Thoughts from Dr. Joe: Basketball teams net real drama
The rocks and broken beer bottles strewn throughout the grounds and the rats that ventured up from the Bronx River and commandeered the tall weeds did not make Indian Field a suitable place for either football or baseball. That’s all we had in the city, so we made the best of it.
But we had the schoolyards, which were concrete arenas and where backboards and hoops were affixed to opposite sides of the yard. And we played basketball on hoops nailed to telephone poles and where we’d enact the drama between the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics.
New York City hoops was schoolyard basketball: run and gun. The fast break and full-court press were reminiscent of the Running Rebels of UNLV’s 1990 NCAA Championship or the Texas Western victory over Kentucky in 1966. As a matter of fact, Coach Haskins of Texas Western came to the Bronx and recruited three of his star players from the schoolyards: Willie Worsley, Willie Cager and Nevil Shed.
I was the 16th man of a 15-man squad on the 1961 Mount Saint Michael freshman basketball team (I knew the coach!). The boys and I grew up together in P.S. 87’s schoolyard shooting hoops. My biggest claim to fame is that I stood on a chair during practice emulating Lew Alcindor of Power Memorial High School as the Mount prepared to take on Big Lew. Alcindor eventually changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Whether or not we watched the greats in the low-ceiling gyms of the South Bronx or played on the street corners and in the schoolyards throughout the city, basketball was king.
La Cañada is blessed to have amazing basketball teams: La Cañada High girls and boys’ varsities and the St. Francis team. They’re practically next door to each other.
The LCHS girls’ varsity exemplifies the essence of a team. Success is not a solo endeavor. It evolves from a foundation of support, and that’s where one thrives. Sarah Beattie, the Spartan girls’ head coach, and assistant coach Morgan Savage orchestrate a program where a win-loss record does not predicate the outcome of a season. The Spartans are electrifying, and when Zoe Williams and Amber Graves move to the basket, it’s typically “lights out.”
Last Friday evening we had a triple-header in town, with the LCHS girls’ and boys’ varsities both having games. After the girls’ game, the boys’ varsity handled Monrovia. I love their three-point shooting game. Grant Arthur, Kyle Chung, Ben Choi, Sean Estes and Koko Kurdoghlian bring nothing but net.
St. Francis played Chaminade High School in a nail-biter. I saw all three games. Throughout the game, St. Francis played behind but in the closing moments their determined spirit brought victory within reach. I commented to my buddy, Andre Matthews, “St. Francis needs some three-point shooters.” He replied, “Yeah, but they’re all across the street at La Cañada.”
It was the kind of night when you’d like to see determination remain undefiled. Subsequently, with seconds remaining, John Stevens of St. Francis made an amazing shot to win the game.
Let me leave you with a little amateurish perspective about the game. See the movie “Glory Road.” It depicts the juxtaposition of the Texas Western’s “run and gun offense” to that of the controlled game of Kentucky.
Basketball in La Cañada is pageantry. You don’t have to stream “Hoosiers” on Netflix for an evening of drama. Go see a game. The kids are well coached, deliberate and disciplined.
And the next time you’re in Starbucks, take a look at the bulletin board. You’ll see a picture of the 2016 Spartan boys’ and girls’ varsity teams. They’re extraordinary, but that doesn’t come close to watching them play.
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JOE PUGLIA is a practicing counselor, a retired professor of education and a former officer in the Marines. Reach him at doctorjoe@ymail.com. Visit his website at doctorjoe.us.
