It’s Freaks Week!

A Celebration of All Things Freaks Nation and Basketball

Joe Swam
SIDECHAIN
3 min readJul 19, 2021

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A quick announcement before I type too many words (and I will). I’ve been asked by Packrip Ewing to be a contributor/writer at his newly formed Packrip Media project and I’m humbled and honored to be included. The talent he’s assembled to launch this new project includes some of my very favorite in the Top Shot/NFT space.

I’m thrilled at the opportunity to level up my own writing so that I may eventually feel worthy of inclusion. Thanks again, Pack!

Today is the start of Freaks Week! A week-long, community-driven celebration of all things All-Star Freaks and basketball.

Throughout the week, members of the Freaks Nation community will be featuring some of our favorite All-Star Freaks NFT cards and pairing those cards with Top Shot Moment giveaways. There will also be new drops in the Discord and increased opportunities for new collectors to get their first card.

Basketball is as much art as it is an athletic competition.

Like jazz and stand-up comedy, it started with a set of rules and continues to evolve and grow as the greats of the game push the boundaries of what’s possible.

When I watch today’s stars, I’m constantly reminded of the journey that led us here. The almost otherworldly individual performances of Giannis and Devin Booker don’t happen without the “Big Bang” of James Naismith hanging up peach baskets at opposite ends of a Springfield College gymnasium in 1891.

That Tim Hardaway, Jr. three-pointer may have been the end result of a flying, over the head, no-look pass from Luka Dončić.

But, in a way, it starts with a behind-the-back pass from Bob Cousy.

An off the shoe pass from Pistol Pete.

A flashy wrap-around from Magic Johnson on the Lakers’ “Showtime” fast break.

An elbow pass from Jason “White Chocolate” Williams.

That Luka assist is actually the latest in a one hundred and thirty-year game of telephone. And it’s not over yet.

The players we’re seeing today will continue to inspire and influence the stars of the future. Many who aren’t even born yet.

All-Stars Freaks is an NFT art project I love that pays homage to this lineage.

Yes, many of the cards are from current players, but a number of the sport’s biggest legends and trendsetters are included in the collection.

Great scorers. Tough rebounders. Flashy passers. The craziest and loudest characters.

At its core, All-Star Freaks is a celebration of basketball. It’s less Ken Burns and more MAD Magazine, but still a celebration of the game we all love. Just like there’s no one right away to be a fan of basketball, there’s no ONE right way to be pay homage to its history.

This week, we invite you to celebrate basketball and its biggest FREAKS with us. You won’t find a more passionate and inclusive community of NFT enthusiasts and hoop heads.

Join us! Come find your inner FREAK.

All-Star Freaks on Twitter

All-Star Freaks collection on OpenSea

All-Star Freaks on hic et nunc

All-Star Freaks Discord

Thanks for reading!

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Joe Swam
SIDECHAIN

Past tense of SWIM • Adequate husband • Co-creator of one male human • Washington Wizards