A Hoop With No Rim
The Latino softball players are starting to practice at Mackenzie Stadium again. No games or fans yet, but a nice sight.
It’s still jarring to see all the rims and nets removed from the playground basketball hoops, though. There's a good story in the New York Times about pick-up basketball leagues across NYC that have been shut down. One called Saturday Morning Run (SMR) has been around for a long time and they do a great new T-shirt every year. We’re doing a T-shirt for a client’s First Baptist Church (FBC) league that’s also been sitting on the bench. The Times story called it an “emotional time-out.” It’s not just the game, it’s the routine and the camaraderie that people really miss.
Alan Eisenstock’s book Ten On Sunday taps into how a weekly basketball game can anchor people’s lives. Alan is an old friend from Holyoke who went on to be a screenwriter in Hollywood, working on everything from Mork and Mindy to Married With Children. Great guy and the book is worth a read.
Speaking of hoop, I played at St Thomas More Prep School with Ernie DiGrigorio, who later played for the Celtics and was Rookie Of The Year in the ‘73-’74 season. I was a better shooter than Ernie D except when someone put a hand in my face. Then I couldn’t hit the side of a barn. So Ernie D spent his time on the court and I spent mine on the bench. Ernie D graduated and went off to be All American at Providence College and I got expelled. But that’s life on the prairie.
Keep your dukes up.