AND1 Live Tour
The AND1 Mixtape Tour is a traveling basketball competition and exhibition sponsored by the basketball apparel manufacturer AND1. A group of well known streetball players, along with their exciting announcer, Duke Tango, travels from town to town and challenges teams composed of local talent. Games tend to be characterized by comedic stunts and acrobatic slam-dunks. After each game, the local amateur who gave the best performance is offered a position on the AND1 team.
The tour is televised in half hour "Streetball" segments on ESPN2, and highlight reels called "mixtapes" are distributed on DVD.
Controversy
AND1 encourages flashy moves by releasing the most outrageous plays on DVD and relying on a more lenient set of rules than established leagues like the NBA. This has led to numerous comparisons with the Harlem Globetrotters, and has caused some journalists to criticize the tour.[1] Supporters of the tour have responded by describing the game as a form of performance art and reminding detractors of the fundamental skills required for this showy style of play.[2]
2007 Mixtape Tour
There will be two tours this summer, with the team split up to cater to them. The usual summer tour will tour through 30 cities, and will be called the Ball4Real World Tour. The second half of the team will will be a 'Crash The Court' tour that will visit well-known streetball courts in America, and will still go under the AND1 Mixtape Tour headline. They will both be going on at the same time.
AND1 Streetballers 2007
Coach: Mike Ellis aka "Big Mike"
- Grayson Boucher aka "The Professor"
- Kenny Brunner aka "Bad Santa"
- Phillip Champion aka "Hot Sauce"
- Jerry Dupree aka "The Assassin"
- John Humphrey aka "Helicopter"
- Troy Jackson aka "Escalade"
- Hugh Jones aka "Baby Shack"
- Tony Jones aka "Go Get It"
- Jamal Nelson aka "Springs"
- Andre Poole aka "Silk"
Ball4Real Streetballers 2007
Coach: Steve Burtt aka "All Day"
- Dennis Chism aka "Spyda"
- Jamar Davis aka "Pharmacist"
- Waliyy Dixon aka "Main Event"
- Taurian Fontenette aka "Air Up There" aka "Mr. 720"
- John Harvey aka "High Octane"
- Anthony Hayward aka "Half Man Half Amazing"
- Jerome Holman aka "Circus"
- DaShon Kirby aka "Killa Kirb"
- Robert Martin aka "50"
- Earv Opong aka "I"ll Be Right Back"
- Aaron Owens aka "AO"
- Ryan Williams aka "Special FX"
- Shane Woney aka "The Dribbling Machine"
Former AND1 Streetballers
- Rafer Alston aka "Skip To My Lou"; currently plays for NBA's Houston Rockets
- Tyron Evans aka "Alimoe" aka "Black Widow"
- Tim Gittens aka "Headache"
- Lonnie Harrell aka "Prime Objective"
- Eric Holmes aka "Spinmaster"
- Antoine Howard aka "Flash" (deceased, 1975-2004)
- Robin Lucious Kennedy, Jr. aka "Sik Wit It"