I've updated my Facebook covers for 2015. A slew of teams have changed their logos including Atlanta, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Toronto and the LA Clippers as well as changes for Phoenix and Washington. Enjoy!
Update: These have been optimised for best quality
I'm a big believer that the reason we enjoy travel is more in the spirit we carry than the destination we're at. When we're abroad, we find novelty, we are more adventurous and outgoing. We have an appreciation for our immediate surroundings. That's partly the reason I've gone on these FIBA adventures, the destination is negligible. I know that if i'm there with a pretext that excites me (basketball) I can find novelty when I'm on the ground or I'll have a blast seeking it, it's just a matter of setting expectations.
Jalen and Jacoby talk Kyrie Irving, Super Bowl and more (1/29/15) | Grantland Channel
DAVID JACOBY: I've been to every major city in the country. Not every city is New York, where things open late and there's big parties and big night clubs everywhere but there's something to do in every city. It's not like Cleveland is dead. You know what I mean, there's trouble to get into if you want to get into it if you're J.R. Smith.
JALEN ROSE: That's not accurate. Yeah if you want to get online and do all types of things that you would do on your computer yeah that travels with you. But if you're talking about going out to dinner, hearing music, going to lounges, clubs, speakeasies, bars.
JACOBY: Its not gonna be the same as New York but they have that.
ROSE: But if you're used to eating that Tao at 11 o'clock, that comes with the lifestyle [rather than]... Applebees at 7:30... there's a different infrastructure when you're in that comfort zone.
It all started in Rotterdam when I met a Spanish fellow in a hostel who was starting a new life in the Netherlands. I saw he had a ball and told him I'd been trying to have a basketball experience in each Country I visited. He remarked "So you're going to Lithuania then?".
He was introducing me to a new world, back then I wasn't familiar with FIBA's regional, biennial tournaments. I booked flights to Lithuania that evening and have been hooked ever since.
I traveled all over Lithuania for EuroBasket '11 watching as many group games in each of the smaller towns. I made fast local friends and had memorable experiences all because the love of the game brought me there.
Whilst my basketball journey had organically begun when I arrived in Europe months previous, I officially founded #30HomeGames in the Country's capital, Vilnius. It was my mission to have a basketball experience in each Country visited. Be it watching a local league in action or finding a pickup game. It was buildup to my ultimate goal, visiting all 30 NBA Cities in America.
In 2013 when I backpacked South America, I realised it overlapped with FIBA Americas. The host Country was Venezuela but several friends familiar with South America warned me against going. With a little trepidation I went ahead and had another great time, albeit a challenging one.
- FIBA Oceania 2015, Gm1 Melbourne, Australia (August 15)
Gm2 Wellington, New Zealand (August 18)
- FIBA Asia, Changsha 2015 (September 23 - October 3)
- NBA Global Games, Shenzhen (October 11)
With momentum behind me, I was compelled to continue my FIBA streak for 2015. Though I originally had designs for FIBA Africa, current news on the ground gave me pause for concern. I've decided on twin trips to FIBA Oceania and FIBA Asia instead. Dubbed the #Homecoming, the Oceania event promises the strongest ever Boomers squad, fielding most of our rising and established Aussie NBA stars. Going to China also gives me the opportunity to watch an International NBA Game between the Houston Rockets and the Charlotte Hornets.
As in previous trips the primary goal is to be there on the ground then see what arises. Travel and exploration is the main component of my journey so the little planning I do extends to just getting there. One difference from my previous trips is a larger emphasis on Social media. Whilst I'll still be relying on street level engagement, I'm hoping the '30 Home Games' project can facilitate connections with locals and fellow hoopsheads in my travels.
@dongmegatron - Simon Valenzuela, Aussie NBA fan, jersey collector
I stumbled onto Simon aka @dongmegatron's collection on Instagram and instantly geeked out. Not only did he have an impressive array of obscure NBA jerseys but better still — was representing Australia.
I've expressed my appreciation for overlooked jerseys, having founded the #Scavenjersey campaign to encourage myself and others to snap novel basketball jerseys in the wild. Interestingly @dongmegatron found himself in my archive when I snapped his Josh Childress Atlanta Hawks jersey at a Sydney Kings game. This was an interesting revelation days after Simon was kind enough to share his process as undoubtedly the most comprehensive collector of Australian NBA jerseys.
Find my interview with Simon below and make sure you check out our entries to be ESPN's Ultimate Fan. 1) The first jersey that started the collection and the moment you decided to dedicate yourself to the cause?
I first started following basketball in 1994. My first jerseys were the ones retailing in Australia made by Starter around 1994/95. I first had Shaq and Penny black Orlando jerseys, but the first jersey I was really proud of was the Champion Blue Orlando Horace Grant jersey. Got it from Card Shaq in Parramatta and was stoked to see it in the store. It wasn't til I began part time work that I was able to start buying whatever jerseys I wanted though.
The collection really started to come about when Australian retailers began selling the Concept Sports/Steve Rolton Agencies jerseys that were licenced in Australia. This was around 2001 when they had Jordan Wizards, Kobe, Vince Raptors, KG, Iverson etc. I began buying all of those and then got into the online scene as eBay became more accessible and had much more variety and teams from Nike, Reebok and now Adidas. Soon enough I had a jersey from each of the 30 teams, then a home/away/alternate etc.
2) What percentage of your jerseys were bought when the player was active compared to after. Could you break it down?
In terms of the Australian NBA players, I guess a majority would have been acquired after the player was active or had changed teams. Obviously with the current crop of 7 players it's a lot easier to get the base home/away jerseys of these players. However, with the new style of Swingman it's much harder to get role players jerseys made up. Also about half of the Aussies that have played in the NBA are either retired or playing overseas, so all of them I've had to source after they were active.
a) Arena and Team store buys (current, physical)
Went to USA for my 30th and went to 6 different arenas, so bought a jersey at each one. But obviously a very small portion as I don't have access.
b) Auctions, outlets (after, physical) Meigray for game-worn jerseys. Bought a few different ones in the last few years. Game worn Mills and Baynes NBA Finals jerseys, Baynes Latin Nights jersey, Baynes Christmas jersey, Dave Andersen jerseys, Mills opening day Championship commemoration jersey and the recent Bogut/Delly/Bairstow Christmas jerseys. Still a small percentage.
c) Online retailers (current, online)
Over the years I've bought a decent amount from online retailers. NBA.com when it was easier in the past, FansEdge, Fanzz etc... but prices are high and the ones they sell are generally also available on eBay so these days I don't do retail too often.
d) eBay (after, online)
Majority off eBay. Sellers are much more likely to ship to Australia. Steady supply of blank jerseys which is great for making Aussie players. Prices are much cheaper, especially for players not with that team any more (fullmoonjerseys sell cheap Swingmans) as well as plenty of sellers selling authentic jerseys much lower than the $300 retail.
VIDEO: Australia's Biggest NBA Fan presented by ESPN
Find his entry here and make sure to upvote it. (Entries close March 15, 2015)
3) Where do you stand on counterfeits and the ability to customise jerseys with "Insert name" services?
I'm against counterfeits especially the ones you see at Paddy's Markets etc that are so obvious. There's some very high quality fakes online which are much harder to spot, and they're not so bad. I think replica screen prints are absolute garbage. The Reebok/Adidas ones are so cheap looking, have huge wide shoulders which make the dimensions look square.
In terms of customising, I'm all for it. That's how most of my Aussie jerseys have been able to be made, by buying blanks or stripping other players jerseys. This has been a godsend, as NBA.com is quite a headache (shipping so overpriced/don't ship custom jerseys to AUS/limited range of customisable jerseys). This is more evident now a days when teams have all these commemorative jerseys eg. Christmas Day, Spurs Military, Warriors Chinese New Year where they only sell the star players jerseys. In the past it wasn't so bad, as I could strip the stitching on a Swingman and get it customised but now the 2015 jerseys are heat pressed and I'm not sure they can be removed with any amount of ease. 4) Have any of the players ever reached out to you about your collection?
A few have. Mark Bradtke sent me a DM on Twitter, and I've seen plenty of ex NBA guys at NBL arenas or Boomers events (Schenscher/Heal) or (Jawai/Patty Mills/Dave Andersen) and they've all commented on the jerseys and often told a story or two. 5) If you were to start another collection now, i.e collecting jerseys of every NBA player from Lithuania, would it be possible? How crucial is timing and getting a headstart?
It helps but I have only really been making an effort to collect Australian players the last 5 or 6 years. I think it'll be harder now if you're going for era authenticity as the NBA logo is now on the back of the jersey etc, so current custom swingman jerseys won't be consistent with players prior to this season. But many of the jerseys I've made eg. Longley Timberwolves have had to be customised jerseys (strip name and number off Laettner) and sent to this tailor in the US who does a very good job. So it can still be done but depending how far back you want to go, it obviously gets harder. But using your example it'd be quite easy to find an old Rasheed Wallace Portland swingman and turn it into a Sabonis, a Tim Hardaway or Chris Mullin. A Warriors Hardwood Classics jersey into a Šarūnas Marčiulionis, so it's not impossible. Just need to know the right place to get the custom name/number sewn on.
6) Talk about the process and rewards. Describe the thrill of the chase to those non-collectors out there. Any "ones that got away"?
There's always ones that got away. In the last year or so there was a Game-worn Anstey Bulls and a Longley Suns jerseys that went for only a couple of hundred bucks but as with any hobby there's always a thrill in collecting. You learn to recognise the rarer types of jerseys and appreciate someone else's collection. And by posting my pics on Instagram now I see how many other people out there like the same thing.
7) What is your all-time holy grail? What's your prized possession. Any preferences as far as manufacturers and eras?
I love the Patty Mills finals game worn jersey. It has a place in history and it also fits me so I can wear it in public. Also Horace Grant was the first player I began collecting so I have plenty of game worn Orlando/Lakers jerseys as well as some hard to find ones like Authentic Bulls, Authentic '94 All-Star and Authentic Sonics jerseys. But the era I probably like the most is around the '95-99 era, when Champion used a lot of the tie-dye or whatever it was to ink the logos in the jersey. Ones like the Pistons horse head, Hawks Mutombo style, Sonics finals, Rockets Pippen types. Brings back that nostalgic feeling of when I was younger and never had access to these jerseys.
8) Any Jersey collections you look up to or would like to mention?
The way I began getting them customised was when I bought a Sonics blank jersey off eBay and the seller was able to make it into a Horace. After that I kept in contact and found out he could do it to many jerseys, as he had access to old Champion materials and had a good tailor that did a professional job. His name is Jersey Jim and I popped into his place in Fresno California when I was in the States. This dude has one of the most impressive NBA game worn jersey collections in the world. Thousands of jerseys, I could've spent all day there. He obviously has contacts in the league to allow him to get such good gear.
9) Do you have collector peers? Is there a scene, how can someone get involved in it?
Not really into any scene as such, I'm not aware of any. My friends and I all have an abnormally large amount of jerseys, but that's about it. I've come across some nice collections on Instagram, but I'm very new to the app.
Part of the reason I started @30HomeGames was not only to share my love for the game but to find likeminded folks with the same passion and interest. It's been an ethos that has served me well in my travels, bonding through sport and connecting with fellow fans even when language and being an outsider proved a barrier. This connection has been an example of that, the mutual appreciation and willingness to share tricks of the trade to a fellow fan. Realising @dongmegratron and I had already crossed paths says a lot about the "court vision" #UltimateNBAfans share.
One of the primary reasons I created 'Loz in Transit' and its offshoot blogs was because I enjoyed having an undertaking that fostered life experiences. Since becoming a "content seeker" for these projects I feel more connected, inspired and proactive. Even though I've recently returned from a short USA trip, activity on my travel blog has been sparse as nearly all my focus has shifted to my basketball mission. In particular the @30HomeGames Instagram which I update daily and consumes most of my waking thoughts.
We embarked on the maiden #30HGroadtrip to the snowy US East Coast, cruising from New York to Cleveland by SUV. I had a Fairytale in New York as the Knicks graciously hosted us to pregame access at Madison Square Garden aka "The World's Most Famous Arena". We also sat Courtside behind the player's bench in Philly and capped it off watching this generation's greatest player, homecoming king LeBron playing in Cleveland.
Una foto publicada por 30homegames (@30homegames) el
At this stage, my growing obsession for Instagram has me viewing the world through a square, basketball-themed prism. The shift largely precipitated by my new life as a Smartphone user, its been 7 months now. A lot of the inspiration and insight which filled these pages came to me during quiet moments of reflection traveling Europe and South America. I didn't have a camera for the majority of my travels but on the occasions I did I realised it made me neglect writing. The smartphone has made this worse tenfold, conversely "gramming" has helped me develop a more economical way of storytelling.
There's a lot in store for '30 Home Games' in 2015 so stay tuned.
I have an interview with a diehard Australian jersey collector coming. I'm also campaigning to be the 'ESPN Ultimate Fan' so please show your support. As its an even year, FIBA basketball returns. I'll be contemplating whether to continue my streak having already attended EuroBasket '11 and FIBA Americas '13. I have a choice between a mid year trip to either Asia or Africa. There's AfroBasket 2015 hosted by Tunisia between August 19 to 30 or FIBA Asia in Changsha, China from September 23 to October 3.
