Via Nba.com:
Somewhere within the hallways and exhibits of “Rancho Obi-Wan,” a 9,000-square foot museum in Sonoma county, California – or “a galaxy far, far away” – is a regulation-size basketball that looks like the infamous Death Star from Star Wars.
Only this particular ball has a Phoenix Suns logo on it, just under the logo from the original 1976 sci-fi film and opposite from the superlaser that destroyed Princess Leia’s home planet of Alderaan.
The limited-edition ball is just one of several Suns, Star Wars mash-ups found in the world’s largest privately owned Star Wars collection of more than 300,000 pieces of memorabilia. Fitting, as the museum’s owner and curator, Steve Sansweet, was also the person who first suggested the idea for a Phoenix Suns, Star Wars team-up.
An author of 16 books on Star Wars, Sansweet was the Director of Fan Relations for Lucasfilm Ltd when he met Suns VP of Digital Jeramie McPeek and his son, Sam, at San Diego Comic-Con in 2009.
Following some Yoda-sized small talk, McPeek mentioned that he worked for the Suns, which sparked an idea for Sansweet, who shared that the San Diego Padres were doing a promotion to auction off baseball bats painted like lightsabers to raise funds for the local Boys & Girls Club. Eight months later, the Suns were hosting the NBA’s first-ever Star Wars-theme night.
“Now it’s become fairly widespread, but you guys were there near the beginning,” said Sansweet in a recent interview for the McPeeks’ Like Father Like Son podcast. “It’s pretty impressive… Lucasfilm’s marketing has done a great job of managing that, and more and more teams are seeing the enthusiasm.”
While a number of NBA teams are holding their first Star Wars theme nights this season to capitalize on the excitement over the new film in the series, the Suns will hold their fifth annual Star Wars Night this Friday, Dec. 11, exactly one week prior to the opening of the The Force Awakens. Fans in attendance at Talking Stick Resort Arena that night will have opportunities to win tickets to the highly anticipated movie, courtesy of Harkins Theatres and Coca-Cola, as well as Star Wars merchandise.
Additionally, every ticket purchased through Suns.com/starwars will receive an exclusive “BBall-8” basketball, inspired by the new droid BB-8 from the new film. Meaning, Sansweet will have another basketball for his collection.
“It’s funny, back in the day, Star Wars fans were called geeks and we accept that name,” laughed Sansweet, who retired in 2011, but still serves as Lucasfilm’s Fan Ambassador. “And yet who are the most enthusiastic people when it comes to supporting something? It’s sports fans. I mean, who paints themselves? Who wears cheeseheads?
“So the kind of passion that fans have for Star Wars is the kind of passion that fans have for their local teams, regardless of what sport. So really it’s a match made in Heaven.”
