My favorite part is that you were at Zeppelin Hall. I used to hang out there all day every Saturday. Friends and I took our dogs and would day drink all day. That was prob 12-13 years ago though.
Bring it back Tee!
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I used to live in JC for a little bit. Up Newark Ave close to the Grove St PATH station.
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Man I know it well. Was up there today for beeras and tacos
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I lived throughout Hudson County for a number of years: Jersey City, Union City, Hoboken. Used to play pickup ball in Jersey City and Hoboken. Those were some awesome games. Lots of top college players and ex-pros. I wasnât very good, but I always got chosen for teams because guys knew I would pass them the ball instead of chucking up my own shot.
Lincoln Park scene used to be real.
Donât know if this was linked before, but itâs a fantastic almost minute by minute analysis of all the playing time the Ms received and makes a compelling case for why at least Murray and McCorkle didnât get more minutes. And makes some plausible speculation about Milicic.
Is this the work of one of you guys?
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I read the authorâs opinion to basically boil down to âI get why Taine and McCorkle didnât play, but I donât really understand why MiliÄiÄ didnât play more, so Iâll speculate that maybe he was one of the guys Tony was psuedo critiquing for work ethic issues in his presserâ. I similarly donât understand why MiliÄiÄ didnât get at least a few more of Kodyâs minutes, but I donât think thereâs much reason to think that last point is true. I think Tony just didnât think Igor could be physical enough with ACC power forwards. I donât know that I agree⌠but this is the positive thread! So I canât say anything, haha.
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Not me, but one of these days, I will just compile all my message board posts and just publish that. Collectors itemâŚ
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Yeah, I called the last part plausible speculation since thereâs no real support for it.
I wasnât sure where to put this, but I picked the positivity thread since it mostly supported Coach Bennettâs rotation decisions.
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Sorry to be âthat guyâ but I feel like we need a new thread for this. 21-22 post mortem?
I created one. Will contribute later today as time permitsâŚ
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Same here. Right at Newark and Jersey Ave. Then on 3rd st. Loved that area when I was there.
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Played at Lincoln Park many times. Occasionally with Mike OâKoren or some of the St. Anthonyâs kids, including the Hurleys. Lots of fun. Also played with this guy named Jerry, who used to be an ABA all-star. He was in his 40s and his knees were wrecked, and people who didnât know him would see him hobbling around and figure he didnât have much game, and then be astonished when he went up and dunked on them.
Me? They were astonished when I made a shot.
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I grew up playing most of my pickup ball on the outdoor court at Woodberry Hills Elementary in Danville, VA. When I was about 11, Buddy Curry (UNC/Atlanta Falcons linebacker) brought OâKoren home with him for the weekend, and they ran the court at Woodberry for the day. I was too young to get in those games, but it was cool to see an ACC star up close and in person at that age.
Flash forward 9 years or so, and I got into a pickup game with Buddy at the old Stratford College gym when I was home over Christmas break. Buddy was starting for the Falcons then and had brought his girlfriend at the time to the gym with him. Needless to say, she was a smokeshow. I was running the wing on a fast break, and instead of filling the lane and anticipating the pass, I was staring at Buddyâs girlfriend, who was sitting on the bleachers behind the basket. I took the pass off the side of the head and wiped out to the amusement of Buddyâs spectacular girlfriend. Iâm pretty sure she knew exactly why I took the pass upside my head. While I couldnât impress her with my game, at least I provided some entertainment.
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Very happy this morphed into an NJ memories / outdoor pick up court thread.
I was a Volunteers Park legend but wouldnât have thought of going a half mile down the block to Smith Field courts (lights and everything!). If you have any idea what Iâm talking about, youâre probably related to me.
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Lights an straight luxury. In Fayetteville we lived at The Bottom and West End. Hoops on the court and dice games and 40s in the corners
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Love these stories about pickup. Here are a couple:
College friend of mine traveled cross-country with an ex-UVA player, just looking for pickup games along the way. They wound up playing at the University of Utah, against a group that included Pace Mannion â a Utah star and NBA journeyman. My friend, who is about 5-foot-10, went up for a layup and Pace Mannion blocked the shot with his armpit. With his armpit. My friend was so mortified (and depressed) he stopped playing ball for weeks.
For me, personally, my favorite story was playing in London during the 2012 Olympics in an out-of-the-way gym in a very sketchy neighborhood. I had not expected to ball on this trip so I did not pack any basketball shoes; essentially, I was wearing hiking sneakers. I was the only guy in the gym who was white, who was older than 30, and who was shorter than 6-foot-3. Everyone assumed I was a great shooter, because, otherwise, what the hell would I be doing there, especially dressed like that? Spoiler alert: Iâm not a great shooter at all, and the competition was way above me. Somehow, I managed to disguise that fact and even win four games in a row. When we lost the fifth, I was almost relieved, and certainly needed the rest.
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Nicoâs dad!
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Just awesome.
My best / worst was in Ios small island in Greece. We somehow found a court by the beach and were just messin around full court. The game got close and the other team had a dude with one arm and at game point I couldnt help but say " push him right push him right!". Awful but true and yes we won
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