the intro…

Well I’ve been contemplating doing a streetball-related blog for quite some time as I had been approached by someone in BC [BCSportsFanatic] to do one last summer, but I, uhh..”fell off” so to say. So I figured, with this summer showing some serious promise as far as the future of streetball goes and my “minor” involvement in “the game” [from here on out "the game" refers to streetball in all aspects: corporate, underground, whatever], I might as well start something up even if it gets me nowhere.

To start it off I should introduce myself to the masses [hahaha, right!] of people that will come across this blog over the next months [years?]. My name’s Yash Zandiyeh, I’m 22 years old based in Richmond, British Columbia [yes home of the forever remembered "The Notic" mixtape]  and I work and goto school. I work for an accounting firm in downtown Vancouver where I’m tech support and I goto BCIT [British Columbia Institute of Technology] aiming to get my Bachelor’s Degree of Technology in Forensic Science – focusing on Computer Crime. I graduated from Langara College where I got my Diploma in Computer Information Systems [aka Information Technology] and I also worked there for a bit. Alright, BS aside I’ve been playing basketball since I was, I think 4 or 5 when I lived in Tsawwassen [a city in B.C.]. My parents had enrolled my [older] sister into basketball camp with former Harlem Globetrotter, Mel “Tricks” Davis [if you don't believe me, look at the history on the HG site] who had a camp that had a motto of “Have Ball, Will Teach.” So when I was 5 I was lounging around in the gym, then I picked up a ball and the rest was history. 17 years later, here I am – no where near my dream of playing in the NBA, let alone the NBDL – in grade 11 I was really set on playing in the NBDL when it had first came out, yeah, that’s EXACTLY why I never played on my high school team that year. Most people ask me this so I’m just going to answer it: do I play basketball? Yes. Without trying to hype myself up I’m a pass first-shoot rarely point guard who probably has a higher basketball IQ than most people I’ve played with. Think a hybrid of Avery Johnson, Eric Snow, Baron Davis, John Stockton and that’s the type of player I am.

I’ve garnered “much” of my “fame” as an affiliate of Joey “King Handles” Haywood, who almost anyone in the streetball world would know. I’ve also been “known” to leak information about The Notic back in my glory days [circa 2000-2004?] over at the HoopLife.ca [formerly BasketballJones.ca] where I was the only person who had “Hall of Fame” status. Many hours typing in a forum – yes! But hey it did get me somewhere. Through my multitude of posts on HoopLife, the Young Players’ Association [YPA] and streetballin.net forums, I was able to gather contacts around the world. Now I’m not trying to over-hype myself up, but really it came to knowing kids in places I had never heard of [i.e. Estonia!]. All while meeting some of the right people: Matt, Chayla, Fred, Court from YPA, Jay Bryant from the Harlem Magic Masters, Jay McLaughlin [Blacktop Hustler/JayCurtiss Athletics], Eric Cuadra [SHO-SHOT Athletics] and an array of other people as well. Through these connections I was able to meet others in the streetball game, so I guess for someone who spent a lot of time at his computer – it’s not bad. So now, at 22, I can say that I know people all around the world related to streetball – in the States, in Europe, in Japan, life’s been good.

Just to clarify – I’ve never profited off anything I’ve done for anyone – whether it be provide advice or actually help them get somewhere, that’s not me. I’m not an agent, more a fan of the game than anything. However it should be noted that I am Joey’s manager, although our “Union” [basically our clique of people that help him] together help him out. That consists of guys like Jay from Blacktop Hustler, Jordan Lewis at GetLiveMedia.com, myself, his brother – Gary “Sweet Feet” Haywood. How I came about being his manager, it’s hard to say, but basically all my years of “dick-riding” [which is what ALOT of people called it] paid off because it wasn’t “dick-riding”, it was unlimited support for your best friend knowing that he’d get somewhere with his talents. And the beginning has just started. So, when I was younger and killing posts [Matt from YPA knows about my multi-paged posts, I would write BOOKS] I’d get a lot “heat” because people would question my reliability and think I was just blowing dude badly. But years later people realized what’s really up. I’ve known Joey since we were 10 years old and we’ve been through a lot together [I'll save the drama for a rainy day] but we were also in the movie “Air Bud” –> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118570/ together among other things. So through friendship, a business partnership was made. With the connections I made we were able to get him out to games and events and most importantly get him into EA Sports’ NBA Street [all the years up to NBA Street: Homecourt, the credit solely goes to Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux and Kirk Thomas of the Notic who got the guys in]. And now my man is just prospering into the next streetball Star. From underground to mainstream.

So with all this being said I’ve decided to tackle streetball topics that I see in forums and hope that some readers will email me [yash.zandiyeh[at]gmail[dot]com] and provide some insight or ask questions they’d like to ask. I have a few things in mind: common questions I get asked about Joey, will there be a Notic 3 [thanks to Clown Prince ], the upcoming tour circuit and other things that’ll arise over the next few weeks. So please! Either post a comment about a topic you want to know more about [or at least my opinion on it].

Oh yeah – why’d I start a blog on streetball, I mean what justifies ME as being certified streetball-blogger status? Nothing really, except that I’ve been told I have a good view on the game and have been following it since underground/internet streetball blew up since what the late 90s? I think that’s good enough.

Lastly – on a personal note and I share this in the event that anyone ever wants to call me and talk to me. Everything I’ve done so far in streetball I’ve done through my computer. There’s a reason for this. That’s because I’m hearing impaired – no that doesn’t mean DEAF – it means that I don’t hear as much as others do. For example – you listen to a song, after 3, 4 times you pick up the words. Me I’d pick up about 1 out of every 7 words. I can hear the words but I can’t make them out Same thing talking on the phone so I stay away from it. Not trying to use some ethical appeal for you guys to read it, but this is about ME so I might as well share that with y’all.

Looking forward to some comments!!