what happend to the And 1 team?

[K_rob11]

Tickets are about to go on sale here for the "ball4real" tour...i went to the website and noticed that it was just some of the (i guess) former And 1 players. Did they split up or something? I was thinking about taking my son to go watch this...but am wondering if it will be any good now since its pretty much just half of the And 1 crew...

[cbgatorade0202]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

I'm pretty sure And 1 Team is around still I'd just think this is another company trying to build themselves with the same thought process. I'm pretty sure the Professor and Escelade the 2 I remember were on tv a few weeks ago somewhere talking about there tour this summer?

[Hassan Darkside]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

They did split up. http://www.ball4real.com/

http://www.insidehoops.com/streetball.shtml

MAJOR INSIDEHOOPS.COM STREETBALL EXCLUSIVE: MASS DEFECTION FROM AND 1 MIXTAPE TOUR RESULTS IN NEW COMPANY "STREETBALL ENTERTAINMENT," WITH PLANS FOR 30 CITY SUMMER STREET BASKETBALL TOUR

streetball March 28, 2007 -- A few days ago InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner had an exclusive interview with Dennis Chism, more famously known as Spyda, formerly of the AND 1 mixtape tour.

In this InsideHoops.com exclusive, the biggest news ever to hit modern day streetball is revealed: The vast majority of AND 1 streetballers have parted ways with the company and helped start a new tour, called Streetball Entertainment. It sounds like it'll be very similar to the mixtape tour, only Spyda sounds confident it'll be better. Read every word. Enjoy the interview.

Note to streetball websites: Feel free to quote a few paragraphs of this (not the whole thing, of course!), with of course credit to InsideHoops.com and a link so your readers can read the rest of the interview (that's how it always works, but sometimes streetball sites need a bit of a reminder).

Forward www.insidehoops.com/streetball.shtml to all your friends who like streetball so they know what's up.

Also, stayed tuned for a fully updated InsideHoops.com street basketball section to debut around April 1.

And, any day now InsideHoops.com will have more info about all this, so check back. And anyone reading this, you should read InsideHoops.com every day for our ridiculously great coverage of the NBA. And now on to Spyda:

InsideHoops.com: What have you been up to since the end of the last AND 1 streetball tour?

Spyda: After Japan I came home. Went straight down to Orlando, working out with a guy named Tom Shaw. He's a strength and endurance coach with the New England Patriots. So I'm out here in Orlando from January to May at Wide World of Sports, which is located at Disneyworld. Other than that, I'm always looking to get better, and better and better.

InsideHoops.com: And how old are you now, mid 20's right?

Spyda: 26.

InsideHoops.com: What's the status with you and AND 1? You were with them for the tours you just mentioned. Are you still with them, or finished or what?

streetball Spyda: We have a new tour. A new company called Streetball Entertainment. A bunch of guys branched off into Streetball Entertainment and some guys stayed with AND 1. I branched off into Streetball Entertainment, to try new things and explore more. I want to thank AND 1 for everything they've done for me. But I think it was just time for a change for me. I just wanted to do something different. Been doing the same old thing for like five years straight. And it was a different look coming to a different company. Bigger and better things.

InsideHoops.com: How many of the AND 1 streetballers went over to the new company Streetball Entertainment? And how many stayed with AND 1?

Spyda: I think five or six stayed, but we have 12.

InsideHoops.com: Wow, so it's basically a mass defection.

Spyda: Right now we're getting everything out right now. We have a choice, between MTV, BET or Spike TV. We're working on that right now. It's really going good. It's really on us, all the players, as far as what channel we want to be on. Like I've been telling people, we've been doing ESPN Classic. We've been on every night, reruns. We're just trying to take it to another level. MTV and BET is another level for streetball. We're turning streetballers into rock stars.

InsideHoops.com: Yeah, and if anyone deserves it it's all you guys. Off the top of your head, or if you have a list with you, do you know which of the 12 players went over to Streetball Entertainment?

Spyda: We have AO, Air Up There, myself, 50, Half Man Half Amazing, I'll be Right Back, Main Event, Shane the Dribbling Machine, the Pharmacist, Circus and Special EFX. And then a couple new faces you might not know. But they will let you know once they hit the court.

InsideHoops.com: Who actually owns Streetball Entertainment? Is it owned by you guys as a group or someone else?

Spyda: It was a team effort. It's a lady. I'm not going to put her name out there.

InsideHoops.com: OK, yeah, I guess she'll put it out there when she's ready to make it public on Inside Hoops dot com or on the company's site.

Spyda: It was a team effort that we came together, while we were in Japan. Japan was the last game. It's just a team effort, man.

InsideHoops.com: What were some of the reasons for you guys to break away from AND 1? Do you think you can make more money than you were, or do things with a tour that AND 1 wasn't doing, or was it just that you had your fun on the AND 1 tour, did your thing, but it was just time to move on and change things up?

Spyda: I think it was the last reason. It was just time to do something new. Everybody don't want to see the same thing go on, go on. We wanted to do something different, and make the competition more better. It seemed like years and years, it was starting to die down. Ratings were up in 2003, 2004 when Professor came on. And then you can see the ratings declined in 2005, 2006.

InsideHoops.com: Yeah, a few years ago the mixtape shows were rerun a lot on ESPN and ESPN2. I used to catch them at all hours of the night. But the reruns were less and less over the last two years. The buzz had peaked and was cooling off. Anyway so as for Streetball Entertainment, how will the new tours you guys put on be different than what everyone saw with the AND 1 mixtape tour?

streetball Spyda: The games won't be different, but I think the reality part of the show will be a lot different. It'll be raw footage. Like, whatever you're going to get, that's what you're going to get. It's pretty much the games will be the same. To be honest, the team that we have now, when you come see us play it's going to be run and gun. Everybody on the team is faster and quicker now. That's how I'll be taking my game to another level. Because I know the team that we have, all we're going to try to do is outrun you. That's all we're doing is outrunning people. Faster pace.

[Quick6]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

Wow so surprising that the fad of streetball that basically made a mockery of the game is going away.

[edaddy]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

Wow so surprising that the fad of streetball that basically made a mockery of the game is going away.

Going away?..Well sorry to inform you but streetball has been around for decades and is far from a fad...it was a way of life in my neighborhood taught streetball from the first time you are able to walk...Maybe the commercialization of streetball is starting to wane ...but streetball as a whole is as strong as ever my man...

[CharlieBrown]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

I was a huge fan of that Season One of And 1... Sad to see them split apart.

[BigTigLSU]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

Saying streetball is gone away is like people saying rap would die out. Its a culture so I doubt it will go away. The problem is with exposure comes commercialism because corporate sponsors want mass appeal. That will water down anything from its purest form and make it look gimmicky ... by the time something becomes maintstream and gets widely accepted by a major aucience its normally a shell of its self. Street ball doesnt make a mockery of basketball but corporate america has tried too..

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

I was a huge fan of the And 1 television series, it's shocking to hear that some of the And 1 vets defected.

The brand of basketball they play is a nice change to the standard that we get on the t.v. The show to me was very entertaining.

I would love nothing more than to see the current And 1 team and the new ball4real team start playing each other, and have a huge rivalry.

["The Jab" Judah]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

Going away?..Well sorry to inform you but streetball has been around for decades and is far from a fad...it was a way of life in my neighborhood taught streetball from the first time you are able to walk...Maybe the commercialization of streetball is starting to wane ...but streetball as a whole is as strong as ever my man...

the guy is from seattle... you shouldnt expect him to understand the origins of streetball and what it means and how it will never fade

[jake44np]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

Saying streetball is gone away is like people saying rap would die out. Its a culture so I doubt it will go away. The problem is with exposure comes commercialism because corporate sponsors want mass appeal. That will water down anything from its purest form and make it look gimmicky ... by the time something becomes maintstream and gets widely accepted by a major aucience its normally a shell of its self. Street ball doesnt make a mockery of basketball but corporate america has tried too..

Actually rap sales have gone down 45% over the last 5 years so it kind of is going away. Granted not totally away but the vast majority of people are no longer listening to rap music like they use to.

Back to the orginal subject, I am very interested to see this new streetball show. I really enjoyed the old streetball show, some of the stuff those guys do is amazing.

[Hassan Darkside]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

Actually rap sales have gone down 45% over the last 5 years so it kind of is going away. Granted not totally away but the vast majority of people are no longer listening to rap music like they use to.

I don't think that's a fair assumption to make. Sales may have gone down over the last 5 years, but that's not because it's disinteresting. The internet helped a lot with that. We're burning/downloading so much music online that we really have no reason to go out and buy albums anymore. Plus this method is a lot cheaper. I'm not saying that's a good thing though.

I, myself, really liked the shows. I just feel that certain players *cough*hotsauce*cough* really, really stretched the boundaries of basketball in general. I love some of his moves, but so many now are blatant travels, double dribbles, and almost football type jukes.

But only a select few females arouse me more than seeing ankle-breaking crossovers, off the head dribbles, and 360 alley oops.

This split of And1 could be a really good thing for streetball marketing too. A rivalry can, and probably will happen. I wonder if both will have a TV-Series this summer.

[Hassan Darkside]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

One other thing I noticed was that Starbury brand is all over this. That's a nice look imo.

[Mjphillips]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

As long as AO came with them they will be all right. And they need to get Skip off my Rockets so he can get back to what he does best because he sucks in the NBA. But I still think AO is the best I have ever seen. He is amazing.

[BigTigLSU]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

I don't think that's a fair assumption to make. Sales may have gone down over the last 5 years, but that's not because it's disinteresting. The internet helped a lot with that. We're burning/downloading so much music online that we really have no reason to go out and buy albums anymore. Plus this method is a lot cheaper. I'm not saying that's a good thing though.

Music sales as a whole have been affected by the internet hence the music industry's stance against the napsters of the world. It just goes to show you that you can take a numbers and make them say what you want. The decline in sales in Rap music is consistent with the decline with music sales across the board which doesnt equal the death of a genre.

[jmood88]

Re: what happend to the And 1 team?

Wow so surprising that the fad of streetball that basically made a mockery of the game is going away.

You do realize your favorite basketball players started making a "mockery" of the game, right?