Back before Boucher had a moniker he decided to take on a challenge. He came up to Portland from Keizer for the Open Run on a whim, just wanting to see what he could do.

That was 2003. That was Portland's old Memorial Coliseum. That was rapper David Banner at halftime frustrated because the sound system was so bad no one in the crowd could understand him. That was when Boucher was known only by his given name. That was a very warm day with a small crowd in a city not known for streetball, yet it was a day that not only changed the teenaged Boucher's life, but was a significant day in the history of AND1 as well....

"I was super-nervous three years ago when I came out," said Professor. "I didn't know what to expect, I was just happy when the crowd went crazy when I made a pass. I think I only had four points, but the crowd really liked it - I had a bunch of assists though."

Bad Santa and Professor

The crowd not only liked it, they loved it. This writer was there, sitting in the stands not fully realizing how this young kid's future was being planned before his very eyes. Professor went on to be picked by ESPN voters as the one player in 2003 to earn a contract from AND1 for the next year. His popularity grew - in fact, continues to grow - worldwide.

Since that time he's been all over world with AND1 - Australian, Asia, Europe, South America, Africa - and many of those places over and over again. Professor goes on all the tours, even though sometimes it gets to be a lot of travel. The constant movement, sleeping on a bus, never in one place for very long, can be a grind sometimes, he admits. "It can, it can. Sometimes you just have to take an off-day and sleep. I love it though."

Open Run in the Rose Quarter

Today, Professor has an entourage in Portland; his entire family is here to cheer him on in front of the home crowd. His parents, his brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends - they all are here to see him play, along with 6,000 other Portlanders. This time he wasn't nervous to put his AND1 jersey on and play the game because he knows this is where he belongs. Well, he wasn't nervous about the game.

"I was more nervous before the game, just because I was stressed out - I was like, 'Dang, I have to get all these tickets handed out.' I gave out 50-plus tickets, I was trying to talk to everybody out on the Open Run. Most of the times go out there and don't have anyone to talk to, but I knew everyone. I had to remember I had a game to play. So I left and went and shot some jumpers - once I got sweaty it was no big deal."

And yes, his grandparents were there. It's interesting, considering the Tour is marked by it's hip-hop music and flare, something that probably doesn't bring in too many of the older generation. Not Professor's grandparents - they don't mind a bit.

"They love it - my grandparents are some of my biggest fans. It's so crazy; every magazine I'm in, my grandma will subscribe to it. My grandma has a subscription to Source Magazine - the only 80-year old white woman who does. They're big supporters." Professors laughs and shakes his head, drawing laughs from the people in the room listening to him talk. Yep, he is talking about that same Source Magazine that is the leader among hip-hop magazines.

It all comes back to basketball though, and to Professor it doesn't matter what kind it is. Sometimes he wants to streetball, sometimes he wants to play fundamental ball - as he did with the Salem Stampede of the IBL. He wants to be clear on one thing though - this doesn't just happen. His game, and the game of all his AND1 teammates, is the product of hours of practice. Those halfcourt, between-the-legs alley-oop passes for dunks to Air Up There or Go Get It take hard work.

"Some days I'll just be in the gym by myself and I'll throw them against the wall, thinking that's a range where some of the guys can go up and get it," Professor says. "A lot of our dunkers you can throw it dang near anywhere and they'll get it, make it look like it was a pretty alley-oop."

And part of the fun on the Tour is that every stop is different. Because of the Open Runs the AND1 team never really knows what is going to happen or how the game will go. It just depends on the quality of the players at the Run in each city.

"Every game is different," he explains. "Some games it will be a majority of alley-oops, some games it will be the dribblers. It's a different team we play every game and we've got a streetball All-Star team - on any given night a different guy can be the man. When we were in LA me and Sauce had 20 points each and we led the team as far as setting the tempo and doing all the moves. Then we went to Oakland and Baby Shack was playing well. Here, AO was killing them - different guys step up on different nights, just like an All-Star Game."

Team AND1

And that's why the AND1 Mix Tape Tour is so popular in a nutshell. This All-Star Game every night is the Harlem Globetrotters for a new generation, and Professor is their floor leader.

Other Portland Stop Notes

Team AND1 beat Team Portland 108-100. The AND1 team led pretty much the entire way, at various points opening leads of 15+ points. Team Portland kept fighting back behind the play of Circus, a player who AND1 signed for a short stint and will be eligible to earn the full-season contract and $25,000 signing bonus at the end of the this tour. Circus has a very good handle, solid outside shot, and plenty of confidence. The final outcome was never really in doubt - you got the feeling Team AND1 was just playing games with Team Portland...Two Portland locals, Jalonika Martin (with a zebra-like mohawk to go with his cornrows) and Kevin Dizdarevic held their own with the AND1 players, but probably didn't display enough of the entertaining flair to go with solid games to make cases for themselves to get a contract. Martin did win the slam dunk contest...Want a tip on how to be successful in an Open Run and get in the building? Streetball is a game based on subtleties, such as a slight nod from one player to another, so it's important to connect with your teammates even if you have never met before. See if you can establish some sort of plan before the game starts. Another key is that to be successful Open Run teammates can't be all about themselves - part of it is making your teammates look good as much as making the other guy look bad. If one player tries to make every play none of them will get in the building. As the on court MC chided many players during Portland's Open Run, you have to convert the move - meaning score some points - as well as make the move for it to be effective...E40 put on a pretty good show at halftime, getting the Portland crowd out of their seats...Look for more coverage of the AND1 Mix Tape Tour when it hits Phoenix on the 19th.