SPORTS AND CULTURE TALK: An Interview With RUNANSHOOT

RUNANSHOOT is a must follow on the ‘gram for all sports and culture-heads out there. As you scroll through the 2,000+ posts you encounter grails of NBA, NFL and Wrestling lore. Anyone with an appreciation of the 90’s, the swagged up 2000’s and even the best of todays sporting environment will fall in love with RUNANSHOOT’s content. The page covers the best of NBA and NFL culture with additional coverage of other iconic sports moments. From flicks of Jeremy Lin in High School to old school, Allen Iverson NBA 2K covers. RUNANSHOOT fulfils the most ardent fan of sport’s nostalgia needs. We chopped it up with RUNANSHOOT (AKA Emil Tolliver) to conduct the first ever interview in LO-FI The Magazine history. Find out about his passions, inspirations and favorite kicks below:

Who is RUNANSHOOT?
Emil Tolliver, a 31 year old sprinter from Oakland, California.

What is RUNANSHOOT?
RUNANSHOOT is a visual representation of things that I have shown interest to throughout my 31 years of living. Moments in history. That I will never forget.   

When was RUNANSHOOT founded?
I started this page on July 28, 2012 in Ocala, Florida. This was a time in my life where I was in a transition. I thought I was done with school so I was just kind of chilling out in Florida. I was heavy into tumblr but I basically wanted to take everything that I loved as a child and show the world. After being featured numerous times on tumblr for sports I decided to make an Instagram. The old name was ‘glorydays247’ but when I decided to mainly focus on sports I changed the name to RUNANSHOOT, after one of my favorite college football offenses. 

Which Sports teams do you support? 
Oakland Raiders, Golden State Warriors, New York Yankees, Miami Hurricanes (College Football) and UNLV (College Basketball).

RUNANSHOOT embodies several aspects of sports/ pop culture. Your instagram feed is basically a museum of legendary moments in time. Do you view yourself as curator of culture?   
Definitely, that’s exactly how I want people to feel when they view my page. I want them to see a picture and say to themselves “hey I remember him”, “I remember that time”, that team or that moment. Most of my pictures are of things that I enjoyed as a child and all the way through to adulthood. I want people to have that same feeling. I do this for the people who feel like me. Who enjoy sports just as much as I do. 

Many pages similar to yours seem to focus on one aspect of sports/culture. Whereas yours is all encompassing. Featuring posts from College Football/ Hoops, NBA, NFL and even the golden era of Wrestling. Out of all of the major sports, which are you most passionate about? 
I would probably say I’m most passionate about football. As a kid I loved basketball and I still do. But I never had dreams of playing basketball. Honestly I couldn’t dribble with my left hand so that killed all my hoop dreams (Laughs). I always loved football from the different offenses, to the dominating teams, to the swag of it. From visors, to tail pads hanging out the back of the jersey, to socks, gloves, no gloves, taped fingers. The whole nine. Plus, I always prefer to watch scrambling quarterbacks over pocket passers any day.   

Which is your favorite era of the NBA and NFL? And furthermore, what are your thoughts on the current state of the NBA? 
My favorite era for the NBA is definitely the 90’s. I’m one of those dudes that just think everything was better in the 90’s. Plus the uniforms was fire. As far as NFL, I think now is one of the best eras. The players are bigger, stronger and faster. The game as a whole is a lot more faster and wide open which is something I like. I love seeing a great defensive matchup, but I also love seeing two high flying Offenses going back and forth. The NFL is implementing more of a college style which is something I think is dope. I absolutely love what the Chiefs and the Rams are doing and that’s coming from a die-hard Raiders fan you feel me?

I think the current state of the NBA is great. I truly believe we have left the super team era and the league is more balanced, which is how it should be. It’s more of a 2-man team as opposed to a ‘Big 3’ or a ‘Big 4’. I think this will be an exciting NBA season. I would also like to see more High school kids skipping college and either playing in the G league or going overseas for 1 year. Then entering the draft. That’s definitely a game changer and I hope to see more high profile High School prospects taking that route. 

Allen Iverson with Jadakiss or The Michael Vick experience? Which are some of your favorite sports commercials of all time? 
Well those Allen Iverson and Jadakiss commercials where legendary I always thought that was dope how they brought those two together. Allen Iverson is the epitome of swag in the NBA. He changed the game on and off the court and the commercials were just on another level. Some of my favorite sports commercials of all time were: the Bernie Mack and LeBron James Nike commercial, where LeBron comes in the church throwing passes. The Michael Vick Powerade commercial where he is throwing passes, knocking players back and he basically throws the ball out of the stadium. The Nike Basketball cross over freestyle commercial from 2001 and the old school NFL fantasy football commercials. 

If you had the choice between: Attending an Attitude era WWF RAW (or WCW Monday Nitro), Being on the sideline to witness Mike Vick in his prime or being courtside to watch your favorite team win an NBA title, which would you choose and why? 
I would have loved to be on the sideline where Vick made that 46 yard game-winning run versus the Vikings in 2002. That was something I remember seeing as a kid and I was blown away. I had been watching Vick since college but that play is one of his best plays of all time. To break off a big run like that in overtime for the game winner was crazy. Plus he had the Jordan 17’s on. A legendary moment no doubt.

Outside of RUNANSHOOT, do you have any other hobbies/passions? 
Well running is my passion, that’s what I do. I feel like I was placed on this earth to not only influence but inspire others through athletics. With an emphasis on children and young adults. I’m a sprinter and I have been at it for about 8 years now. I missed last year with an injury so I couldn’t compete but I’m back this year more hungry and more focused than I have ever been. My goal is to make it to the Olympic Trials in the 100m and 200m. Outside of that I really enjoy: bowling, watching horror movies, playing video games on the PlayStation, going to art museums and different sporting events. I’m trying to go to as many Raider games as possible since they’re leaving for Vegas. You can also catch me on YouTube watching old sports highlights from the 90’s and early 2000’s as well. 

EA Sports or 2K? What are your holy grails of sports video gaming? 
As a kid EA sports but now I’m rocking with 2K all day.

My holy grails for games are any NCAA football game. Every NCAA football game from 2002 all the way to its last game NCAA football 14. NCAA Football was my favorite I played those games more than anything. I still have my PlayStation 3 just to play that game. That’s how much I loved it. Hopefully they can work something out and potentially bring that game back. The video game world needs that. I am not going to lie that Madden 04 with Vick on the cover was the truth. Vick with the 95 Speed, 97 Accuracy, 98 Throwing Power and 92 Elusiveness was definitely a cheat code. 

Which kicks are your grails? 
Black Cement Jordan 3’s, Nike Air Max Griffey 1 Freshwater, Nike Air Max 95’s  (any OG color) and probably some All White, Low Top Air Force 1’s.

Cash Money’s Hot Boys or Dipset? 
Cash Money all day. I got to give it up to Cash Money cause they taught everyone how to stunt. Before them nobody was riding rims on they cars. Nobody was flexing like them. They changed the game no doubt about that. Hopefully one day we can see a Cash Money reunion. I would love to see something like that. 

Who were your favorites from the And1 Mixtape days? 
Hot Sauce, he had the most handles. Escalade cause he was big but he had handles and could destroy you in the post. AO had the most game to me he was like a pure basketball player, he just had StreetBall skills. The Professor was and still is nice to this day. 

What does the future hold for RUNANSHOOT? 
Truly I don’t know. I never even thought it would make it this far. So I’m going to continue to keep giving the people what they want till Instagram goes away (Laughs). Which will probably be never. 

Who had more swag, Mike Vick or Randy Moss? 
As much of a Vick fan I am, I got to go with Moss. Vick at one point was rocking J’s (Jordan’s) on the old Astro-Turf fields. He ended up getting his own line with Nike and his shoes were dope. But Moss was on team Jordan so we got to see the Jordan 9’s in the Vikings colors. Also the 11’s and 13’s. Not to mention he had his own Jordan shoes that were dope. So I got to give it up to Moss. 

Who do you believe are some of the most underrated players in NFL and NBA history?
In the NFL: Warrick Dunn, Fred Taylor, Brian Westbrook, Randall Cunningham, Marvin Harrison, Corey Dillon, Rob Smith and Darren Woodson .

In the NBA: Grant Hill, Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler, Horace Grant, Andre Miller, Shawn Marion, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Chauncey Billups.

 Any shout-outs, social media plugs/ closing words? 
I want to shout out: Sole Collector, Fat Shawn Kemp, Taylor Rooks, Big Bo Strong, Giancarlo Stanton, Straight Backs, Asialacap, Downtown Ball, Brian Bosworth, Beautiful Ballers, Kendall Gill, TheGrandArchives, The Life And Culture and s7eviefranchi5e for giving me a platform to speak my mind. Also shout out the whole Bay Area and all my followers. Especially the ones who have been rocking with me since day 1. 

Huge thank you to RUNANSHOOT, Follow him on Instagram here

Stay tuned for more Interviews and Sports content on LO-FI The Magazine!

Peep RUNANSHOOT’s favourite players to use in past and present Madden’s below: