For Episode 50 of the Hoopsfix Podcast, we take a trip down memory lane with Greg Tanner the man behind the legendary website Streetball.co.uk.
Streetball.co.uk was the epicentre of British basketball and global streetball culture in the early 2000’s, doing over a million impressions a month whilst putting the UK on the map with a variety of mixtapes and clips of streetball highlights.
Tanner, now living in Dubai working as an executive TV producer, spent his 20s running the site, which was originally set up as a passion project, helping to make household names out of a selection of top British hoopers.
After winding down Streetball.co.uk, he set up Basketball 24/7, and then went into print with MVP Magazine, not to mention working at the London 2012 Olympics as a basketball expert, along with hosting basketball-related events for Nike, the EuroLeague and adidas.
In this 90 minute episode, hear from Greg on:
How he first got into basketball through a school friend introducing him to NBA Jam on TV presented by Alton Byrd in the early 90s
His creative background and getting into building websites, for his own personal interest and amusement
How his job in television as a producer gave him access to editing suites in the days before mass-market home editing software was really available
How he had zero expectations of Streetball.co.uk growing into anything big and it was just a personal passion project
The moment he realised Streetball.co.uk had an audience and it was a ‘thing’
How a shout out from Rough & Ready after Stuart Tanner showed out at their trials first put the site on the map
The way people would play up to the camera when they would see him with his camera
How at it’s peak in 2003-04 the website was doing over a million impressions and 100,000 visitors a month from a global audience
The other streetball websites that were on the scene at the time including VC-backed HoopsTV, the Notic, Streetballaz, streetballzone.tk and Streetball Xtreme
The influence of streetball culture in that era following Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury getting drafted along with the and1 mixtapes
How Pontel VHS tapes played a role in Greg and other basketball fans in the UK getting access to video footage
The potential blowback for promoting highlights/streetball instead of the fundamentals
Being threatened for posting highlights of the players’ getting victimised
How big summer basketball was during the early 2000’s compared to now
The involvement of corporates/brands with basketball in that era
Why he quit his job to go freelance so he could work between Streetball.co.uk and TV news producing work
Selecting players to represent Streetball.co.uk and the faces of the website
Taking travelling teams to tournaments UK wide
The balance between capturing highlights but also winning
His personal favourite streetball.co.uk moments
The Street All-Stars events and what made him do them
The shammgod move and why Streetball.co.uk could be responsible for bringing it to the world’s attention
Why he brought Streetball.co.uk to a close
The transition of Streetball.co.uk into Basketball 24/7 and why that happened
His life after SBUK and the other basketball related projects he was able to get involved with
Any regrets he has about the Streetball.co.uk days
Being a basketball expert for the in-arena experience at the London 2012 Olympics
His thoughts on the potential for the London 2012 Olympics to help facilitate British basketball’s growth
Media coverage of basketball in the UK and how it compares now to then
The importance of mainstream TV coverage to grow interest in basketball in the UK
The backstory of Fadeaway Magazine which soon evolved into MVP magazine
The legacy of streetball.co.uk
And much, much more!
As always, I’d love to get your feedback, come back after you’ve listened and lets get some discussion going in the comments.
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