Is the And 1 Mixtape Tour a true sporting event? I'm not sure. It certainly resembles a basketball game - there are two baskets, a court, a ball, dribbling (for the most part), etc. - so from that perspective I'd consider it an athletic competition. On the other hand, an And 1 basketball game is very different from what NCAA and NBA basketball fans are used to. The emphasis is on dunking, showmanship and swagger rather than teamwork, defense and rebounding. All joking about how "this is exactly like the NBA" aside, the And 1 tour is more "performance" than "competition." The tour isn't that different from that of a musician, actually; the performers travel between venues in a coach bus, perform a (mostly) pre-planned routine for the crowd, and do it all again in a different city a few days later. Since I'm not above attending non-competitive sporting events (I used to go to New York Islanders games all the time . . .), I was eager to give the And 1 tour a shot.
Half sporting event and half hip hop concert, the And 1 Mixtape Tour is a lot of fun.
The And 1 tour might not be a traditional sporting event, but it's a lot of fun. Unlike most basketball games, everything was outdoors. The court was constructed outside the Queen Mary pier in Long Beach, right along the water. It was a great day to be outside, sitting in the bleacher seating watching basketball with the clear blue ocean serving as the backdrop. While the athletic feats were impressive (anyone who hasn't seen these guys perform should check them out sometime - they may not be "real" basketball players, but they're definitely athletes), what I found more interesting and entertaining was the culture that surrounds the game. It's not that often that a Jewish kid from Long Island gets to see a mostly black crowd root on mostly black athletes while an MC does half-play-by-play, half-freestyle-rap over a hip hop beat. Though smaller than a typical NBA or major NCAA crowd, the fans were passionate, involved and knowledgeable about their favorite players.
Blue skies, beaches and basketball. What more could you ask for on a weekend afternoon?
Like the Harlem Globetrotters before them, the members of the And 1 Mixtape Tour did a great job of entertaining the crowd (myself included) while making everyone feel like part of the show. The players seemed very approachable; their relative lack of fame made them extremely fan-friendly. Would I follow the tour regularly like I follow the New York Knicks? No, because the lack of a real competitive aspect gives little meaning to each individual tour stop. But on a sunny day next summer, when the And 1 Mixtape Tour bus rolls into a town near you, I would suggest you treat yourself to an afternoon of hoops, hip hop and heat.
1 comment:
this was an awesome day
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