28/06 - Joe “The Destroyer” Hammond
Some native New Yorkers who were bouncing around in the ’70s will swear that Joe Hammond was a better basketball player than Dr. J. For years you’ve heard the tales get taller on the blacktop: “Hammond dropped 50 on Doc. He could’ve busted ass in the N.B.A. if only. Nate Archibald, a Hall-of-Famer who played with legends Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish on the Boston Celtics, says he truly believes all the playground hype for one simple reason ..read more..

18/06 - Spinning The Globe
In many ways, the Harlem Globetrotters can easily be called the world’s most famous basketball team. They’ve played in every arena from South Africa to South Beach. They’ve had Hall of Famers like Wilt Chamberlain and Marques Haynes wear their prestigious red, white and blue uniform.
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To some they’re the “Clown Princes of Basketball” of an painful era gone by. To others, they were the pioneers that paved the way for guys like “Half-Man, Half-Amazing” and “Skip To My Lou” of the And 1 Streetball Tour.
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No matter how you may feel about them and or the game of basketball, when ever you mention the Trotters, there’s sure to be a lively debate about where they may or may not stand in the grand history of hoops.
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While there have been many books and articles written about them over the years, author Tom Green has put together one of the most definitive narratives about the Globbies and their long history.
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In “Spinning The Globe: The Rise, Fall and Return To Greatness of the Harlem Globetrotters”, Green tells the story of this extraordinary franchise and iconic American institution.
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Through original research, Green also uncovers intriguing controversies about the Globetrotters’ origins, their image in the African American community, and how they were used as a propaganda weapon during the Cold War.
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Green offers several interesting portraits of founder Abe Saperstein and the players who defined the Trotters’ legacy, including Haynes, Inman Jackson, Goose Tatum, Meadowlark Lemon, and Curly Neal.
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He also describes the Trotters’ struggles to overcome racial discrimination and internal dissension on their long road to glory. He also details the Globetrotters’ fall from grace to the brink of bankruptcy in the early 1990s, and the ultimate rebirth under current owner and former Globetrotter Mannie Jackson.
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Of their formative years, Green writes: “The Harlem Globetrotters were not just a great barnstorming team; they were a sociology class on wheels, bringing black hoops and black culture to a hundred Midwestern towns that had seen neither, and in the process transforming Dr. James Naismith’s stodgy, wearisome game — which was still sometimes played in chicken-wire cages by roughneck immigrants with flailing elbows and bloodied skulls, a sport more resembling rugby — into an orchestration of speed, fluidity, motion, dazzling skill, and, most improbably, inspired comedy.”
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Since those humble beginnings, the franchise has enjoyed worldwide success on and off the court. Back in 2002, they were inducted as a team into the Basketball Hall of Fame. They joined legendary franchises like the Harlem Rens, who paved the way for the Trotters, with their spot in the sun.
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At the time, The Globetrotters were just the fifth team and the first since 1963, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Said team owner Mannie Jackson, “To have finally been inducted and recognized by the most elite group in the game was, in my opinion, a testament to the greatness and lasting impact of the Harlem Globetrotters”.
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Green’s book offers an different insight on the Globetrotters and sheds new light on a team and a phenomenon that has stretched all over the globe.
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You don’t need to be a fan of basketball to enjoy this book.

16/06 - And1 tour taking it to the streets
If the player with one of the best handles in the game was craving street cred, the first thing he needed was a new handle of his own. The Grayson Bouchérs of the world are CEOs. They are worldly men of wealth. They are brokers, bean-counters and butlers, faces from an Ivy League fraternity. ..read more..

16/06 - Street Smarts - Balling for fun
When he left Mesa Community College for Chicago State back in 1999, Tony Jones knew in his gut that he’d be back in Phoenix as a pro baller. Of course, he hoped he’d be wearing an NBA uniform. But six years later, Jones, a.k.a. “Go Get It,” is playing straight-up streetball and hoopin’ it up on the AND1 Mix Tape Tour, ..read more..

08/06 - AND1 Makes the Cover of Sports Illustrated
Soon it will be upon us, that apocalyptic day when some And1 Mix Tape Tour ballplayer pulls a yo-yo, stiff-leg, boomerang, Flintstone Shuffle combo move so profoundly off the hook that basketball civilization itself collapses in a heap of broken ankles, its definition of fundamentally sound smashed to pieces. Whereupon the archaeologists will move in. ..read more..

06/06 - King Handles Interview
Joel “King Handles” Haywood, Vancouver Streetballer and Notic Legend is one of the hottest streetballers out right now. Considered by some as the fastest dribbler on the planet, Joey’s handles have not only impressed his fans but the likes of YPA who he now rolls with. Here’s an exclusive interview I did with Joey. ..read more..