All-Star Weekend in New York City:
It was a long time ago, & I'm not sure how it came to be, but a bunch of us white guys put together a team (Blatt, Zinnovoy, Miller), took a short subway ride, and got to play in the Rucker Tournament in Rucker Park (Google it & you won't be sorry) in Harlem, the legendary & historic mecca of playground basketball in New York City.
We could play but we weren't great; known more for brawn than beauty on the court. I remember one play in particular: The guy I was guarding faked left, dribbled right & soared in for a dunk that went through the net & bounced over the 10 foot fence behind the basket. We were supposed to keep our game faces on under all circumstances, but my jaw hit the blacktop.
A great weekend of basketball at Madison Square Garden: an amazing display by the Warriors' Stephen Curry in the three-point shooting contest; 19-year-old Zach LaVine may have single-handedly revived the slam dunk contest with a series of magnificent dunks; Russell Westbrook's in-game performance for the ages, scoring 41 points (1 under Wilt Chamberlain's All-Star Game record); the Legends Brunch, during which awards and honors, along with highlights from the careers of Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Willis Reed; and, a panel discussion of New York City basketball with Nate Tiny Archibald, Kenny Smith, Chris Mullin, Bernard King, & Walt Frazier.
When I was a kidlet, we used to take the subway to the old Madison Square Garden, located on 8th ave between 49th and 50th St. For fifty cents, from way up high in the top deck, we'd get to see an NBA double-header. For more, check out Pete Axthelm,'s great book, "The City Game." Sports Illustrated wrote:
"The master prose stylist portrays parallel basketball worlds in New York City: Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks won the 1969-1970 championship, and the playgrounds of Harlem, where stars such as Earl (the Goat) Manigault burned brightly but too briefly."
Great pictures of the old Madison Square Garden @
http://wirednewyork.com/...