Jan 24, 2008 6:05 AM, PROMO Xtra, By Larry Jaffee

Basketball fans squared off for a two-on-two match against former NBA stars Charles Oakley and Charles Smith for the Season 3 opener of Spike TV¹S "Pros vs. Joes."

About 100 basketball enthusiasts trekked in the wee hours of yesterday morning to New York’s Madison Square Garden to set foot on the floor of the world’s famous arena.

Organized by agency Michael Alan Group http://www.michael-alan.com on behalf of client Spike TV http://www.spike.com/show/25323, the event promoted the cable network’s inaugural episode of Season 3 of “Pros vs. Joes,” in which regular guys play against professional athletes. The show aired last night at 11 p.m. ET.

On Wednesday at MSG, about a half dozen teams of “Joes” played two-on-two against former National Basketball Association stars Charles Oakley and Charles Smith, both former New York Knicks whom were nearly a foot taller than most of their opponents. Coaching the Pros team was another former Knicks favorite player, John Starks.

One team of Joes barely succeeded in beating Oakley and Smith, who endured seven rounds of seven-minute quarters while most people would be enjoying their breakfast.

Three days prior to the event, Michael Alan’s female street teams, dressed as athletes and referees, recruited participants around MSG and other Manhattan locations. Several hundred tickets were distributed by the street teams to sports fans willing to get up early and cheer on the players, constituting a live, taped audience for Spike TV.

While most of the professional athletes featured on the show are recently retired, the new season for the first time this season of “Pros vs. Joes” will highlight a superstar athlete in the prime of his football career, former Heisman trophy winner, National Football League All-Pro and current Miami Dolphin, Ricky Williams, on Jan. 31 at 11:00 p.m. ET. Williams taped the episode in October, before re-joining the Dolphins in November. Exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the episode taping is available at Spike.com.

In each of the 10 episodes this season, regular guys compete in a variety of different sports against an incredible array of sports legends.

Unlike in previous seasons, Spike TV shot the series at four iconic stadiums: The Rose Bowl, The Superdome, The Orange Bowl and RFK Stadium. The 64 contestants, or “Joes,” this season are grouped into four regional brackets, with the regional winners meeting at the Rose Bowl for the finale. The final four contestants of this season’s “Last Joe Standing” will compete for a six-figure cash prize.

The Season 3 roster includes a list of sports heroes ranging from Heisman trophy winners to World Series heroes to hockey and boxing hall-of-famers to an Olympic gold medalist. They include: Brady Anderson, Jamal Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Kurt Angle, Jessie Armstead, Joe Carter, Derrick Coleman, Paul Coffey, Sean Elliott, Nick Van Exel, John Franco, Arturo Gatti, Jeff George, Allan Houston, Rocket Ismail, Al Leiter, Charles Oakley, Christian Okoye, Dan Majerle, Marty McSorley, Warren Moon, John Randle, Mitch Richmond, Bob Sapp, Jimmy Smith, Pernell Whitaker, Ricky Williams, and Rod Woodson.

Spike TV is available in 96.1 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks.

The Michael Alan Group is a marketing and event production company. Since 2001, the firm has specialized in grassroots guerilla and street marketing tactics for clients such as: Citibank, Disney Theatrical, Nickelodeon, People Magazine and Saks Fifth Avenue.

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