Team NIKE has reached the midway point in their season with an undefeated 4-0 record. The Boys in Black have stormed through their competition with crossovers, high flying dunks and nothing but net long-range shots. Take a look at their highlights from Dyckman in this first half of the summer highlight reel. Get a live glimpse of the Team NIKE action every Wednesday nights in the Heights and under the lights.

Nothing Easy: In their second game of the summer, Team NIKE takes on the defending Dyckman champs, Take No Prisoners. A game billed by many to be a close one, turns out to be another victory for Coach Bingo and crew. Tempers sizzle on the court when Team NIKE begins to pull ahead, but nothing is hotter than the veteran play of Antawn “Anti Freeze” Dobie and Quinton “T2″ Hosley. As Team NIKE improved to a 2-0 record, they then get a surprise homecoming flight from Keydren “Kee Kee” Clark. With Kee Kee back home in New York, Team NIKE finally has their missing link and is now united as a full ten man squad.

Special Olympics World Summer Games Organizing President Joanna Despotopoulou greeted the parade of athletes, as more than 7000 athletes from nearly 180 nations made their way into the Kallimarmaron Panthinaikon Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece to roaring applause from the fans.

As Special Olympics athletes and coaches from across the world settled in to the stadium, everyone welcomed legendary singer, songwriter, musician and producer Stevie Wonder. Stevie opened with his song ‘You can feel it’ followed by ‘You are the sunshine of my life’ which got the crowd on their feet and dancing. Wonder, one of the great personalities in music history, spoke to the audience about the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of Special Olympics: “Her vision has helped the world appreciate the value of all human beings. Eunice made us understand that we are all special. Our dreams are only limited by our vision.”

Continue reading “Stevie Wonder & Vanessa Williams Duet at Special Olympics Opening Ceremony” »

If you live in Inwood or Washington Heights, we’re sure within the last 24hrs you’ve seen an abundance of Team Nike campaigns; and if you wondering what’s about to take place, let us tell you.

Each summer, Nike selects a park to showcase the city’s talents and define the culture of New York, this summer’s selected park is Dyckman.

Returning for its 20th summer, the legendary Dyckman Basketball Tournament is ready for its most anticipated season yet. Held at Monsignor Kett Playground in the Washington Heights/Inwood section of Manhattan on 204th Street and Nagle Avenue, the tournament hosts 56 teams in five different age groups. The tournament is held seven days a week and reaches up to 1,500 spectators daily during the summer, beginning in early June and ending in mid-August.

Continue reading “Team Nike Takes Over Dyckman (Uptown NYC)” »

VANDEYK Contemporary Cycles is a team of creative professionals dedicated to a simple mission: designing and building the most ravishingly beautiful bicycles – and not compromising along the way. Ever. The result: perfectly handcrafted and strictly limited objects of art — 25 bicycles per collection worldwide.

View more images after the jump Continue reading “Vandeyk Contemporary Cycles – Nightstream” »

Inspired by the traditional red, white and black, Manchester United will play in a newly designed home kit for the 2011/2012 soccer season. Designed to maximize performance and minimize environmental impact with Nike’s groundbreaking recycled polyester, the new shirt is made with a necessary sweat-wicking fabric. The shirt is lighter than ever with a contoured body shape that allows for fluid movement. The body of the shirt is traditional red with a white crafted crew neck collar with a central black stripe to replicate the design of the club’s iconic bar scarf. The bar aesthetic has previously appeared on the shirts of legendary United sides of the past, including the 1977 and 1985 FA Cup winners, and on the back of the 2008 Champions League and Barclays Premier League winners.

As a fan of coastal areas, I thought I’d seen it all. But until a few weeks ago, I’d never seen a dune lake. In fact, I’d never even heard of one, so when I read that the area around Rosemary Beach where I’d planned a long weekend was rife with these rarities, I was excited to check them out. Found only in Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, Oregon and the Gulf Coast of Northwest Florida, dune lakes are fed by streams, rain and ground water, creating large bodies of calm water right behind ocean dunes.

30A is the main drag through the new urbanist towns of Seaside, Watercolor and Rosemary Beach and Watercolor and dune lakes punctuate the drive. Separated from the gulf beaches by sand dunes ranging from a few feet to 30, they offer yet another way to enjoy the water. Continue reading “YOLOing on Northwest Florida’s Dune Lakes” »

Nooka has now ventured into the world of extreme sports with the creation of Team Nooka. Nooka announced the release of 4 limited edition timepieces customized by their BMX athletes. Each athlete was selected due to their profile in BMX as well as how they represent Nooka’s Mindstyle philosophy. Morgan Wade, Mike Spinner, Edwin Delarosa, and Steve McCann have each custom designed their own timepiece to capture their unique style and personality. Each custom designed timepiece is limited to 500 pieces and features each athlete’s signature on the case back. The Team Nooka BMX Collection is available for pre-order and will be shipping out on May 23rd.

Format Perspective Preview – Richard Gilligan from Philip Evans on Vimeo.

Format Perspective is a film that explores the work, lives and opinions of six European skate photographers. The film showcases the photography of Nils Svensson (Malmö), Stuart Robinson (Belfast), Alex Irvine (London), Richard Gilligan (Dublin), Bertrand Trichet (Barcelona-Tokyo) and Sergej Vutuc (Heilbronn), while also giving us an insight into the different approaches used by this diverse line-up of photographers. Filmed completely on super 8 film, this project gives a behind-the-scenes look at the skating that these guys like to shoot, as well as the resulting photos that emerge from these sessions.

Due for release in summer 2011

Audemars Piguet announced the appointment of NBA MVP LeBron James as the new global brand ambassador. Audemars Piguet, the world’s oldest watch manufacturer still in the hands of its founding families has chosen LeBron for his commitment to excellence, skilled technique and unwavering generosity – values shared by the two.

In addition to representing the brand on the international stage, LeBron will collaborate with Audemars Piguet to create a very special limited-edition watch. LeBron has decided to donate the proceeds from any future auctions of his timepieces to his namesake charity, the LeBron James Family Foundation and its children’s related activities. This partnership is another chapter in Audemars Piguet’s long-standing tradition of philanthropy.

LeBron proudly joins an roster of brand ambassadors including race car icon Michael Schumacher, international soccer star Leo Messi, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, and top professional golfers such as Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Vijay Singh.