Earlier this week, we shared the story of Rajon Rondo's 2-on-2 tournament this summer. Well it seems like Rondo is uber busy this summer doing promotional tournament work with Red Bull. In addition to the news that he will joining Team USA, Rondo is now also the main endorser for another hoops tournament that Red Bull is sponsoring: "Red Bull King of the Rock."
Unlike the 2-on-2 tournament, this bracket is designed for the best 1-on-1 ballers on the west coast. Well, at least that's where all of the qualifiers will be held. Players from Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego, Phoenix, San Francisco and Oakland will all compete for the honor of being exiled to island of Alcatraz. That's right, the championship game will be played on the same island that once kept Al Capone (among many others) in lockdown.
Over 50 years ago, some of the nastiest criminals spent their days figuring out ways how to get off the Alcatraz hell hole. In an ironic twist, the potential nastiest players will now play their hardest to get ON the island. Sure there's always the Rucker Park summer league in New York City, but let's be honest, this is far more intriguing.
Even though Rondo is the central figure in this tournament, there are no "Rondo Rules" akin to his 2-on-2 tournament. This is straight up balling, 1-on-1 style like we all did on the summertime playgrounds. Although there are a few differences:
- The games are timed to 5 minutes
- 2's and 3's are counted (instead of the popular 1's and 2's on most pickup games)
- Player with the highest score after 5 minutes advances (instead of the popular "play up to 11, have to win by 2" style
- It's not make-it, take-it rules
- Once the game is over, the winner advances and immediately plays another opponent (similar to the endurance fights from the Mortal Kombat games)
- Only the first 64 players to arrive for registration at each qualifier location can play (so book those flights now if you even want a chance)
- To win the final prize of $10,000 on Alcatraz, you essentially have to play for 25 minutes of straight playing time (more when you add in a few whistles here and there). So endurance is definitely a required skill
So if any of our loyal readers out on the west coast (Art in LA) want to head to Alcatraz, time to dust off those Air Jordan's and get going. This is definitely one of the more intriguing tournaments out there. The only problem is, you can't get tickets for it or even watch it on TV.