives told the pair that they felt the market was crowded and needed a little cleaning up. To that end, they were going to stop producing Stan Smiths for 2012 and 2013.I didnt like that idea, Smith said. But they knew exactly what they were doing.While the Stan Smiths were off the market, people didnt forget about them. In fact, the shoe still generated plenty of buzz, including in 2013, when Gisele Bundchen posed for the cover of Vogue Paris wearing only her Stan Smiths.On Jan. 14, 2014, a day Smith remembers well, the shoes returned to the market with much fanfare. Adidas sent shoes to influencers such as Pharrell Williams and Ellen DeGeneres, replacing Smiths face with the stars own.Absence had indeed made the heart grow fonder.Most strategic plans fail at execution, said Eric Liedtke, head of Adidas global brands. We got this one right.Like young kids who drink an Arnold Palmer today and wonder why a golfer is on the can, people arent buying the shoes because of Stan Smith. But he doesnt mind that Taylor Swift -- who was spotted wearing the shoes in Australia last month -- might not know who he is. Its enough that she was spotted wearing his shoes this summer.I tell my wife that 95 percent of people dont know that Im an actual person, said Smith, who runs an elite tennis program and a corporate hospitality company out of his home base in Hilton Head, S.C. Then she, of course, says the number is closer to 99 percent. Air Max 90 Outlet Italia . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. 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With eight games on the schedule for Friday night, the daily fantasy basketball slate offers just enough star power to make picking a lineup tricky. Our experts (Al Zeidenfeld, Joe Kaiser and Renee Miller) provide their picks and fades to get you ready for the night across the Association.Building blockAl Zeidenfeld -- Chris Paul, LA ClippersThe Clippers and Chris Paul have been absolutely dominant early on in the season, so much so that the blowouts have kept his fantasy numbers down just a bit. Tonights contest in Oklahoma City should be more closely contested and therefore keep CP3 generating fantasy points well into the fourth quarter. Building balanced lineups has proven profitable early on in the season on DraftKings, and Paul is a superstar with a great chance of scoring 45 or more fantasy points at only $8,900 tonight.Joe Kaiser -- Carmelo Anthony, New York KnicksBoston cant stop anybody right now as they play without Al Horford and Jae Crowder and the stats tell the story. Not only are the Celtics the worst defense in the league entering Friday, they are 3.3 points worse per 100 possessions than the next worst team (Orlando). On a night with LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and several other strong small forward options, Anthony is the one Im focusing on as great value in the $7,000s on both DraftKings and FanDuel. Remember, Otto Porter Jr. lit up these Celtics on Wednesday for 34 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. Look for Anthony to fly past his salary value tonight.Renee Miller -- Blake Griffin, LA Clippers Griffin tends to get a bad rep in fantasy and basketball circles for a number of reasons, but he has hit the ground running this year. Hes scored double-digit points in every game so far, with six double-doubles in the Clippers eight games played this season (averaging 19/10). He didnt have a great game when these teams met last week, shooting just 33 percent, but Im not holding one game against him. The Western Conference rivalries make for great basketball -- high scoring and competitive -- and the Clippers are looking like the team to beat right now. Griffins strong play is a big reason for that. He fits well into cash game or tournament lineups on either site, but is a slightly better value at FanDuel.ddddddddddddFadeAl Zeidenfeld -- Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio SpursThis isnt about Leonards talent or his fantasy value, its more about roster construction. I dont think I can afford to pay up to get Kawhi into my head-to-head lineups tonight because of how many guards I will be spending on. Because of those guards, I will have to find at least a little value at the forward spots. Even saving $1,500-$2,000 at the position will be massive, and I just dont see a path to playing Kawhi even though hes been someone I jammed into more lineups than any other player over the course of the first two weeks of the season.Joe Kaiser -- Otto Porter Jr., Washington WizardsRecency bias is going to inflate Porters ownership numbers on Friday just two days after the best game of his life. But as I mentioned above, that game came against the worst defense in the league, and things get much tougher tonight against Cleveland. Not only are the Cavs ranked 13th in defensive efficiency, they also have a chance to blow past a 2-5 Wizards team that was struggling mightily before the win over the Celtics. If this turns into a blowout, theres a good chance Porter wont reach his season average of 34.9 minutes. Im looking elsewhere tonight at small forward.Renee Miller -- Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers Ive tried to get behind Irving a few times this season and he has fallen short of where Id like to see him given his salary (upper 40s in fantasy points), even in the best of matchups. Tonight hell have his hands full with John Wall and the Wizards, who have been fairly stingy vs. opposing point guards. Irvings assist and rebounding numbers are so low that if he doesnt score 30 points, hes not meeting value. Ill take one of the top three tonight at PG, instead.Al Zeidenfeld is a promoter & user at DraftKings (Username: Al_Smizzle) and plays on his personal account in games he offers advice on. These views/strategies are his own and do not reflect the views of DraftKings. He may also deploy different players/strategies than what he advises. ' ' '