Tommy had a cracking response from the crowd in Estonia as he performed his basketball tricks at the halftime of the SEB Finals in Tallinn, Estonia on May 13th, 2008.
You can watch the highlights of this unique basketball show in the following 2 minute clip. If the video ’stops and starts’ then put it on ‘pause’ for a minute and let it load first.
Photos will follow shortly…
Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. ‘Kool Bob Love’ the Co-Founder of the USA Bounce Magazine invited Tommy to feature in the March 2008 edition of the magazine.
You can download the article by right clicking and ’save target as’. The 4mb file will take few seconds to appear:
The NBA All-Star weekend provided Tommy with the biggest stage of his basketball career so far. The NBA used Tommy’s basketball tricks and performances to entertain the many thousands of fans that came into ‘The Jam Session’.
The NBA Jam Session is a major event for the fans during the All-Star weekend enabling them to participate in basketball activities as well being a spectator. Below are a few live clips from the many shows that Tommy performed over the weekend, and a few photo’s of some of the celebrates that Tommy crossed paths with at the event.
Tommy meets with Chris Tucker (above left) from the ‘Rush Hour’ movies at the ‘NBA Jam Session. Tommy also came across Jason Kapono (above right) who had just set a new world record for the most amount of 3 point scores in two minutes. This followed his landslide victory in the NBA Footlocker Shootout the night before at ‘All-Star Saturday Night’, when he equaled the NBA record in his final round with 25 points.
Here is an unedited clip from one of Tommy’s many performances over the All-Star Weekend at ‘Jam Session’. If the video stops and starts then put it on ‘pause’ for a minute and let it load first.
Tommy made a great friend with New York Legend ‘Jack Ryan’ aka ‘Black Jack’. Jack is a great basketball entertainer with a powerful life’s story that has been bought by Fox and is currently being made into a movie. Watch out for more from Jack Ryan…
Tommy wins his second Street Godz competition as the new Nike Jordan ‘23′ shoes are released for sale.
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‘The Professor’ (above left) from the ‘And1′ streetball team watches as Tommy wins his second Street Godz competition.
Tommy warms up with Jason ‘Shadow’ Gibbons (pictured left) and then meets with Raphael Edwards from Street Godz after winning the competition.
Tommy’s strength and conditioning is closely associated with James Marshall from Excelsior www.excelsiorgroup.co.uk
James Marshall (pictured below) has helped Tommy to reach his strength and fitness goals. In order to maximize his potential Tommy has had effective advice on his diet, rest and training schedule.
Tommy’s ability to adapt his basketball show was shown once again as his was invited to dress up and act out the role of a ‘roady’ as he opened a fashion show for the youth clothing brand ‘Diesel’.
Tommy (in character) wheeled his Diesel flight case containing his basketballs in front of an expectant crowd and performed his array of basketball tricks in front of 600 Diesel executives from around the world. He open the fashion show on the cat-walk in explosive style as he instantly engaged his audience with his performance.
Tommy opens the fashion show on the Cat-walk
The Diesel Fashion Show
Back stage with the models 
In a brand new trend to the already exploding basketball freestyle culture comes a basketball tricks competition.
It was a very close competition with many rounds having to be repeated due to the high level of tricks and performances from all the competitors. In the end Tommy managed to win the the title along with the first prize of $2000.00. The event was sponsored by Red Bull. Look out for more Streetgodz competitions in the future, and watch this blog for some extended video footage of the event… hopefully coming soon
“With Street Godz and freestyle basketball in general, the rules are not conventional to a basketball game and there are no boundaries for them. Their creativity is limitless and with freestyle basketball, there is no time off. It’s as far as the mind can think… The scoring is based on style, charisma, how they get the crowd excited, difficulty of moves, how sharp the moves are and obviously we deduct a lot of points if you actually loose the ball. It’s basically showmanship, we judge on all that.”
Quote from Raphael Edwards (Founder of Streetgodz)
Here is a short promotional clip of the event from Press Pass TV:
You can find out more information about the new Streetgodz movement at the following sites:
www.bouncemag.com/2007/10/10/streetgodz-freestyle-challenge-rules/
www.slamonline.com/online/2007/10/ballin’-outta-control/
www.dimemag.com/2007/02/24/streetgodz
Also, here is footage of earlier Street Godz competitions:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky1UPI69oe4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtzG_KCmCQ4
Tommy had a chance to hang out with the world famous Harlem Globetrotters before a game in Birmingham (UK) on May 18th 2007.
The Harlem Globetrotters are a basketball team that travel all over the world. They play world class basketball mixed in with hilarious player personalities. Comedy and spectacular stunts throughout the game keep you on the edge of your seat. They use some of the greatest atheletes on the planet!
“To see the Harlem Globetrotters perform live is something that you will remember for the rest of your life” - Tommy Baker
Below is a short clip from that night before the game along with some photos:
The Harlem Globetrotters inspired Tommy in his early years to develop his confidence through learning and perfecting basketball tricks. This was also an integral part of Tommy’s rehabilitation after a near fatal road traffic accident that left Tommy with severe head injuries as a young boy.
Tommy switched his act, his identitiy and his basketballs for footballs once again as he stamped his brand of football trickery and freestyle juggling skills at the Union of European Football Associations (a.k.a UEFA) cup final in Glasgow on 16th May 2007. Tommy was performing in the ‘fan zone’ in George Square during the day before the game.
Also performing with Tommy was football freestyle legend ‘Rob Walters’ www.robwalterssoccer.com, and Carlos Salvador who featured in the Nke ‘Stickman’ advert (2003) as he pulled his hat from his head with the football still on it.
Watch Tommy performing his basketball tricks at the streetball event of the year at Molenbeek (Brussels) on 6th May 2007. The event ran for 2 days with games and competitions and some serious streetball skills.
Tommy also had a chance to meet ‘The Pharmacist’ from the And1 streetball team…
For more detailed information log onto: www.2s2f.be
