A few weeks back, we were asked to produce and “host” a short video series with Sprite that compares and contrasts playground basketball style and culture in New York City and Los Angeles. It was a tall task, especially when the two videos were only slated to a be a few minutes long, but we made a run at it and here are the results. Read More »

Who remembers the Y2K craze? The world was supposed to end, or at the least, society was supposed to collapse. We got a terrible Will Smith album (Or if you were a misguided soul like me, you probably liked it.). We were all planning to end up like John Cusack in 2012, flying planes through buildings and angling for tickets to some special ship. But the best thing to ever came out of the year 2000 was the Sportscenter commercial. Who remembers it? Mark McGwire smashing computers. Charley Steiner, with a tie around his forehead, yelling, “FOLLOW ME! FOLLOW ME TO FREEDOM!” Read More »

The other day, our friends at Converse held an event in NYC to showcase their two new basketball sneakers – the Converse DEFCON and Converse Pro Leather 2K11. Hosted by Bobbito Garcia, Converse athletes Chris “Birdman” Andersen, Lou Williams and Kyle Korver were there to represent. After about a 30-minute Q&A with Bobbito, the athletes had the opportunity to interact with the media, and I got the chance to catch up with Birdman and Sweet Lou. Read More »

It was the greatest 8-to-6 basketball game you’ll ever see.

Andre Emmett, formerly of the Memphis Grizzlies and Bobby Knight’s Texas Tech program (where he is the all-time leading scorer), was going 1-on-1 with Vili Morton, a relative unknown who played college ball at California-Riverside and now manages basketball training programs at 24 Hour Fitness gyms in the Bay Area. On paper it shouldn’t have been close. Read More »

The bar was set in Boston two weekends ago on the first stop on the Red Bull 2on2 Revolution Tour. Then NYC’s turn came along on Saturday and took the level of competition to a whole new level.

Check out the great video of the game action below and then read the full tourney recap after the jump.

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When Banri “Bang” Takenouchi (Photo, right) moved from Japan to the United States roughly five years ago, he did so with one intention: play basketball in tournaments across New York City. With no clue on how to prove himself in the streets, Bang turned to one of the most prominent names in streetball history: playground legend and Bounce Magazine founder Bobbito Garcia. Through a love for basketball and passion for the game, a player Bang once idolized has become one of his best friends.

“I was watching his street videos in Japan, and I emailed him,” says Bang. “I feel like he’s my big brother now.”

Garcia speaks from experience when he describes the challenges of “making it” as an unknown. Read More »

Come tomorrow morning, Lincoln Playground (135th and 5th Ave) in Harlem will be the epicenter of street basketball when the Red Bull 2on2 Revolution Tour hits New York City. 32 teams will battle it out for $2,000, Skullcandy headphones, Kicker iPod stereos, coverage on dimemag.com and bouncemag.com and the bragging rights that come with running the table in the NYC tournament.

Games start tomorrow at 10 a.m., with DJ Chino, DJ Boogie Blind and DJ Clue spinning throughout the day. The tournament field is filling out with teams headlined by NYC legends like Bobbito Garcia and Kenny Satterfield gunning for the cash prize.

Here’s how you can enter for your chance to play against some of NYC’s finest and possibly walk away with the cash: Read More »

Words: Bobbito Garcia, Bounce Magazine

SEEDS Academy scrimmage on my last day in Senegal. This was one of many woop-woops I witnessed!

On Jan. 13, I left NYC for an unforgettable journey to the motherland. The SEEDS Foundation invited me to coach clinics in four Senegalese cities over a three-day weekend as part of its GROW THE GAME program to not only help kids learn how to play ball but more importantly to inspire them to choose education as a route to self-empowerment. The academic achievement of the youth there is staggering; something to the tune of 20% go to high school, 5% go to college, and as a result, 40% of the adult population is illiterate. Factor in malnutrition of children under 5, lack of gross national product to export (i.e.: no oil or diamond trade), and you basically have one of the least developed countries in the world. Read More »

Last night, Kellan White and I hit up the “Heaven is a Playground” Converse event that took place inside a small art gallery in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. This tiny and narrow space was packed wall to wall with media, shoe connoisseurs and playground legends, who were all there to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the novel Barack Obama called his favorite basketball book of all time, Heaven is a Playground. Read More »

Shout out to Bobbito Garcia! The co-founder of Bounce Magazine – Dime’s sister magazine – was featured on CNN over the weekend about his message to embrace other cultures. On top of Bounce, Bobbito is a world-renowned DJ, a journalist and an accomplished street baller. For eight years in the 90s, he co-hosted one of the most famous morning radio shows in New York City, “The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show.” Garcia also penned the critically acclaimed book, “Where’d You Get Those? NYC’s Sneaker Culture 1960-1987″ and hosted the ESPN show “It’s the Shoes.” Bobbito has also been a big influence on my writing career by allowing me to contribute to Bounce Magazine and Bouncemag.com for the past few years.