Both the Statesman and TexasSports.com have covered this, but I think it’s just too cool not to jump on the bandwagon: on Monday, TJ Ford, Royal Ivey, Kevin Durant, D.J. Augustin, and LaMarcus Aldridge launched a website to connect with fans and basically just share their lives: www.texas360now.com.
I’ll let TJ Ford, who pairs with Royal Ivey as the main instigators, say it as he blogs a “Welcome” letter to the site:
I would like to invite you all into this project that my good friends and I have created that allows you to be in tune with the sports world in the STATE OF TEXAS. We will post video throughout our journey to greatness. Texas360now will also include updates on athletes from Texas that have made it to the pros, blogs from athletes as well as fans, high school sensations, and athletes playing overseas. We are hoping to create a place that allows you to keep up with the best athletes at every level; which includes basketball, football, baseball, boxing, and track & field. We hope that our website becomes your favorite site that becomes a place you visit everyday. There will be opportunity to win many prizes and gifts from our athletes so sign up and leave your opinion because it matters and we hope to hear from you. We also hope you’ll meet some like minded Texas athletes and fans in the forums and groups area. Thanks for checking us out.
The site already boasts 279 registered members–4 more were added between the time when I started my registration and finished it–with active forums whose topics range from Best UT team to high school hoops to UT football in ’09. As anyone who has ever tried to start or join an online community in its infancy knows, the kind of interaction the site already has is impressive. But then, why wouldn’t it be? These guys are adored figures, successful in the NBA, and have huge fan bases hungry for more info about their heroes.
One of the things I’ve always liked most about college sports is that college athletes are approachable. They’re not superhuman performance machines (ok, they kind of are), but they’re kids (granted, BIG kids) who are in class with everyone else, eating at the cafeteria with everyone else, and so on. But once they hit the NBA, they lose some of that approachability as their profile is elevated. So I think it’s beyond cool that five of Texas’ biggest basketball stars wanted to build something to reach out to their fans, and keep that sense of approachability.
As time goes on, who knows if the site will develop into what they want it to be: a hub for all Texas–state of not just University of–sports? But its goals are lofty and its execution energetic, so I think it’s pretty cool. Hell, I joined and I didn’t even go to UT (living in Austin will do that to you).