Street Invasion invades Logan
Move aside Kobe, a new group of ballers have some signature moves to sport.
As part of the And1 Mixed Tape Tour, the StreetBall Invasion team will take a sidetrack from their normal schedule to perform at Skyview High School on Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. The StreetBall Invasion squad is a street ball performing group much like the Harlem Globetrotters, who provide a different style of basketball.
Sporting street names like “Syk wit it” and “White Chocolate,” the StreetBall Invasion team typically tours across the country, mostly landing performances in large cities such as Los Angeles, Miami and Boston. Drifting away from the typical cities, StreetBall Invasion found their way traveling to frigid Logan because of the efforts of a USU business student seeking an internship opportunity.
Senior Kevin Liu, a member of the USU track and field team specializing in throws, said he got involved with the And1 teams through a friend who worked for a One on One Entertainment, a company who books tours for the team.
“I’m a business major at the university and I wanted to an internship for PR,” Liu said, “so basically I knew a friend that worked for them and asked if we could do a mini tour through Utah and Idaho. He took me up on it so this is the second game through.”
Liu, who has taken on the responsibility of advertising in the area for the team, said his efforts brought this team to Idaho Falls, Idaho and Provo and Logan.
The And1 Mixed Tape Tour tours in the summer season. In each city they go to, they have tryouts outside during the day. That night the people who made the tryouts will play against the And1 team.
Since the summer tour is over, the StreetBall Invasion squad will not hold tryouts but will play a team of former local basketball players. The team recently returned from a short tour in Hong Kong.
“Their type of play is mostly to interact with the crowd and get the crowd involved,” Liu said. “They love signing autographs with people and taking pictures with them. It’s a lot of fancy dribbling, schooling people. They try to school people and get them to trip over themselves. There’s one guy who does a 720 [degree] dunk.”
Former USU basketball player Cardell Butler AKA Ballaholic, tried out for the And1 team a few years back and almost made it. He did however, play a short stint as a Showtime contract player for And1.
Typically And1 shows cost $60 during the summer tour, but Tuesday’s performance at Skyview High School has been discounted to $10 in advance and $12 at the door.
“It’s a really good deal for people to come out and watch at a low price,” Liu said. “This is more street ball basketball type playing – a lot more fancy dunks.”
To obtain advance tickets, look for the And1 booth in the TSC this week, or visit www.ticketweb.com.
-sethhawkins@cc.usu.edu