Taking it to the street

Streetball is big business, and playground legends such as Hot Sauce, The Professor and Escalade might just be the next big names among hoops collectors.

By Ken Turetzky

Many of the half-remembered legends of street basketball, among them guys named Joe Hammond, Helicopter, Pee Wee Kirkland, Swea' Pea Daniels and The Goat, lived, dunked and died at New York City's Rucker Park and on lesser-known courts in the nation's urban centers. Most never got rich, or even traveled far beyond their home blacktop. But those tales are Old School, better left to the schoolyard.

The outlook has improved for the new playground stars, now reaping the rewards of a streetball marketing bonanza led by AND1, the suburban Philadelphia shoe and apparel company that has successfully tied its fortunes to the city game. AND1 built its own legend around a video featuring the sensational street handles of Rafer "Skip 2 My Lou" Alston, then a playground genius and now headed for the Toronto Raptors of the NBA.

Read more...

[ A V E R Y . J O H N S O N ]
"I was born to coach"
by Ken Turetzky / April 30, 2003
Avery Johnson is already a candidate for at least one NBA head coaching position, and with good reason. Denied a post-season roster spot, Johnson quickly found a new outlet for his considerable energy — pushing his Dallas Mavericks teammates to excel during the playoffs.

Read more...

Eat your art out: Masterpiece of cake

By Ken Turetzky

Raymond Nasher is one of Dallas's leading art patrons, with an eye for beauty and a reputation for good taste. And yet, when friends recently surprised him on his birthday with a Jean DuBuffet sculpture, "The Gossiper," Nasher could hardly bring himself to eat it — but he did.

"It was wonderful," he says.

What Nasher and friends really ate was an Artcake, an edible recreation of a classic piece of art. Artcakes are a product of Oggetti (Italian for "objects"), a company run by former art history majors Julie Richey and Laura Larsen out of Richey's East Dallas home.

Read more...