Those Damn Kids Today Department

Cross-referenced to Yet Another Sign of the Apocalypse Deparment

Between wristband checks, there was plenty of time for the sport shoe fanatics, who call themselves sneakerheads, to sit on the cold, soggy sidewalk in the rain and ponder what it all means.

"These shoes tell you who you are,'' said Christina Chow, a junior at Thurgood Marshall High School in San Francisco, who was wearing wristband 34. "They express your personality. They speak up for you, without words. They say you're hip, that you're not a follower.''

"That's right,'' said her pal Anthony PeÃta of San Francisco, who was wearing wristband 27.

Prospective buyer Wilson Woo (wristband No. 13) said he owns 300 pairs of shoes, many of them Air Jordans, and has only worn 100 of them.

read the sad story of our latest lost generation here