Spread the Word!
To some basketball is a religion - we call it church of the round ball. It is as extreme as paying homage to a gym when entering its confines, for example, by never wearing your hat inside the gym. In the old days, when top hats were in style, the men would take off his hat when introducing himself. It is respect factor of the game.
RESURRECTION DAY
A hoop junkie needs to have a day each year to fix their court and they need to have an annual tournament. There is Reggie's court near Savannah, Georgia or Doc Overhalt's backyard court in Knoxville, Shea's barn in Ogdensburg, New York and there is a renowned 2 on 2 tournament put on each year in Bo's driveway in Southern California. I would put on my tournament each year with 50 players that were hand selected and play a friendly outdoor mixed format.
To setup:
- Call your local fire department to hose off you court. All the pebbles and funky paint from your lines need to be cleaned off before the next step. (You have a better chance of them saying yes, if you are between the ages 7 and 14. They will think you are ambitious. Tell them your story and that you want to get your court ready for a tournament. How can they say no?)
- Repaint lines and a spray paint the backboard with a new coat.
- Fixing a bent rim: One of the best ways is putting extra washers between the the rim and the backboard.
- Top it off with a new net. The best way to put on a net is to eat an ice cream first. Use the ice cream stick to put the net through the loops. Time yourself on how long it takes to put the net up. Keep track of your record.
Basketball
Verbiage:
Here are some sayings I made up through the years. The last one was
made up by teammates of mine, but it's funny.
- - Luc Longley "Look Long" : A coach says this to disguise when you have a player open down the court on a free throw aka. "snowbirding".
- -Swap meet : when player wants to switch teams in the middle of the game.
- Carpenters Law for Offensive Rebounder: To hammer the boards and nail it back home.
- - Fragrant Foul - when a player lets gas during the game aka"posting up".
Best Swishes, Gene Cotter!