Sports
Sports > And Then Some
words by > DeMarco Williams
Basketball gets some extra bounce with the And 1 touch.
WALIYY “Main Event” Dixon is amazing with a basketball. His gravity-defying antics on the hardwood are enough to leave Sir Isaac Newton shaking his head in disbelief. NBA scouts have seen him play and they, too, are left speechless—mostly because they’re tired of saying Main Event and the other jazzy-named members of the And 1 Mixed Tape Tour streetball team can’t play structured basketball. The guys laugh off such statements, but they don’t have time for much else—just look at how long the autograph line is.
And 1, a grassroots basketball apparel company started in 1993, helped initiate the interest over streetball by compiling footage of some of New York City’s finest playground ballers onto the line’s promotional DVD in 1999. “It didn’t get bigger than the brand,” explains And 1 star Grayson “The Professor” Boucher, on the DVD’s and subsequent Tour’s early popularity, “but it did kinda get its own fan base. It’s streetball, but it’s so entertaining that you almost couldn’t see [the action] in a regular NBA game.” Nine hip-hop-flavored DVDs and an annual pilgrimage across US arenas later, the And 1 Mixed Tape Tour is a full-fledged national phenomenon that’s even become a hit video game—And 1 Streetball: The Video Game. There are eight east Coast games this month.
“It’s showboating, but on the other hand, we can still play ball,” insists And 1 rookie Taurian “The Air Up There” Fontenette, who earned a roster spot at open tryouts in Houston. “Everybody wasn’t able to be seen at big colleges and stuff. Me? I can play ball with the best of ’em.” Check out one of the games for yourself and see that the flava these guys hoop with is actually quite tasty. For tour dates, go to www.and1.com.
On Deck in August
August 5
MLS All-Star Game
Bridgeview Stadium, Bridgeview, IL
Will somebody look under LA Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan’s jersey and see if there’s an Energizer battery somewhere? Mere weeks after leading the US in the World Cup, the guy (along with fellow strikers like Clint Dempsey) is right back here as the MLS stars battle two-time defending English Premier League champs Chelsea FC near Chicago.
August 6
Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
This is shaping up to be one crazy year around NASCAR tracks.
There have been temper tantrums and verbal spats—and that’s just between drivers’ fiancées along pit row. Actual racers have behaved even more badly. Yet we continue to watch Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne every week, especially on big weekends like this one.
August 28-September 10
US Open
USTA National Tennis Center, Queens, NY
Rafael Nadal and Justine HeninHardenne we know. Martina Hingis and Venus Williams we forgot but are starting to get reacquainted with. But for the love of Bjorn Borg, can anyone tell us where Patty Schnyder and David Nalbandian came from? Probably not. That’s okay though. We’ll learn plenty about both as their rackets storm through the Big Apple.