Dwyane Wade Connects with Spike Lee

When Dwyane Wade was gearing up to begin shooting a commercial for his new Converse sneaker, Wade 1.3, he was a bit worried about what the concept would be. Last year’s campaign with “Fall Seven Times, Stand Up Eight”, with clips of Wade continually falling during games and getting back up, was a successful and inspirational concept. But this time Wade wanted something different. Converse then hooked him up with Spike Lee.

''Last year everybody saw something I was about, the falling and the basketball action,'' Wade told the Associated Press. “I'm kind of sick of basketball commercials. Even Spike said, `You don't want to see the typical dunk. You don't want to see the typical crossover anymore.' What the fans want now, they want to get to know who you are. And without me getting on a TV show and talking about my whole life, I thought we would give them a snippet about the way I think when it's time for games, or what's important to me. That's something that I really stressed, and I wanted this to be a real piece. So when I got the call and heard Spike was going to do it, I stopped worrying about the commercial. I knew it was going to be good. I knew all I had to do was show up.”

The commercial was shot last week at Miami’s LaSalle High School in a documentary style where Wade shares his inner thoughts. Look for the shoes and commercial to drop around the end of October.

Also last week, Wade and H3Enterprises announced that he would host the H3Players All-Star CyberSports Spectacular on Feb. 16, in Las Vegas during the 2007 NBA All-Star Weekend. The event is a video game tournament featuring the best gamers from around the world with a cash prize of $100,000 to the top gamer. Wow, who said that playing video games will get you nowhere?

Marcus Camby Hangs With The Kids

Ever since Marcus Camby came into the league, he’s always looked out for the kids. So it isn’t much of a surprise that the 6’11” Denver Nuggets center spent an afternoon chopping it up with some elementary, middle, and high school kids at Mitchell Elementary in Denver. Camby was chilling with kids who participated in his Marcus’ Mentors program which consists of weekly tutoring sessions in math and reading conducted by juniors and seniors for three different Denver area high schools. They tutor 18 Mitchell 4th and 5th graders.

"It's all about giving back, and I'm trying to teach these juniors and seniors the importance of giving back and helping out others," Camby told the Denver Post.

For every year a junior or senior participates as a tutor, they’re awarded a $2,500 scholarship.

Elton Brand: Movie Producer?

When LA Clipper Marcus Camby was in Canada for the Toronto Toronto International Film Festival, he didn’t have his NBA hat on; he was sporting the movie producer swagger. Brand’s Gibraltar Entertainment produced the upcoming Christian Bale (“Batman Returns”) flick, “Rescue Dawn”, a true story about a pilot shot down behind enemy lines in Vietnam. The movie was shown at the festival with much praise, and MGM scooped up the rights and plans to release it Dec. 1.

"I'm just one of the people who put in some money,” Brand told the L.A. Times about the film. Other projects that Brand’s company is working include a comedy, “Bad in Bed,” and a thriller, “Stranded”, which is about a killer targeting a woman stuck in a car teetering on the edge of a cliff. But Brand told ESPN that getting into the movie business is tougher than he thought.

"The advice from my business advisers was to start earlier," he told ESPN. "When you're still playing, you can network and meet people. The movie biz is definitely tough. So I wouldn't advise any young athletes to get into it unless you have some credible partners and you know what you're doing."

Hmmm… maybe we’ll pass on our screenplay about an athlete who breaks his finger and tries to commit suicide but denies it, to Brand and see if he’ll make it.

Chad Johnson Covers Up With Degree Men

We know that after every football game, the players have to be pretty funky. But I guess the funk was so bad in the Cincinnati Bengals locker room that Chad Johnson decided to get an endorsement deal with Degree Men so he could hook up his team mates.

Last season, Johnson made headlines for a checklist he posted in his locker called “Who Will Cover 85 in 2005”, listing the defensive backs he was going up against all season. After the game he would check “yes” or “no” in regards to whether his performance was good. This year he’s doing the same thing, but this time with Degree Men.

“I'm working with Degree Men this year to make my checklist even bigger and better for 2006,” Johnson posted on his blog . “It seemed like a good fit to be working with Degree – they protect men who take risks – and I had fun working with them last year around the Super Bowl. Not only will my checklist be in my locker this year, but it will also be on billboards throughout Cincy, so I'm really excited about that.”

Keep an eye on his blog because Johnson is grand entertainment.