# What's up with tennis shoes thrown over utility wires? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-tennis-shoes-thrown-over-utility-wires/189053 "2003-07-17T03:32:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mammie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/49beb7/32.png) [@Mammie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mammie)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-tennis-shoes-thrown-over-utility-wires/189053/1 "2003-07-17T03:32:45Z")
Have you ever seen this? There’s a couple of places in my home town where someone’s sneakers are tied together and hanging from untility lines. Someone told me there’s a place on or near the Univeresity of Dayton campus that has shoes hanging from lines. Anyone know the reason for this or it’s meaning? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-tennis-shoes-thrown-over-utility-wires/189053/2 "2003-07-17T03:40:22Z")
I know I saw it in a movie once, then all of a sudden it became some kind of fad. Can’t remember the movie, damn. But I have seen tennis shoes hanging from utility wires in every town I have been to in the last couple years. Crazy huh 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-tennis-shoes-thrown-over-utility-wires/189053/3 "2003-07-17T03:42:58Z")
There was a UL that they marked gang boundaries, which turned into reality as gangs heard this and took it up. Of course, near a uni, it’s probably students out to stir things up and make people think there are gangs around. ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-tennis-shoes-thrown-over-utility-wires/189053/4 "2003-07-17T03:45:25Z")
Cecils take on the subject: [Why do you see pairs of shoes hanging by the laces from power lines?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_274.html) ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-tennis-shoes-thrown-over-utility-wires/189053/5 "2003-07-17T05:05:36Z")
I see this very rarely around the Bay Area, but when I visited Goleta (UC Santa Barbara) there was a friggin’ Foot Locker up there. It’s very much a college area, but I haven’t seen it in/near any other campuses I’ve ever been to throughout California (and UN Reno). ---
**Author:** ![najniran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/958977/32.png) [@najniran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/najniran)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-tennis-shoes-thrown-over-utility-wires/189053/6 "2003-07-17T05:22:28Z")
Since I actually GO to UCSB and live in the infamous Isla Vista community, I thought I’d share my two cents. Most of the time it is just drunken party-goers who decide to steal their friends (or not) shoes, tie them up and throw them over the power line to see if they can get them to stay. Isla Vista is an extremely unique community as it is populated pretty much exclusively by college students (UCSB / SBCC), thus as you can imagine…alot of “weird” stuff goes on that you normally wouldnt see elsewhere (other college campuses included.) ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-tennis-shoes-thrown-over-utility-wires/189053/7 "2003-07-17T06:42:08Z")
When I was a kid, it was something big kids did to mess with smaller kids. Fortunately for those of us without so much body weight, pants are hard to throw and unlikely to catch on powerlines. One hears that the old timers used to throw people’s shoes up in trees. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-tennis-shoes-thrown-over-utility-wires/189053/8 "2003-07-17T08:18:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ccwaterback \* > \*\*I know I saw it in a movie once, then all of a sudden it became some kind of fad. Can’t remember the movie, damn. \*\* Wag the Dog, I expect. But it seems that the custom predates the movie by quite a way. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-tennis-shoes-thrown-over-utility-wires/189053/9 "2003-07-17T08:25:27Z")
I believe Cecil’s take is missing something- down on Parramore (Orlando’s equivalent of Martin Luther King Blvd. in every other US city- ie. where the rocks are) when someone is murdered, his friends throw his kicks over telephone lines before the funeral.