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A mall in the suburbs east of San Francisco has reopened after a large group of teens and young adults stormed the shopping center following a parking lot basketball exhibition, police said. About 200 young people streamed out of makeshift bleachers and into the Southland Mall on Saturday afternoon, yanking clothes off hangers, kicking merchandise and overturning displays, police Lt. Mark Koller said.Thousands of shoppers were forced to leave after more than 60 officers shut down the entrances to the mall. No injuries or arrests were reported.
The ruckus followed a so-called streetball exhibition in the mall parking lot, where the popular And1 team, often featured on ESPN, took on local players in a form of basketball that emphasizes tricks and dunks.
The mall reopened around 7 p.m.
abclocal.go.com
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Yay Area! I’ve been to two And1 events in the Bay, the tour stops in 2004 and 2005. In 2005, Khoi’s friend “accidentally” brought in a knife. This was at the Oakland Arena (where one would expect good security), incidentally, not the outside mall parking lot like this year’s show. During the second half of the game, my sister and I noticed the TV crew leaving early, as if something was going on. When we left the game, ambulances were arriving, police where everywhere.
Later, I learned someone had gotten shot/stabbed right outside the arena. Oakland police made things better by only allowing people to exit the parking lot through 1 lane (normally, 5+), so it took over an hr just to get out the parking lot. Then, they wouldn’t let people go South, so I had to drive 10 miles up before I could finally turn back.
Stay classy, Oakland.
Southland Mall is actually in Hayward, but still a vital member of the Yay.
Regarding the product itself, I love And1, or at least the DVD’s. I am definitely in love with Streetball, the ESPN series. Of course, it’s very hard for me to watch episodes in Vietnam, and I can’t buy Seasons 3+ (currently on 6) on DVD, so I don’t know what to do but download and pirate the episodes when I can. Incidentally, I’ve even sent a letter to And1 trying to get an internship in the past. (no response, even after a follow-up call) I’ll go post my “awesome” letter in another post.
The tour, unfortunately, is disappointing. It almost feels like the game is meant only to support the mixtape DVDs. The MC, Duke Tango, will call out a player and tell everyone to get away for an isolation. Sure, I guess this what the fans want in a sense, to see what they see on the DVDs, but it just feels weak when things feel unnatural. When you’re watching the DVD, you believe that things are in game, people are really facing-up each other, and that’s what makes the moves so great. The games instead feel like a mix of highlights combined with slop. Half-trash, half-amazing (pun-master). In both games, I never feel the steady excitement of good play, just extremes of whoa! and sheesh…
A lot of the guys have mentioned that they have different responsibilities on tour, that they have to win and impress with tricks and crazy dunks. They’re right, I understand, and I don’t necessarily blame things on the players.
In 2004, I had a bad angle to see the Hot Sauce match-up. I was in the 2nd or 3rd row behind one of the baskets. 2 women two rows behind me and Khoi went after each other and security had to pull them away. The white people next to us left right after that. Security let people walk freely in front of us, so we kept having people just interrupt our view.
After that, I had sworn I wouldn’t go in 2005 because it just wasn’t that fun in 2004. A year goes bye, I watch my DVDs again, and I get excited to go. I notice the Professor isn’t that good, can be beat up physically- I still love him though. He actually got man-handled by Bad Santa, who ended up making the team (and is still on And1). Main Event went hacking like crazy because Oakland was up for a long time throughout the first half. I’m not even sure if And1 won that game in the end.
So 2005 was just as bad or worse versus 2004. I still resent the tour because in 2005, Frontline was supposed to be there for halftime (I predicted and hoped for it!) and they didn’t show. I’m pretty sure because of the security issues detailed above.
In 2006, I couldn’t go when I saw that all the cheaper tickets were gone. Better off anyway, though I was excited to see the tour back with a new focus this year because of all the defections to Ball4Real. I’m glad I wasn’t in the US for this one now though. And I do like my Spyda jersey (bought in 2005)…
