Tag: #Basketball

  • ODDS and ENDS: World Cup Countdown, Knicks, and Gotta Go

    ODDS and ENDS: World Cup Countdown, Knicks, and Gotta Go

    (Wha’ca talking about?)

    Group of diverse soccer fans watching a live match outside a neighborhood bodega
    Fans gather outside a bodega to watch a soccer match on TV

    I am slowly seeing the neighborhoods of the City get ready for the World Cup. I’m not talking about the big corporate stuff, or the FIFA shit. I’m not even talking about the stuff the City is putting up for the tourists, if the tourist show up. No, what I am talking about are the people and the stores doing stuff. How people are displaying nation flags in their windows, how store fronts and bodegas are getting tv positioned in the windows for people on the street to watch. I love living in a City of Immigrants because everyone is from somewhere, and there is a special pride in being able to show that off. The World Cup in New York City is a special time, regardless if it’s being played here or not.

    Speaking of sports, Game 2 of the NBA finals is tonight. I will admit that I am a half-ass Knicks fan. I watched less than a handful of regular season games, and was hit or miss with the playoffs. But, I am here for the Finals. In a weird way, I am trying to use the Knicks as a learning experience for the kid, to have some pride in her hometown team. My loyalty to teams has pretty much been spoken for, but pro basketball seems to be the one area of fandom that I have some wiggle room, which means I have a very clean concience when it comes to rooting for the Knicks and Liberty. (Also, I’m cool with the Gotham FC, and iffy with NYCFC but that is a blog for another day.) All of that being said, all the Knicks love should be totally welcomed because the Knicks sure have brought this whole City together, which is damn near impossible to do.

    I gotta go to the grocery store, so the last point here is a little thin…

  • Brackets

    It is almost Spring, which means that it’s time for everyone to make a bracket for the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

    I don’t follow college basketball; I just need to get that out there first. But what I do follow is competition, and the chance to show old friends how good I am at something I know nothing about. That’s why I love making a bracket. I don’t know crap, but now and then, I will make better picks than my friends who spend hours researching, and working on their predictions.

    For my method of making picks. I just kind’a make up a story in my head about what I think will make a dramatic tournament. I have to have several huge upsets, and small schools beating powerhouses. I like to pick the Ivy League to win in the first round, just because a “brains” beating the “jocks” is a story that is always entertaining. And then, for no good reason at all, I’ll pick a #8 seed team to win the whole thing, in honor of the 1985 Villanova team.

    I downloaded the ESPN Tournament app on my phone, but as of writing this, I haven’t put a bracket together. I normally do three, because why the hell not. One is for my “real” picks, one is just random, and one is my best guess as to which team’s mascot would win in a fight against the other team’s mascot.

    The one development this year is that my daughter is interested in make a bracket. We will knock that out after school today, and I will let her pick whatever she likes. I won’t lie, I like the idea of watching the games with my kid. That feels like a wholesome father/daughter thing to do.

  • Making Brackets

    I don’t follow college basketball. Most years I couldn’t name a single college player, but this season I do know who Caitlin Clark is. Even though basketball is my family’s sport, I never was a huge fan, and I’m an awful player.

    But I do love March Madness, the NCAA Tournament, the whole thing. As I am writing this, I have the BYU v Duquesne game on; it’s halftime. For like a month, in my head, I am a basketball expert – I know everything! I understand the pick n’ roll, trap defense, what adjustments teams need to make at halftime.

    (Working from my bed this afternoon)

    Making my brackets is what really pulls me into this time of year. Yes, I did say brackets. I make a couple of them because the ESPN app is easy to use. The first one is my legitimate bracket where I do try to pick as many winners as possible. Then I do a fun one where I just pick stuff randomly. This year I added an all underdog bracket, and then I did an all top ranked bracket; I just wanted to see which bracket would do better.

    What I do miss is being in an office at this time of year. Mind you, I worked in theatre and arts organization offices so there weren’t many sports fans to begin with, but there were a handful of us. We few would make brackets, put them up at our desks, and help each other cover so we could watch games at our desks or in the break room. It was a fun time of year to getting away with not working.

  • Brackets: Go with a #11 Team

    The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament starts today, and this will be the only time this year when I will care about college basketball. I have nothing against the sport of basketball. You could say that basketball is my family’s sport, being that we all played it growing up. My brother is a basketball coach and so is his son, and when the whole family gets together, we end up talking basketball; pro, college, high school.

    What I do enjoy is the drama of competition. I like watching underdogs, on a big huge national stage, upsetting powerhouse teams. There is something so completely satisfying and life affirming in watching a team made up of players that have been dismissed and underestimated, dig deep and do something no one thought was possible. It gives you hope, you know.

    And that is also why I am so utterly awful at making a bracket for the tournament. I’ve done three this year, each with a different champion; Arizona, Kansas, and Gonzaga. I’m not stupid, I know one of the Big Teams will win the tournament. But if you look at my predictions, I have an overwhelming preference for lower seeded teams. I’m picking Colgate over Texas. Why? Because I want to see that small school slay a giant. Because I want to see that Colgate team celebrate on the court like they just won the whole thing! That belief, hard work, and luck can converge and something amazing can happen.

    And for that reason, my brackets always sucked. I used to make a bracket at every office I worked at, and there always some guy who took the whole thing way too seriously, and would make fun of my completely bonker predictions. But every so often I’d get a pick like VCU or Loyola Chicago right. And that feeling of proving that guy wrong and watching his bracket explode in his face; it was like Christmas morning and my birthday wrapped in one!

  • Ah, man… The Knicks

    All things must come to an end.

    And the Knicks were eliminated from the playoffs last night by Atlanta.

    I shouldn’t pick on them. The Knicks did a lot better than so many people thought, including myself. It was fun to have faith, and some hope, in a group of people you want to see succeed. I kept hoping they would find a way to break out of the first round. Just a little faith was needed so that they would find a way.

    See, my family is from Illinois, just south of Chicago. We have been Cubs fans since pretty much the beginning of the team. Following a team that has no real chance is how I was raised. I’m suspicious of teams, and people for that matter, who succeed all the time. (I never was a fan of the Bulls for that reason.) There was an indescribable joy I experienced when the Cubs won IT in 2016.

    And, being that they haven’t been back, sort of makes me think the Universe has returned to normal.

    To me, no team is on top forever, and to a certain degree, neither is a person.

    That sounds a bit darker than I wanted…

    I guess what I am trying to say is that I enjoyed the Knicks’ struggle this year, I enjoyed them making the playoffs, and winning a playoff game. I hope they can do better next year, and maybe the will.

    Not that I’m becoming a Knicks fan.