--- description: Unfortunately, Jordan was shod in some of the most coveted sneakers on Earth at the time title: Teen Tries the 'What Are Those?' Meme On Michael Jordan image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Basketball](/tag/basketball/) ## Basketball Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A Teen Tried the 'What Are Those?' Shoes Meme On Michael Jordan ## Video: 5 Elements of A Viral Video [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Elements of A Viral Video](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vgQtqA8c.m3u8) (1:31)  _Published 2015-06-22. 5 Elements of A Viral Video_ by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 5, 2015 3:43 AM CUT by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 5, 2015 3:43 AM CUT In case you, like this writer, are not aware of the “What Are Those?!” meme, it’s an increasingly popular trend on video-sharing sites like Vine and Instagram where a person wearing dirty, unkempt or off-brand (read: lame) shoes is [publicly shamed](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/what-are-those "undefined") — like, hundreds of thousands of views shamed. But when you try and snare basketball demi-god Michael Jordan into that trap, as one young man did during a Q&A at the Michael Jordan Flight School summer camp, be prepared to have the shame handed back to you with interest. “I have one question for you,” 17-year-old Bryce Lyle asked the 52-year-old Hall-of-Famer, following it up with “What Are Those?!” and sending the young crowd into peals of laughter. > [](https://twitter.com/BryceLyle1/status/628425011519356928) Jordan looked confused, asked someone what it meant, and after admitting that he’s “lost in that Vine stuff,” delivered a kingly reply. > [](https://twitter.com/Addidunayer/status/628581280737820672) “What are those? These are 29 Lows,” he said, referring to the low-top, still unreleased, super desirable [Air Jordan XX9s](http://sneakernews.com/2015/08/02/michael-jordan-wore-a-never-before-seen-air-jordan-sneaker/ "undefined") on his feet as young Lyle writhed on the ground in embarrassment. Nice try, kid, but you didn’t think you could best His Royal Airness, did you? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3985057/michael-jordan-what-are-those-shoes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3985057/michael-jordan-what-are-those-shoes/"},"headline":"A Teen Tried the 'What Are Those?' Shoes Meme On Michael Jordan","datePublished":"2015-08-05T03:43:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:23:01.890Z","description":"Unfortunately, Jordan was shod in some of the most coveted sneakers on Earth at the time","url":"https://time.com/3985057/michael-jordan-what-are-those-shoes/","keywords":["Basketball","Newsfeed","Instagram","Vine","michael jordan","Meme"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/basketball/","name":"Basketball"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3985057/michael-jordan-what-are-those-shoes/","name":"A Teen Tried the 'What Are Those?' Shoes Meme On Michael Jordan"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Elements of A Viral Video","description":"5 Elements of A Viral Video","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vgQtqA8c/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-22T13:42:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vgQtqA8c.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3985057/michael-jordan-what-are-those-shoes/","duration":"PT1M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3985057/michael-jordan-what-are-those-shoes/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```