Nike Free Sparq Trainer Review

This review or should it be called a rant, was posted by a reader, I love to share your thoughts so keep them coming.  S/he didn't leave their name,,,

But the shoe I love love loved was the Nike Free Sparq Trainer. They are the best shoe I have found for running (until someday when I work up the determination to adapt to running in Vibrams again). And they are amazing just to walk in, which is at least as important to me as a running shoe since I do a lot more walking than running.

It seems like you all are rather dismissive of flexibility at this site. That is my favorite thing about minimalist shoes: the side to side, front to back all around flexibility. My legs really feel so much more alive, all the way up to my thighs, from wearing them. And I don't feel like my foot is in a cast, which is how 99% of today's shoes feel (was it always that way?). I don't mind a bit of cushioning when I'm on my feet all day (but I absolutely hate "support"). Just make the cushioning even, shoe designers.

Vibrams are a great idea in some respects, but for walking around in the winter or walking on hot asphalt in the summer, they suck.
I run naturally on my forefoot anyway, but I resent the extra cushioned heels that often make it impossible to run on your forefoot. The Nike Free Sparq trainers definitely had more heel cushioning that I want or need, but at least it wasn't enough to ruin them for me since the heels do not affect my foot strike.

So what did Nike do? They discontinued the Sparqs almost immediately, and the successor Nike Free Trainers have become more and more like standard Nike foot casts. Not only that, they are making them too narrow like the other "free" shoes (the Sparq trainers were the perfect width for me). I refuse to buy them.

Does it just seem like there must be someone evil at Nike trying to squelch any sort of innovation or good shoes? Or are they stupid? I think if you go to their website and try to find your way in, you will realize they are stupid, stupid, stupid. The website is like a Polish joke (or an Irish joke, or Italian joke, or whoever they make fun of for being stupid in your neck of the woods). But I haven't ruled out evil. They are not mutually exclusive (e.g. Sarah Palin, the Tea Party)