1970

In Game 7 of the NBA Championship, Willis Reed limps out onto the court with a muscle tear suffered in Game 5 to spiritually lead his team to win the NBA Championship over the Los Angeles Lakers.

1986

MJ drops 50, for his first career 50 point regular season game.

1995

Reggie Miller hits 8 points in the final 16.4 seconds to erase a 6-point Knicks lead and steal a win for the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

2000

Chris Childs of the Knicks punches Kobe in the neck. Ok, that was not in MSG but at the Staples Center, but because I'm a Laker Hater, I enjoyed that moment!

2003

The Professor hits a 3 pointer at the buzzer to beat Team AND1!

The Professor? Who is The Professor? One of Webster's definitions of a professor is: One that teaches or professes special knowledge of an art, sport, or occupation requiring skill.

That in a nutshell is what Grayson Boucher aka The Professor did, city after city. Whether it was going up against Hot Sauce or Syk Wit It, The Professor kept his composure, did his thing and came out on top as voted by the AND1 players as the winner of the AND1 contract during the summer of 2003, on The AND1 Mix Tape Tour.

Grayson Boucher, went to McNary High School for 3 years and attended Salem Academy his senior year. That year they won their league title, but lost in the state tournament. That year Grayson was voted all state at Salem Academy and participated in the 2002 Gatorade Oregon High School All Star Series, representing the Oregon AA West Team. Upon graduation, Grayson enrolled and played at Chemeketa CC in Salem, Oregon for the 2002-2003 season. Although the team did not do that well, he felt he got better playing college ball.

The 2003 AND1 Mix Tape Tour kicked off in Tacoma last year and set off on a 30+ city tour of the US. As part of the tour, they had an open run where players could come down prior to the game, be observed by the likes of AND1 legends Main Event, Half-Man-Half-Amazing, Hot Sauce, etc., and possibly be one of the players picked to participate in the game going on in that city. AND1 decided to put a twist on it and not only let local players in each city play, but to actually have a chance at winning a contract with AND1, Survivor style by having the potential of one player picked in each city with the guarantee of at least one week on the tour. If you played well you survived. If not, ya had to get to steppin'.

As the tour progressed, they would have three players at a time compete against the opposing AND1 team, and at the conclusion of each game, they were then voted on by the AND1 team as to which two players should stay and which one would have to go.

After Tacoma, the tour made their way down to Portland, Oregon. That is where Grayson participated in the open run, and got picked up and the rest is history.

With the 2004 Mix Tape Tour about to kick off, The Professor took time out of his busy schedule to chop it up with Seaspot:

Mike: Lot has changed for you over the last year. What were you doing this time last year?

Professor: I was working out and was planning on coming back to play this past Fall for Chemeketa CC

Mike: Had you planned to play in the AND 1 Open Run?

Professor: I was a fan of AND 1 and I was going up there to have fun. I did not know about the contest until I had got there. I was just going up there to have fun, hopefully make it to playing in the game, because I had the year before that.

Mike: Were you born and raised in Salem?

Professor: Born and raised in Salem. I actually live in a town called Kaiser which is like Salem-Kaiser.

Mike: Growing up in Salem, the closest hoop team was of course the Portland Trailblazers, did you have any basketball influences or players you idolized?

Professor: Terry Porter and Clyde Drexler when I was little. But my main basketball influence was my Dad.

Mike: Did your Dad play a lot of ball?

Professor: He played a lot of ball but he did not play college or pro or anything like that.

Mike: I remember seeing him on the show last year. You guys looked like twins.

Professor: Laughs We had the same shirt on in a couple of scenes and it looked like we planned it.

Mike: So basically your Dad played a lot of ball with you growing up.

Professor: He taught me everything basically.

Mike: But you had to take it to another level?

Professor: Exactly!

Mike: Do you guys still play together now?

Professor: Yeah we do. Were on a team together right now in a different league. He still plays now. He's real decent. He's like 45. It's cool.

Mike: Were there any players that you tried to model your game after:

Professor: AI, Jason Williams from Memphis, Skip (Rafer Alston of the Miami Heat). Mainly those three.

Mike: Do you have any pregame rituals?

Professor: I have none. I use to but I'd get caught up in worrying about that, so I don't even do that no more.

Mike: AND 1 players are noted as being "The best players not in the league." For you, do you have goals of making it to the NBA?

Professor: The NBA is kind of a long shot because I know guys like...look at it Alimoe. He's like 6'7, two somethin' and he can't get in. It kinda sticks in the back of my mind 'cause you know every little kid says they want to be in the NBA. So it's always kinda been in the back of my mind. But realistically I've gotten a job offer overseas and so I want to see how that goes after this next year and kinda take it from there.

Mike: Do you think a lot of it is who you know to get into the league?

Professor: I think a lot of it is the path you take and who you know. But at the same token, like you can't just be in the league and not have somethin'. I think there are some players that are good to enough to be there, but just can't get in for one reason or another. Like Prime Objective on our team should be in the league. He was on the Nets for a minute.

Mike: Have you thought about the NBDL?

Professor: See I don't know who I would even go to about something like that because I don't have an agent. Man if I could get a tryout somewhere that would be great. I know that there's an ABA team next season in Portland. I know tons of cats will be trying out for that, but I know I'll probably be one of them.

Mike: When you think about the basketball cities the first thing that comes to mind is New York, Chicago, etc. Salem is definitely not on that list. So how did the success of the AND 1 tour change your life when you got back to Salem? I know you just had to be the man down there.

Professor: Man it was crazy actually. I wasn't use to having any attention prior to that. Like a lot of people knew me from playin' basketball like "Oh there goes Grayson". When I came back it was kinda crazy, like being treated different from everybody. My close friends treat me the same. They don't call me Professor. I moved out on my own, and I had never lived on my own. And I have enough money to pay all my stuff. It was like I grew up in one Summer.

Mike: Yeah, like you hear people say that success does not happen overnight, but in a sense it did for you and Spyda....

Professor: Yeah, a few nights you know.

Mike: I hear there are plans for a Street Hoops Volume 2. Is that true? And if so, are you going to be a character in the game?

Professor: Well Street Hoops Volume 2 was cancelled. We're trying to work on another video game as a matter of fact, right now and I think me, Spyda and Helicopter will be in it. I think it's going to carry the name AND 1 and it will be through another video game company.

Mike: So how was life on the road last summer, livin' on the tour bus and things? Was it everything you expected?

Professor: Well maybe a little bit different. I was using my phone a lot calling home all the time. I did not really ever get home sick ever, 'cause I was havin' fun. The bus is cool. The bus is like a hotel room basically. You got food, satellite TV, your own bunk with a TV in it, Gamecube, movies, so I was really never bored on the bus. People was like "You had to live on the bus all Summer?", 'cause they thought it was cheap or somethin', but it's cool though.

Mike: I know it had to be a trip along the tour playing with NBA players like Jeff McInnis, Skip. Who was the most competitive NBA or non-NBA player on the tour?

Professor: I wasn't in LA so I had to wait a week while they do a background check or whatever. Probably AO on the AND 1 Mix Tape team. Syk Wid It also. All the NBA players were always on my team. Skip, Ricky Davis, Deshawn Stevenson.

Mike: Were there any of those NBA players that impressed you?

Professor: Ricky Davis. He's a raw athlete.

Mike: I heard after the tour that you had hurt your ankle overseas. How was the overseas trip and how well you were you guys received?

Professor: I shouldn't have played in any of those games. I think I played four out of five of those games. I didn't even do well 'cause I was too worried about moving too sharp or whatever because of my ankle. They were depending on me a lot to play in those games, but when I look back on it I shouldn't have played in any of those games. I think I only sat out one.