The AND1 Mix Tape® Tour is a traveling street basketball competition and exhibition phenomenon sponsored by basketball apparel manufacturer AND1. The tour is the original street basketball entertainment tour and features the world’s best playground players. Their team of well-known streetballers travels from city to city across the U.S., challenging the local talent and putting on a crowd-pleasing show for all to enjoy. Each game is an amazing display of slam-dunks that leave you speechless and dribbling techniques unlike any you’ve ever seen.
The tour stopped in Philadelphia on July 12, 2007. Four lucky matches from BBBS Southeastern Pennsylvania (SEPA) came face-to-face with three players from the tour as Big Brothers Big Sisters hosted a unique meet and greet at the National Office. With names like Escalade, Helicopter and 8th Wonder, the players were quick to capture the attention of the Littles in the room, as well as the Bigs and our staffers. The players spoke about their community outreach programs and wanting to give back at each stop they make. They also stressed the importance of staying in school and going to college. All three players earned their four-year college degrees before joining the AND1 tour.
The official game was held on July 14, 2007 and SEPA matches arrived early for a special pre-game shoot around that AND1 was holding just for them. Littles received autographs, posters and basketball gear. They even got a chance to go one-on-one with the players before the gates even opened. Once the game started, Littles, Bigs and other Philadelphia streetball fans were treated to a basketball exhibition that was beyond compare, and the whole event had a tremendous effect.
AND1 mixtape tour players spend time with Bigs and Littles“I thought it was great,” said Big Brother Tony. “[My Little Brother] was starry-eyed!! He’s never been to a professional game in Philadelphia.”
To see this once-in-a-lifetime event for yourself, check out ESPN on August 6, 2007. The tour is televised on ESPN and ESPN2 every Monday night at 10:00PM PST/1:00AM EST.
Or maybe the tour is making its way to your city. Upcoming tour stops are Detroit, MI (7/28/07), Chicago, IL (8/4/07), Dallas, TX (8/11/07), San Francisco, CA (8/19/07) and Los Angeles, CA (8/25/07).
Big Brothers Big Sisters is very excited about this new partnership and hopes that it will help bring more awareness to our organization and the life-changing work of Big Brothers and Big Sisters around the country.
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