THE SECRET to the Golden State Warriors unbelievable home stretch leading up the playoffs and eventually to winning the 2017 NBA championship is ... a toaster.
When Ronnie Reyes had his official Warriors toaster - complete with team logo - signed by Klay Thompson in March, little did anyone know that the toaster would be key to the Warrior's winning streak at the end of the regular season.
When Reyes posted on social media a picture of the shooting guard signing the poster, it went viral.
In interviews, the Warriors star jokingly gives credit to the toaster for the team's court prowess, going 31-2 before Tuesday night's clincher.
“That might be the magic toaster. You never know,” Thompson told the Wall Street Journal. Of the toaster owner he added, “That guy is responsible for 25 out of 26 wins. … Shoot, let’s keep it going.”
As owner of the lucky toaster, HaywardReyes was invited to ride on the float carrying Klay Thompson in the Warriors' victory parade Thursday (June 15) sitting next to San Francisco Giants legend Barry Bonds.
The story of the toaster has become a legend among Dub Nation, the Warriors' loyal fan base. “I felt like a local celebrity,” Reyes told the Wall Street Journal. “Which I feel like I am. But only if I have the toaster.”
The team's official ProToast elite toaster, which retails for $39.99 on the NBA’s online store, is sold out. The WSJ reports that the NBA will restock Warriors toasters this summer with inventory from another brand.
Noah Cutler got to show his basketball handling to the Warriors and Stephen Curry last January.
AS THE Golden State Warriors grind their way through the NBA playoffs they are attracting more and more love from fervent and casual basketball fans. This video was sent to me by B Miu, a Filipino/Chinese/American musician playing in the Bay Area. He just put his song, "I Can Do All Things" on YouTube a few days ago. Miu dedicated the song to the Warriors and put a little storyline to it about the influence the Warriors' star Steph Curryhas on his young fans. Curry was just named as among Time Magazine's100 Most Influential People.
The sensational 11-year old boy in the video is Noah Cutler, whose basketball skills attracted the attention of the Warriors. The Oakland team invited the young man to one of their games where he got to meet his hero Stephen Curry, whose moves he emulates.
It is a positive and fun song to sing along with and -- heck, enough talk, listen, watch and enjoy the Warriors' and Steph Curry do their magic as they try for their second straight NBA championship. Oh, yeah! B Miu had this to say a about himself:
Music, lyrics, guitar, bass, and vocals by Brian Miu
Recorded, engineered, and mixed @ 11th avenue records with Tommy Phan.
Keys, additional electric guitar, and additional guitar arrangements by Tommy Phan.
Footage: Josh Cutler; Video Editor: Keyana Stevens
As of this writing, the Curry-less Warriors lost a game they almost won against the Houston Rockets. Who can say for sure that the Warriors will go all the way? But the team needs an anthem - a song to strike fear (or at least, irritate the hell out of them) into opponents. Can you imagine if all 21,000 fans at Oracle Arena break into the chorus? Is Warrior management reading this blog? Why not? Sing along: "I can, I ca-an, I can do all things ..."
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For more news about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.
THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION is celebrating the Chinese New Year with a TV spot featuring Jeremy Lin, Stephen Curry and James Harden.
The ad is called "Dining Table" and shows the stars sharing a New Year meal with a Chinese family. It is being broadcast until Feb. 22 across all of NBA China's television and digital partners' platforms.
The Chinese New Year is Feb. 8 and celebrates the year of the monkey. Lin plays for the Charlotte Hornets and is the first American-born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.
Last year, the Rockets and the Warriors featured t-shirts with a Chinese-theme design. This year, Washington will wear uniforms with the team name in Chinese writing in addition to hosting events in their respective arenas.
Continuing their outreach to their huge Asian fan base in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Asia, the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors will first wear their 2015-16 season Chinese New Year uniforms on the court during a road game on Wednesday, February 3 at Washington in honor of the start of Lunar New Year, held February 7–13.
The team will sport the Chinese-themed threads again during Lunar New Year on Tuesday, February 9 when the Warriors hold their official Chinese New Year Celebration, presented by Lucky Buddha Beer, at Oracle Arena when they face the Houston Rockets.
Last year's Chinese New Years uniform as modeled by forward Harrison Barnes.
To conclude the 2016 Lunar New Year, the Club will wear the Chinese New Year uniforms for the final time during the 2015-16 season on Friday, February 19 at Portland.
On Tuesday, January 26, from 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Warriors Guard Klay Thompson will first show the new 2015-16 threads in Chinatown in San Francisco to celebrate Lunar New Year and tour San Francisco’s oldest alley way in Chinatown, Ross Alley, according to the team's website. Thompson, who will be wearing the new uniform, will start the tour at Ross Alley Gallery (41 Ross Alley).
The group will also make several stops before ending at the Fortune Cookie Factory where Thompson will participate in making traditional Chinese fortune cookies.
“We have an amazing following from our Chinese fans both here in the Bay Area and abroad,” said Warriors President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Welts. “Hosting a Chinese New Year celebration at Oracle Arena and wearing the uniforms to honor Lunar New Year is a great way to not only connect with the Asian culture, but thank our fans for supporting us throughout the season.”
For the first time, 51 live games broadcast and streamed by 10 broadcasters in Greater China, showcasing all 30 NBA teams; and the Chinese New Year Celebration Season of Giving initiative for underprivileged communities in China.
Yao Min, who played center for Houston, introduced NBA-style basketball to fans in China, where he is viewed as a national hero. China. with a population of 1.4 billion, is seen by the NBA as a market with huge potential.
The Warriors, who were one of the first NBA teams to launch a Weibo account, (the Chinese equivalent to Facebook) weibo.com/warriors, have nearly 2 million followers on Weibo, the highest in the NBA and regularly are one of the top teams in the league in engagement metrics on the platform including impressions, reposts, comments and likes. In addition, the Warriors were one of the first NBA teams to have a Chinese website, china.nba.com/warriors, and regularly conduct Q&A’s on Weibo and Tencent. It is clear that the marketing team over at the Warriors are aggressively pursuing the Asian and Asian/Americans markets. Just last week, they posted a "thank you" graphic in Pilipino to the 2 million fans in the Philippines who joined their Facebook page, over a third of the 5.6 million total "likes" the page has collected. For more news about Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, go to AsAm News.
Translation: Two Million Facebook fans in the Philippines. Thank you very much, #Dubnation"
PERHAPS more than any other sport, Filipinos love their basketball. No ... they're CRAZY for basketball. And it looks like the professional basketball team that has attracted their loyalty is the Golden State Warriors. If there is any doubt that the Warriors know who to target on their Facebook page, take a look at these recent posts. A week ago, the NBA team from Oakland posted the above message on the team's Facebook page in the Philippines: "Two million Facebook fans from the Philippines. Thank you very much, #Dubnation" With 5.6 million "friends" on Facebook, that means over a third of the Warriors' "likes" are from the Philippines. Really? That may sound like miscalculation. Are Filipinos that much attuned to social media? The numbers appear to bear it out. According to figures supplied by Facebook, the Warriors’ audience overseas has grown from 45 percent international to 70 percent international in the past two years, measured by “likes” to the team’s home page. And it appears most of them are coming from their Filipino fans.
Two days ago (Jan. 15), the Warriors crack social media team posted this message (to the right) on the team's Facebook page urging their Pilipino-speaking followers to vote for Draymond Green for the All-star team. Two more posts featuring guard tandem Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson with similar messages in Pilipino were entered at the same time.
“The Warriors have transformed themselves from a local and regional sports team into a very large and truly global media entity on Facebook and Instagram,” said Dan Reed, head of global sports partnerships at Facebook. “In the last six months, the team has reached and engaged with more people on Facebook than any professional sports team in the United States.”
Well aware of their fan base and how popular they are in the Philippines, the Warriors reinforced that relationship last summer when the NBA's MVP, Stephen Curry, visited the Philippines as part of an Asian tour for The team followed that up with a Manila visit by five members of the 2015- 2016 Warriors Dance Team, including two of the team's Filipino/ American members, Clarice Guido and Patricia Yabes.
"It's an amazing feeling, coming back and having our community support the Warriors," said Guido, who lived and studied in the Philippines for two years before graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Oregon.
Yabes has been part of the Dance Team for five seasons and she’s one of the captains in the squad. She is currently in college majoring in Public Relations.
And just a few days into the season when the Warriors' record-breaking win streak was just beginning, the team's first ethnic night was Filipino Heritage Night. One of the giveaways was a slate-colored t-shirt with the Philippine sunburst emblazoned on the front with the Warrior's symbol of the Bay Bridge superimposed on the design. The team wore the shirt during their pre-game warmup.
Jay R. Mallari, barber of the NBA's MVP, in his L.A. shop working on a customer.
HERE'S to Filipino barbers: Growing up in a Filipino/American neighborhood in a California suburb, a neighbor who used to be a barber in the Philippines set up a barber chair in his garage. That's where all the neighborhood men and boys would go for their haircuts. The smell of aftershave and pomade and talcum power, the leather barber's chair - it was a biweekly visit to a man's environment. wherec conversation would center about the San Francisco Giants, the high school football team or somebody's upcoming birthday party, christening, Bataan Day observances or whatever social occasion that the close-knit Filipino/American community would be preparing for. The experience was an integral part of my childhood; a rite of passage for all the young boys, to take part and be accepted into the realm of men. The ritual was comforting in a way, providing a brief respite from the environment where we were looked at as strangers and foreigners; a world where the Filipino/American WWII veterans who lived in the neighborhood were "allowed" to buy the modest homes by the white realtors. I continued going to the garage/barber shop well into my teens but eventually, the old man retired. His barber's chair disappeared from the garage. That chapter in my life ended when my family moved to a newer neighborhood across town - the first Filipino family to move to the "white" part of town. But that's another story. The memories of haircuts in the cool, dark garage came flooding back to me as I viewed the video below about a Filipino/American barber who started out cutting hair in his garage in Vallejo, California. As a kid, Jay R. Mallari wanted a pair of Nike Jordan shoes and he took cutting his friends' hair to raise the money.
He has built his fundraiser into a career. "It's about relationships," Mallari says. "I have 30 minutes to gain a customer's trust." Nowadays, he is flown from his Los Angeles barbershop to the Bay Area to cut the National Basketball League's most exciting player, Stephan Curry. Among his tips might be tickets to a Golden State Warriors game. Before Curry's 5-country trip to Asia last off season, he taught the league's MVP how to say "Salamat po!" "Manila won't know what hit them," responds Curry. As an added bonus, I included a clip of Mallari cutting Curry's hair at his home during which Curry's wife make them a fruit drink. Mallari orders mango, of course. Curry's home in a rich Bay Area suburb is a far cry from what I remember as a young boy, but I wonder if he will remember his haircuts in the same vein as I value the hazy, dreamy memories of the past.
Stephen Curry took a selfie on Instagram with Japan's Under-19 national team.
STEPHEN CURRY, the NBA's Most Valuable Player, is back from his five-day swing through Asia that included stops in Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, China and Singapore. The five nation, five-day trip was sponsored by Under Armor and the release of new shoe bearing Curry's name. It follows a similar swing that Lebron James did a month earlier. It's all part of the NBA's marketing strategy to tap into the huge Asian market.
Sponsors have paid close attention to basketball's growing popularity in the region. Nike and Adidas send their biggest NBA stars on promotional tours in Asia every summer. Dunkin' Donuts hired LeBron James of the Miami Heat and Mercedes-Benz signed Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers to promote their products in Asia; and Colin Currie, managing director of Adidas Group Greater China, says the company signed Charlotte's guard Jeremy Lin more for his Asian marketability than for his American appeal. In Manila, the Golden State Warrior's point guard graciously took on a seven-year old fan and let him do a cross-over and a basket.
SOME OF the Golden State Warriors' most devout fans are Asian/Americans. As the NBA championship finals continue between the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, the fanaticism is hitting a new high. The National Basketball Association and the Warriors' organization has noted the makeup of their fan base and have taken deliberative steps to reach out to Asian/Americans and fans in Asia to encourage their loyalty.
Among the fans is Alvan Mangalindan, a resident of Hercules, a few miles up I-80 from Oracle Arena where the Warriors play. He was featured in a recent feature by KGO-TV because Mangalindan has the ultimate Golden State Warriors "fan cave." And that makes his house the obvious choice for an NBA Finals viewing party, whether he and his wife like it or not.
Alvan has been collecting Dubs paraphernalia since he was 12 years old. He has everything Warriors from the early days to the modern days. And much of it is signed. His pool table, his foosball table, his window blinds, and even the Barbie doll are all emblazoned with the Warriors logo.
The Warriors have made a strong effort to woo the large Asian/American community in the San Francisco Bay Area by having several nights devoted to them: Asian/American Heritage Night, Filipino Heritage Night, Pacific Islander Night and Chinese/American Heritage Night. Apparently, the marketing strategy is working.
To get a sense of how rabid the Warriors' the Asian/American fan base is take a look at the Warriors' Fan of the Day on KGO-TV's website to see plenty more Asian/American Warrior fans! And to get a closer look at Mangalindan's fan cave, view video below:
10-year-old Nayah Damasen sang the national anthem in Game 1 of the NBA championship series.
NAYAH DAMASEN should sing every Golden State Warrior game.
The 10-year-old Filipina American is the Dub's good luck charm. They've won every game when she sang the Star Spangled Banner to open the game - the biggest stage in her young life with the championship on the line in front of 20,000 crazy fans and in front of a national audience.
The good-luck string continues as the Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, 108-100 in overtime.
“I feel so honored and blessed to be here,” Nayah said before Game 1, hours before the sold-out game. “I wouldn’t say that I’m a charm. But music can touch people’s hearts.”
Nayah began singing for the Warriors games when she was only 5-years old and the team has won every time ... except once; that was against the San Antonio Spurs during the regular season.
A resident of nearby San Jose, she want to pursue and acting and singing career. But her career plans will have to wait until after the championship best-of-seven series is over. I expect we'll see and hear Nayah again before its over.
The Warriors recognize the diversity of their fan base.
As the Golden State Warriors pursue their fourth NBA championship in five years, when they play their home games during the 2019 NBA playoffs, take a close look at the gold-clad fans in Oracle Arena, home of the Oakland team. No single race dominates but there are lots of Asians: Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Asian Indians, Pakistanis, Burmese and more. The Warriors don't keep the demographics of it's fans but its hard not to notice that half the fans at Oracle are not white. According to the Census about 2 million Asians call the Bay Area home - perhaps the largest concentration of Asians outside of Asia, Hawaii included. Don't think that the Warriors' management hasn't noticed the composition of their fan base.
The organization started having Asian Heritage Night when Jeremy Lin was a rookie in 2010. When Lin left after one season, the Warriors continued the night and added Bollywood Night, Asian American Heritage Night, Polynesian Heritage Night and Filipino Heritage Night. They honored Chinese New Year with a special shirt featuring the name of the Warriors in Chinese characters. Some may quibble with the design but it was historic that the team even bothered to have the shirt making them only one of two NBA teams to note the date, important in Asian cultures. (The other team was the Houston Rockets, which was the first team to mine the Asian fan base because of the popularity of center Yao Min, who is still revered as a superstar in China.)
The Golden State Warriors are also looking to the future -- at the largest market in the world, China. The team recently surpassed one million followers on Weibo. Weibo is a Chinese social media platform that combines the services of Facebook and Twitter, and is one of China’s most popular websites. Last October, the Warriors became the first NBA team to launch an official Weibo account so they will be well set when the NBA Global Games are held in Beijing and Shanghai.
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Golden State Warriors
Jennifer Cabalquinto
It doesn't hurt to have Asians in highly visible positions. A Filipina/American, Jennifer Cabalquinto, is the team's Chief Financial Officer, perhaps the highest ranking woman in the NBA outside of owners. She has over 20 years of finance leadership experience in a variety of start-up, turnaround, and high growth business environments including Telemundo, TV stations and cruise lines. “Do you know we have more Facebook followers from the Philippines than we do in the United States?” said CFO Cabalquinto. “It’s amazing. Of the top ten cities where our Facebook followers are based, eight of the top ten cities are in the Philippines. It’s just phenomenal.”
Every sports team has a hype guy to get the fans excited. For the past 11 years, for the Warriors, that's Franco Finn, aka "Freestyle Franco."
Being the hype man for this place is really a dream come true,” Franco told a reporter from Balitang America. “It’s just amazing. I’m a Golden State Warriors fan ever since I could remember and now I get to say I pass by this building and say 'Wow, do I really get almost 20,000 fans here hyped up on their feet?' It’s an amazing experience.” Franco starts by introducing the players as they come on the floor then leading the chants on the loudspeaker. "Dee-fense! Dee-fense! Dee-fense," or when star Stephen Currie is on the free-throw line, the chant changes to "MVP, MVP, MVP, ... or the iconic cheer that strikes fear in opponents, " War-riors! War-riors!" That's Franco at work.
As he says in the video, from his observation, every game should be Filipino Heritage Night because Filipinos are such devoted and knowledgeable fans. You can be sure if he sees any of his kababayan (fellow countrymen) in the seats, he'll make an effort to interact with them.
The team strengthened that tie-in with Filipino/Americans when the Warriors raised funds for victims of Typhoon Haiyan that ravaged the Philippines two years ago.
Sabrina Ellison
‘It’s super important that the Warriors are embracing the Filipino culture,” says Warriors Girls Director Sabrina Ellison, a Filipina/American. When the dance team comes out on the floor. Freestyle Franco goes into action, exhorting the crowd to cheer for the dancers. Among the dancers are several Asian/American Warriors Girls – Patrisha, Danielle and Clarise.
And then there is Superfan Burmese/American Paul Wong, one of the Warriors' many loyal Asian season ticket holders. The Warriors' fans are noted through the league but Wong stood out among the fan base.
Wong etched his way into Warrior lore in 2007 when the team was making it's first playoff appearance in decades, he came up with a two-word slogan that hiked fan frenzy even higher. He printed up hundreds of "We Believe" posters with his own money and handed them out during the opening series against the Dallas Mavericks. Management took notice and the next game, printed up 20,000 yellow t-shirts emblazoned with the rallying cry. "The team represents what the Bay Area is all about: diversity," Wong told a Mercury News reporter. "That's what makes them so popular."
San Francisco is one of the most popular destinations for tourists from Asia and for Asian investors seeking to invest in the safe and stable U.S. real estate market. Add to that, the fact that immigration from Asia has surpassed Mexico; the future remains bright for the Warriors' investment in the Asian and Asian/American markets.
