Hoop Dreams

B-ball is an incredible sport, because it can be approached from two radically different angles.  From one side, you can see the game as a test of athleticism and courage, a battle of will, and jumping and slashing and the confidence to take the ball to the rack.  This type of balling has lit up the NBA since Dr. J, and is the "cool" basketball.  It's street ball. It's hip hop.  It's dope.

On the other hand, basketball can be approached with the mind of a surgeon or engineer, like what Kelly Meek did in Steamboat for thirty years.  The court is small, the points are finite and everything can be broken down to proportions and chance.  The space can be mapped with angles and shapes, and set plays and a motion offense system can open up certain high-percentage shots for the right people.  It's not a cool basketball, but like we proved with coach Meek in the boat, we could beat much more skilled and athletic teams by instituting our system and having a will to play defense (so uncool!)..

Hooping in Riverside park today made me think of the game from these different angles.  I was taught to be a system player, a role player, to play defense and set screens and effectively move the offense.  And on the courts today, I still bring some of that to the team, and it helps.  But I also see the need to make this body MOVE, to take people on, to drain my jumper, to look for my own chances.  To be a streetballer... 

Wringing out the sweat from my t-shirt,  I threw pounds to my boys Che, Duke, and Hunt, and then longboarded through Central Park and then over into Brooklyn with an Italian girl to drink Brahma in a bar called La Favela.  What a trip of a city!