98: Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers
- Aug 20, 2019
- 1 min read
Updated: Nov 19, 2019
Their crimes resemble high-octane Hollywood action movies: a sports car speeds through a Dubai shopping mall, crashing into the windows of a Graff jewelry store. Masked, gun-wielding men jump out of the car and stuff fistfuls of diamonds into their satchels before screeching off. In London, they took all of three minutes to make off with $30 million in diamonds. Dubbed the Pink Panthers, they're captured - on surveillance tapes that record their astonishing lightning strikes with hypnotic accuracy. We see the tapes and we meet the thieves and hear about their heists in their own words.
Love the playful and fun take on a sea otter being a “basketball superstar” — it’s great when creative, humorous stories bring a smile and connect people with the sport in an unexpected way. It also made me think about how real players handle attention and expectations in competitive basketball, like in this piece https://www.gulbene.lv/lv/jaunums/martins-lauva-un- , which discusses public pressure around performance for athletes in Latvia; whether it’s light-hearted content about playful stars or serious discussions about pressure on real competitors, both show how wide and unique the world of basketball culture can be.