TANMAN IN TOON TOWN
Tuesday 06 March, 2007

What’s up people.

Well, I had a pretty exciting weekend one way and another.

I went up to Newcastle for the BBL Trophy Final. As well as covering it for my UKTV Slam programme, I’d also been asked to be the courtside reporter for the MK-TV live broadcast…so I was killing two birds with one stone going up there.

Arriving in Newcastle was mad…we came into the town centre just as the Newcastle v Middlesborough match was turfing out of St James’ Park…and driving through thousands of Geordies who apparently didn’t care about walking in front of moving cars was an experience I won’t be forgetting in a hurry.

After cotching at the hotel for a bit, me, Stu and my boy B hit the town…and the madness started straight away. Within 30 seconds (literally) of leaving the hotel, we saw two gangs raring up, about to have a fight right there, rago, on the street. They were armed with a couple of huge glass bottles and it seriously looked like a war was about to kick off. "Welcome to Newcastle," we thought!

Anyway, long story short we got some food then spent the night getting wrecked in some bar. The girls up there were going on sick…but, unfortunately, the doormen at the Holiday Inn weren’t allowing us to bring extra guests in at two in the morning. HATERS!!!

Next day, I was not feeling too hot, but a slap up feed before we got to the MetroRadio Arena had me straightened out.

Don't drink on the job, kids

The Arena was smaller than I thought it was going to be…and it didn’t feel nearly as much of an occasion as these events do when they’re held at the NIA in Birmingham. Anyway, whatever.

In the game before the BBL final, arch-rivals Worthing Thunder and Reading Rockets met in the EBL Trophy Final. The guy who stole the show was Reading’s Ryan Williams (who played in our Street All-Star game back in August). He killed it 28 points and 9 rebounds to earn the MVP award as the Rockets defeated the Thunder 91 – 85.

It was during this game that I recorded the links for my UKTV Slam programme…and you KNOW I had to do one with the Scottish Rockettes, right?

Anyway, the main BBL game itself started off crazy. It was end to end stuff, with the refs letting the players play. It was some of the most exciting BBL basketball I’ve seen in ages. Plymouth’s big man, Carlton Aaron, was murking it. He literally could not be stopped on the inside and had 14 points at the first quarter break.

Cat Beasley almost put a nasty one on Olu Babalola…but big Olu got a couple of dunks himself during an Eagles fightback.

In the end, the Raiders came out victorious…which was quite a shock. The Eagles had won this competition for the last two years straight, they had home court advantage and the Raiders had just endured a 10 hour coach trip to get to the game. So the players, not to mention the large crowd who’d made the trip with them, were ecstatic when the final buzzer went.

Carlton Aaron got the MVP award, and I interviewed him after the game (and felt like a complete midget doing so).

I also spoke with coach Gary Stronarch and team captain Gavin Love who were both really hyped to have won. Congratulations to the Raiders…I know they’re basketball crazy down in Plymouth, so it’s great you guys have picked up a piece of BBL silverware in just your 3rd season in the league. You can watch the game on uktvslam.tv – and we’ll be featuring extended highlights from the match in my show on UKTV G2 at 11am this Sunday.

Speaking of my show, earlier in the week I went down to my boy Magdi’s sneaker shop in Soho to do a feature on him and his store.

I met Mags when we were growing up playing ball, and he was always the man for sneakers. Everyone in the area knew that if you wanted to get hold of rare kicks, exclusive sneakers or whatever, Magdi was the hook up king. Anyway, he turned a childhood hobby into a full blown business when he opened his own store – Slammin Kicks – in Central London. Magdi gave me the lowdown on basketball sneaker culture and showed me some of the sneaks he had in stock - including a £2,500 pair of LeBrons (only 24 pairs were ever made) and a pair of Roc-A-Fella Nikes signed by Jay-Z. Mags said he could shot them for $10,000 if he wanted to…but he’s going to hang onto them for sentimental reasons.

The LeBrons


Signed by Jigga!!

Magdi also told us about all the celebs who’ve been down to his store, including Nas, Jessica Alba, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Blu Cantrell, Clipse, Jay-Z, Beyonce…the list goes on!

The feature went out on the show last Sunday and the programme had its best ever ratings! I’m quite pleased, actually, the ratings for the show have been going up continuously since it started two months ago. That’s what happens when you get a pro like me making TV ;-p

NBA, and Dwayne Wade has decided to put off season ending shoulder surgery in the hope of making a run for the playoffs. I’m not sure whether this is the wisest decision for him long term…but I guess he feels he has to do this to help his team out right now. Let’s just hope he doesn’t live to regret the decision.

Er…that’s about it for now. Next week I’m hoping to link up with Matthew Bryan (who’s back in the country for a few weeks) to do a thing about him for my show. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Peace


GT