Fila Hosts All-American Basketball Game During Deep South Classic: Top Ranked High School Seniors Square Off in Fourth Annual All-Star Game

Sparks, MD (Vocus/PRWEB) April 07, 2011

Fila and Michael T. White, Inc. Events (MTW) announce the fourth annual All-American Prep basketball game which will take place on Saturday, April 16th in Carmichael Auditorium at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Twenty-two of the nation?s top ranked prep players, who have already signed to some of the most influential collegiate basketball programs in the country for fall 2011, will play in what is considered the highlight game of this 12th annual Deep South Classic basketball tournament. Fila?s strong commitment to youth basketball will be highlighted during the game with national Top 100 players wearing their new Performance DLS Slam basketball shoe and Fila uniforms. This is the first year that the All-American game will be played during the Deep South Classic which runs from April 15 ? 17th.

The Deep South Classic will feature 320 highly competitive teams from the United States and Canada and brings together many of the nation's elite prep athletes during the only live recruiting period allowed by the NCAA. The 2011 event will include nine divisions: 17 National, 17 Signature, 17 Open, 16 National, 16 Signature, 15 National, 15 Open, 14 National, and 13 National. The event, hosted by University of North Carolina, Duke University and NC State University, provides college coaches an opportunity to scout up-and-coming players.

According to founder and event organizer Michael T. White, ?The Fila All-American Game will add another national All-Star game to the prep schedule, which will showcase some of the top players in the country. We are pleased to have a partner like Fila with a rich history in performance basketball and look forward to continuing to develop marketing and social media initiatives to organically increase brand presence in youth basketball.?

The All-Star team rosters will include twelve players who have been ranked among the top 50 players in the country by analyst Bret McCormick of the All-Star Girls Report (ASGR). Prep standouts Ka?lia Johnson, Sara Hammond and Reshanda Gray will be the highest ranked players on-court at tip-off. Hammond, a 6?2? power forward from Mount Vernon, Kentucky, will be continuing her basketball career at the University of Louisville. Gray, a 6?3? forward from Los Angeles, will be staying in her home state to play collegiate basketball with the California Golden Bears. Hammond and Gray have been honored as McDonald?s All-Americans. According to ASGR rankings, Hammond is currently ranked 17th, while Gray is 26th. Future Duke Blue Devil Ka?lia Johnson, a 5?9? point guard from Chester, Virginia, is ranked 13th on the ASGR and will be the highest rated player in the All-American game.

The Fila All-American Game will feature many players who will play collegiate basketball at various ACC basketball programs. Natiece Ford, a 6?2? forward who has signed with Clemson, hails from nearby Holly Springs, North Carolina. Future UNC Tar Heels Danielle Butts, a 5?10? wing from Winterville, North Carolina and Brittany Roundtree, a 5?8? point guard from Jacksonville, Florida, will get an early preview of playing a high profile game on their future home court at Carmichael Auditorium.

Nineteen different universities will be represented at the Fila All-American Game. Two of the nation?s top prep programs, Potters House Christian and Whitney Young High School, ranked 5th and 13th respectively by ESPN Rise will be represented by players Loliya Briggs and Kiana Johnson.

The East Team roster will include (height/hometown/college):

Alexandra Cohen (6?5?/Bayside,WI/Northwestern); Elem Ibiam (6?3?/Griffin, GA/South Carolina); Sara Hammond (6?2?/ Mount Vernon,KY/Louisville); Janitah Iamaleava (6?2?/Carson, CA/Oregon); Danielle Butts (5?10?/Winterville,NC/North Carolina); Loliya Briggs (5?11?/Jacksonville,FL/ Pittsburgh); Erika Johnson (6?1?/ Seattle, WA/California); Sydney Wallace (5?10?/Duluth, GA/Georgia Tech); Jasmine Jackson (5?11?/Old Bridge,NJ/Georgetown); Ka?lia Johnson (5?9?/Chester,VA/Duke); Kiana Johnson (5?6?/Chicago,IL/Michigan State).

The West Team roster will feature:

Ronisha Major (6?3?/Huntsville,TX/Texas); Sarah Imovbioh (6?2?/Charlottesville,VA/ Virginia); Reshanda Gray (6?3?/Los Angeles, CA/California); Dearica Hamby (6?3?/ Marietta,GA/Wake Forest); Natiece Ford (6?2?/Holly Springs,NC/Clemson); Hasina Muhammad (6?/Memphis, TN/Auburn); Asia Boyd (6?/Detroit, MI/Kansas); Madison Cable (6?/Pittsburgh, PA/Notre Dame); Chanise Jenkins (5?4?/Chicago, IL/DePaul); Megan Buckland (6?/High Point, NC/North Carolina); Brittany Roundtree (5?8?/Jacksonville, FL/ North Carolina). The tip off for the Fila All-American game is set for 10:30 p.m. on April 16th.

For further information, or to request press credentials for the event, please contact Ryan Polk, rpolk@fila.com, at Fila Basketball/Michael T. White Signature Events.

About Fila

2011 marks the centennial of the Fila brand which was established in Biella, Italy in 1911 by the Fila brothers. Fila is now a leading manufacturer of sport and leisure footwear and apparel distributed worldwide. The internationally respected company, having gained world class recognition in tennis apparel, has developed brand recognition by marketing high design and style content products that are endorsed by professional athletes from around the world.

http://www.michaeltwhite.com/

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Fanboys Screenwriter Ernest Cline Kicks off Ready Player One novel at Comic-Con International with Speculative Fiction Panel and Joust Arcade Game Competition

New York, NY (PRWEB) June 23, 2011

Ernest Cline, screenwriter of the cult favorite movie, Fanboys, comes to Comic-Con International (http://www.comic-con.org) this July to introduce fans to his new novel, Ready Player One (Crown Books, on-sale: August 16th). Warner Brothers has already snapped up film rights to the novel after a heated bidding war (http://bit.ly/aFMGDb) and pre-publication buzz is growing as critics like Mark Frauenfelder from Boing Boing hail Ready Player One as ?my mind-blowing science fiction novel for the 2010s." (http://bit.ly/lg1QgU)

Set in a near-future world, Ready Player One centers on outcast Wade Watts, who escapes from his bleak surroundings by logging into a globally networked virtual utopia known as the OASIS. When the eccentric billionaire who created the OASIS dies, he offers up his vast fortune as the prize in an elaborate treasure hunt. Along with gamers from around the world, Wade joins the adventure, and quickly finds himself pitted against ruthless competitors who will do anything, in the OASIS or the real world, to reach the treasure first. It?s the ultimate wish fulfillment story, and paints a picture of our world changed drastically by the future of social networking years after Facebook (http://on.fb.me/iqG9bG).

Ready Player One is at once a remarkable sci-fi thriller and a brilliantly strange love letter to pop cuture, featuring giant robot battles, light-speed traveling DeLoreans, entire planets inspired by classic video arcades, and a plot that revolves around such esoterica as Cap-n Crunch commercials and John Hughes movies (http://www.ernestcline.com/blog/).

On Sunday, July 24th at Comic-Con International, fans will have a chance to meet Cline in person as he discusses Ready Player One at the ?Speculative Fiction: Space Odyssey, Alien Encounters and Other Worlds? panel (12:00-1:00 pm, Room: 25ABC) along with bestselling science fiction and fantasy writers Greg Bear (Hull Zero Three), Vernor Vinge (A Fire Upon the Deep), James S.A.Corey (Leviathan Wakes), Gini Koch (The Alien/Katherine ?Kitty? Katt series), Timothy Zahn (Star Wars: Choice of One), Kirsten Imani Kasai (Tattoo), and David S. Goyer & Michael Cassutt (Heaven?s Shadow).

Says Cline: ?To be on the panel with legendary authors like Zahn, Vinge, and Bear and the rest of this group is an amazing honor. It will be fun to try and explain to everyone at the panel what people mean when they say that Ready Player One is a mix of Willy Wonka, The Matrix, and Avatar all rolled into one. Comic-Con will also give me a great excuse to show off pictures of my new DeLorean.? (http://imdb.to/ai5Bg3, http://imdb.to/9tnLyb, http://www.avatarmovie.com/)

Fans can also catch Ernie wielding a joystick at a Joust arcade game at the Random House booth (#1515) as he does combat against other con attendees to defeat groups of enemy knights riding buzzards. The Joust tournament is open to all con attendees, who will have a chance at winning different prizes (http://bit.ly/fCHSKF).

To find out more about Ernest Cline and why beloved authors like Charlaine Harris, Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, and Daniel H. Wilson are all huge fans of Ready Player One, go to http://www.readyplayerone.com

For media inquiries and to set up interviews with Ernest Cline at Comic-Con International, please contact: Elena Stokes, Founding Partner, Wunderkind PR, elena(at)wunderkind-pr(dot)com; 917.887.0784

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More Media Player Classic Press Releases

Kiwi game designer takes on the world with the board game, Breakscore (tm)

(PRWEB) August 17, 2005

Matt Taylor is putting his money where his mouth is by funding the project entirely himself. Taylor's belief in the qualities of BreakscoreR and his determination to see his game enjoyed by a world-wide audience has motivated him to buck the norm and side-step the major game companies.

Peter Mounsey, a New Zealand Backgammon Champion, describes Breakscore as "a brilliant board game and an essential addition to every dice and card players' collection."

Murray Chandler, New Zealand's International Chess Grandmaster, has described the game as "stimulating and entertaining".

"Board game enthusiasts put Breakscore right up there with the great games", says Taylor, "the classic games, the strategic games that stand on their perennial qualities and get played year after year. Games such as backgammon, risk, rummikub, yahtzee, scrabble, and monopoly. In these board games, as in life, it's the choices you make with what you get that is crucial to success."

Media photos available at http://www.breakscore.com/media.htm

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Announcing ESPN Jeopardy! From Pressman Toy America's Favorite Quiz Game, Now for Sports Fans

New York, NY (PRWEB) October 11, 2008

America's favorite quiz game? is ready to challenge sports trivia buffs with the new ESPN Jeopardy! games in stores now from Pressman Toy. From play-at-home fun to tailgating parties, sports fans everywhere will enjoy the fast-paced excitement of "buzzing in" their "questions" in response to Jeopardy! style "answers" so true to form and so challenging, all that's missing is Alex Trebek.

ESPN Jeopardy! is available in two versions:

A boxed game that includes a standing answer board, an electronic game "buzzer" that plays four distinct sports sounds and plays the ESPN-theme for the Final Jeopardy! timer;
An Attach? Edition that features a plastic game board that folds to compact size, individual contestant clickers, and scoring chips that fit into a handsome, durable, zippered carry case. Perfect for tailgating!???? ???????????? ????

ESPN Jeopardy! features more than 1,000 sports-themed questions in a wide range of challenging categories including "NHL Name Changes," "Bad Sports Acronyms," "ESPN's Players You Love to Hate," "Ballparks & Arenas," "ESPN Personalities," and "NBA Head Coaches," just to name a few.

Players will test their sports knowledge with Jeopardy! style answers and questions such as:

Answer: A 1978 Fenway series won by the Yankees by a total score of 42-9 has this historic name

Question: What is the Boston Massacre?

Answer: They were the best pro team with 6 championships in their sports during the decade????

Question: Who are the Chicago Bulls?

Answer: This alliterative Chavez Ravine treat is a pork frank by Farmer John

Question: What is a Dodger Dog?

Answer: When the Minn. North Stars moved south, this truncated name made more sense

Question: What is the Dallas Stars?

ESPN Jeopardy! boxed game and ESPN Jeopardy! Attach? Edition are designed for three to four players ages 12 through adult. The games are available nationwide at Toys "R" Us, Sports Authority, Borders, Barnes & Noble and Dick's Sporting Goods. The suggested retail price (SRP) for the ESPN Jeopardy! boxed game with customized electronic game play features is $ 29.99, the Attach? Edition has an SRP of $ 19.99.

About Pressman Toy Corporation Inc.

Pressman Toy Corporation Inc., the third largest game manufacturer in the United States, was founded in 1922. The company has released many strong brands that consumers have enjoyed for generations, such as Rummikub, MASTERMIND and Tri-Ominos. One of the first companies in the industry to begin licensing popular characters and content for toys and games, Pressman Toy has created games and puzzles based on Ben 10, Pok?mon, Scooby-Doo! and The

Simpsons, as well as popular games shows Deal or No Deal, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. More recently, the company has expanded its offerings into the DVD game and DVD board game segments.

In addition to ESPN Jeopardy!, during 2008, Pressman Toy has added Disney Wheel of Fortune, board games based on NBC's The Office, and Smithsonian Institution educational games to its line-up. Further information about Pressman Toy can be found at http://www.pressmantoy.com.

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