Springtime, the only little thing time

ou don't necessarly have to have played on a school team to understand and truly love a sport. As Dannymac, and Pappy can attest, pickup games in whatever sport can produce some of the most unforgettable moments of your life. If Dannymac can call us the Big 3 of the buzzer, than almost surely I can call the three of us the Lakers of pickup basketball. Obiously I would be the Mamba (slightly past my pickup prime of five nights a week, but still very likely to break into a High School gym when its windy outside just to get some run-a la Kobe always having one dominant game a series), Pappy would be Gasol ( a willing sidekick who almost always shows up) and Dannymacintosh as Odom (just as when he shows up the Lakers always win, when dannymac is there its always a hard run). At some point here in CNY the weather is going to turn, and at that point pickup ball will be in full swing. This got me thinking of all the classic memories I've had over the years playing pickup.While I'm sure there are many more, I narrowed it down to the 5best pickup moments I've witnessed first hand. Most of these have nothing to do with wins or losses. Ive tried to narrow down the timeframe of these events the best I could.

5.Slick Rick the Bus Driver
Venue: Berry Park Syracuse
Time: Summer 2005
Berry Park is perhaps the best outdoor competition in the Syracuse area. Back in the 80's and through today, you will catch some of the Orange there trying to play some outdoor ball. It goes without saying that like most great outdoor city venues, the patrons there are "characters." My buddy Jason and I decided to go there one night around seven (primetime there) to get some run. Now I will introduce our characters.
Our first main character was Jun, short for Junior (that's right-his nickname had a nickname!). Junior-at least then-was perhaps the most well known player at Berry. He was in his 30's but didn't look a day under 60. He was a CLASSIC O.G. He once opened a shoe store on S.Geddes street (a really bad section of Syracuse for any readers), and when my buddy and I went to check it out...there was one pair of shoes in the entire store. I', pretty sure the store was only there to do "other business." Anyway Jun had only one move, but it was lethal, and honestly unstoppable. He had a pullup jumper that he would simply take a dribble right, and cock the ball way behind his head as he shot it (his range was realistically 25 ft) and made about 75%-no joke. This and the fact that he was there everyday made him the unofficial leader of Berry Park.

Slick Rick was pretty much the opposite. He was a bus driver, and would show to the park acting like a fool. He would drive the bus to the park first of all, and would do dumb things like talk to us from the bus using the intercom-announcing that he had arrived. Take a moment and imagine that at an inner city park. What made it even better (or worse) was that he played in full body blackarmour and a black bum hat-a reason many nicknamed him Dark Wing Duck. Rick was also pretty obnoxious on the court. He talked a lot, and was one of those 6-4 guys who just shot threes and nothing else-one of those "big for no reason " kind of players. Nobody wanted Rick to play-ever.
This particular evening there were some pretty good runs going, and nobody wanted a fool like that ruining the games. What happened next would have made Rasheed Wallace give a standing ovation. I didn't hear this part, but my friend Jaysaid that Jun muttered something like "this muffin's never playing here again." Jun than proceeded to take the ball from a teammate. As Rick was approaching the sidelines to the court to start shooting around to warm up, Jun fired a fast ball at Rick...AND HIT HIM SQUARE IN THE FACE from about ten to fifteen feet away. As crazy as it sounds in print, it was surreal in person. Rick holding his face turned around, and rumor has it never came there to play again-I certainly haven't seen him.

4. The first five in five night game
Venue: IC PArk in Fayetteville
Time: Summer 2009

No frills, no great endings, just like it sounds. Ten people got together at 1:30 AM to play full court basketball with nothing but the light of my car as lumination. That's dedication.

3. The Dive
Venue: IC Park
Time Period: Spring of 2006

The perfect storm-that's the only way to describe it. It's what happens when a pickup game becomes perfection. Every element was there. Talent-check. Great weather-check. Close game-check. Signature moment-huge check.
Anyone who has ever played pickup knows that mist games are to fifteen win by two. This was the rule at IC. Unlike many parks though, IC did't have a rule like fifteen win by two, twenty one straight. You HAD to win by two. This gorgeous Sunday afternoon, you had a mix of good players, and of course two or three stoners. One of them (to protect the identity we'll call him P) was perhaps the most brain dead burnout I've ever seen in my life. It looked like when he tried to formulate a thought that smoke would come out of his ears, and he'd just fall asleep instead. He couldn't spell the word effort, much less exert any.
The game was tied at fourteen, as yours truly, and Mr. A as well call him, both got scorching hot. The next thing we all knew the game was tied at...31. That's right 31. Nobody wanted to have spent the last hour plus in a hard fought game and lose. That's where P comes in.
With the game tied at 31, his team had the ball. A flashy pass by Mr. A intended to a teammate looks as if it will surely sail out of bounds, giving my team the ball back at this crucial time.
The last line of hope for their team was P. Keep these facts in mind:
1.This pass was one that I'm not sure Manute Bol could have saved if he had Blake Griffin's ups.
2. P wouldn't have dove out of his house if it was on fire and he was diving into a swimming pool of weed, that's just not how he was.

At that moment P made the most spectacular dive I've ever seen anyone make. He was literally parallel to the ground, full extension. Getting to the ball was miraculous enough, but he amazingly saved it to a teammate. Later in the possession their team would score, and they would go on to win the game 33 to 31. The moment was so inspiring, I didn't even care that we lost. Even P understood the magnitude of a 31 to 31 game. Unreal

2. If Only he could Shoot
Venue: Archbald gym at SU
Time: January 09

This was the time period where I was probably playing the best basketball of my life. My two friends JAson and Tee would join me at Archbald gym at SU for ball at least two or three times a week. The competition there was off the charts on certain nights. It was another venue where players would show up from time to time. It had happened earlier in the year, when then freshman Kris Joseph showed up with his crew. My buddies and I literally ran his team out of the gym, it was like 15-6 or something. We were pretty cocky after that I gota admit.
So when Paul Harris showed up (notice this story is January 2009, right well Paul was in the middle of the Big East schedule) we were excited and more than ready to give him and his buddies a game.
Keep in mind that both teams played this game like it was game seven of the Finals. Our team storms out to a 14 to 4 lead.We were just firing two (pickup equivalent of a three) after two, and looked as if we were about to run another Orange out with an L. All we needed was one point.
My friend Tee is a large, and fairly mobile guy. He's a good defender especially if you're not lightning quick. He had the task of guarding HArris.
At the beginning of the game Tee forced him to shoot jumpers, which to no surprise worked out pretty well for us. For some reason though, once our team hit 14, we literally couldn't make a shot. We missed two fast break layups that would have won it. I missed a wide open ten footer, and there was a boat load of turnovers. It had turned into a war. Very slowly, and not all HArris by the way, they tied it up at 14. There was no win by two there, we played straight 15. After a flurry of misses on both ends as the result of great defense, Harris had the ball. I wish the next five seconds never happened.
Paul lulled Tee to sleep, then bursted right to the baseline in flash. He had beaten Tee clearly. In a game this hard fought, my instinct kicked in. Go help out was my thought. On my way over I figured that I ha plenty of time left as Paul was no joke, about ten eleven feet from the basket still. What I remember next was seeing him jump. He leaped right at me like a frigging wild animal coming towards it's pray in the grassland. I wasn't goin to give in. I was going to maul him and show him that I was tough. If I cop had been there he literally could have charged me wit assault I fouled him so hard. What also happened was that it made literally no difference to him. He powered through me like I wasn't there, and I kid you not unleashed one of the most viscious dunks ever right on my head. I'm talking like as good as Rose dunking on Dragic. He also let out the loudest scream I've ever heard as he did it.
Looking back at perhaps the most embarrassing moment of my life I'm glad it happened. It was such an athletic feat to do what he did that I was happy to be part of it. You would have totally understood if you saw it.

1.Crazy J-Rich
Venue:Onondaga Community College
Time:November 2006

Our first semesters in college provided a lot of new faces. Our own Dannymacintosh was home on break from Ohio State, and I decided I wanted him to see the cats I was dealing with. I invited him to come watch an open run at OCC, so he could see the people that were my new family.
To cut to the cahse we will introduce you to the star of the story...J Rich. J Rich was at least 350 pounds at the time. He was also one of the craziest/scariest people I had ever met. He fouled people like he was in a hockey game checking, and at his size it was terrifying, and did I mention he was crazy. He would later that year beat up a kid quarter of his size so bad, that it took no joke five of us to get him off the kid. Hopefully that properly sets the stage.
As usual a fierce game was the root. He was playing against my team. Due to a bunch of incredibly lucky shots his team had jumped out to a 10-2 lead in a game to eleven (by ones and twos). Our team came storming back and tied the game. With the game being next pint win, I stole the ball and tip toed up the left sideline, and made a nifty move to lay it in and win the game.
Well I also had obviously stepped out of bounds, even I knew this, but I just wanted to get out of there with a win. J RIch was having none of that. He literally turned into the Incredible Hulk. IT was scary. Screaming at the top of his lungs, he would not go down with out a fight.
The OCC mens bball coach was the one who ran the open gyms, and he had a clipboard, that kept track of the next five players who would play winners. As the words "the next five" were coming out of his mouth, J Rich grabbed the clipboard out of his hands, and smashed it to pieces on the ground. We all stood there like the kids in the Sandlot when Benny hit the guts out of a baseball. Who smashes a clipboard? For the mere anger he felt in that moment, I will give him my number one spot. Hopefully there will be many more to come.