Once upon a time, streetball actually became a mainstream craze thanks to the popularity of mixtapes, which really took off when guys like Rafer Alston a.k.a. “Skip to My Lou“1 were dominating the parks in New York. Later, these playground legends would travel to basketball courts all over the country, armed with crazy speed, handles and a showmanship that usually meant embarrassing opponents. Alston and company showed their prowess with stylized ball-handling, crossing up defenders once, twice, and then coming back to do it again.
Streetball culture broke countless ankles, dunked all over America and hit another gear with the mixtapes, and when then-T-shirt “company” (they sold shirts out of a car trunk) And1 realized the marketing potential of these talents, it marked the birth of the “And1 Streetball Tour.” Fast-forward from 2003, when a kid that tried out in And1’s open run eventually rose to fame, who once upon a time he was known as Grayson Boucher.
He would later be known by his streetball name, “The Professor.”
Which, of course, brings us here. A little prank by dressing up as an anonymous “Spider-Man,” Boucher goes one-on-one with some kids at a playground.
I wonder if there’s a chance we see him at Times Square soon.
