Perfection

"It's time to chase your dreams..."

Afrika Bambaataa - Planet Rock

Earlier this season the Stanford Cardinals squared off against the UConn Huskies as the squad from Palo Alto jumped to a halftime lead, before losing to the defending champions. Last night they battled for the National Championship, and the game was slightly reminiscent of the first.

Deja Vu

UConn trailed 20-12 Tuesday night, and while the audience may have had their doubts...I believe that both teams knew things would change. Maya Moore scored 11 points during a UConn 17-2 run that sparked the beginning of the 2nd half, as the Cardinals lost another close game to the best team in college basketball 53-47.

The women of UConn have a 78-0 record since they began play last season, and although Player of the Year Tina Charles is moving on to the professional ranks, they will find peace in knowing that Maya Moore and Caroline Doty will be back for another run in 2011.

In defense of Stanford, their senior leader Jayne Appel entered the game with an injury to her ankle and was ineffective throughout the contest. Basketball like life isn't fair, and in UConn's case it was just a matter of time before Moore erupted with a scoring flurry. She later explained that she had "no fear".

Losing Charles to graduation will be a big loss, however it seems that this team continues to play tough, and with time...get better.

Photo: Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Standing Tall

Power

Strength

Courage

"Shooting air balls at the basket...what you call money, I pay more in taxes..."

Jay-Z - Oh My God

Pennsylvania is a well known football state, much like Florida, Texas, and Ohio, however the Keystone state is also home to some of the best basketball athletes to play the game. Names like Dawn Staley, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kobe Bryant come to mind, but one of the most known unknown great basketball players is none other than Richard Hamilton.

Native Son

I interviewed Rip Hamilton last summer for GAME TIME, during his annual Rip City community event in his hometown Coatesville, PA. Prior to that trip to the small coal mining city, I had only been there once. My friend and fraternity brother Jordan "JJ" Jackson lived there and attended Coatesville High School, and as I drove through the town, I was surprised at how different it was than I thought. I expected rural farm land, with a quaint boondocks feel, but what I saw was a town ravaged by the collapse of the industrial revolution. 

I am not a fan of Coatesville, Pennsylvania. I am however appreciative of the people that have lived there, that have navigated their way out, and have made a better life for themselves. This is no suburb of Philadelphia, this town is unlike anything I've seen, and I travel a lot. In essence, people grow up tough there, and if you see toughness and strength in Rip Hamilton's game, then you can only guess where he got it from.

The other day, Jordan Jackson visited the site, and posed the question about Hamilton playing less minutes with the Pistons, while coming off the bench. He made a point that Iverson's days are numbered in the Motor City, and that Rip is a proven scorer and winner within the NBA. He wanted my opinion, so here it is:

Rip is one of my favorite players within the spectrum of all sports and competition. He is a leader, and I believe that leaders are born, not made, therefore he is a legit athlete that has done nothing but win, and lead by example. I first noticed him during one of his many classic high school battles against his best friend Kobe Bryant. At 6'7", and approximately 190lbs, the lithe guard plays with an easy Sunday morning flow, almost lulling the defense to sleep as he creates baskets for himself and teammates. He's a shooter, but unlike most players of his caliber, Rip can put the ball on the floor, further putting the defense on the alter, at his mercy. 

For his size and ability, he is a special player. Imagine if he were never traded from the Wizards? That team could have been built around him, with Caron Butler, and Jamison? He has the basketball version of the Midas touch, because he has won, and proven himself on every level. He was the #2 high school player in Pennsylvania behind Kobe...won the NCAA Championship with UCONN, and earned a ring in Detroit. 

At 29...30 next month, he is still in his prime, so the Pistons need to figure out what they want to do. I believe the curse of Carmelo Anthony is haunting this team, and for those who need me to spell it out...the Pistons didn't draft Anthony in 2003 because they felt they were a team coming into their own with a championship on the horizon...that didn't need an established player like 'Melo...instead they choose Darko Milicic with the 2nd overall pick and the rest is history...and while the Pistons won it all in 2004, things haven't been the same since. 

This team is in such a state of discord that will not be fixed anytime soon. Things will get worse, before they get better, and that is so unfortunate for Richard Hamilton. However his saving grace is that he was born and raised in Coatesville, and because of that fact, he can handle this and a lot more.

Photos:  Doug Pensinger/Allsport

Change

Doty and Delle Donne

End of an era

Post game

MVP

"Guess who's back...since this a new era, got a fresh new hat..."

Jay-Z - The Prelude

A year ago, I interviewed 3 high school student athletes...Caroline Doty, Elena Delle Donne, and Tyreke Evans, as they were the top tier of the national senior class, and I was sincerely impressed by their cool, and resolve. High School hoops has become just as big as the college and professional game, and for these teens to handle the media and hype the way they did...made me think of how "ready" they were for the next level.

Freshman Year

The saying goes, what a difference a year makes, and in the case of Elena Delle Donne, that statement rings true, as she was the number 1 female basketball player in the class '08. Last year this time she was headed to UCONN with her best friend Caroline Doty...however once it was time to enroll, she walked away from the scholarship (after 2 days), and the game...she instead stayed home and entered her 1st year of college at the University of Delaware.

This morning ESPN featured Delle Donne on their program Outside the Lines. Last February I spoke with her, Doty, and Evans, as the latter are contributing heavily to their collegiate basketball programs, UCONN and Memphis respectively.

I attended the 2008 Kobe Bryant Classic and I wrote the following back in February '08:

The big names are naturally the top 2 players in girls and boys basketball, in Elena Delle Donne from Ursuline Academy, and Tyreke Evans of American Christian. Speaking of numbers, Delle Donne wears 11, while Evans wears the number 1…irony at its best. (Evans says he wears 1 because he had aspirations to be the top player in the nation growing up)

I am one of the few people that have not had the pleasure of seeing either player in person and if the phrase as advertised means anything to you, then it definitely applies to them.
Elena Delle Donne, can do it all. At 6’5” the future UCONN Husky can dribble, pass, and shoot, including from 3-point land. She is refined and polished, giving the home Germanton Academy, and Caroline Doty (future teammate at UCONN, DNP-out for the season) all they could handle with 33 points, 13-19 FG, 3-7 3PT, 4-5 FT, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks and MVP honors. Ursuline Academy outlasted Germantown Academy 57-44.

In the boys match-up, the already packed house prepared to see Tyreke Evans and American Christian, against the gritty Academy of the New Church squad.

Tyreke Evans didn’t play as the cliché sounds…like a man amongst boys, in the unreleased Nike Zoom LeBron V, no less, he showed great guard play, a quick first step, and a dribble that looked at times as if he has the ball on a string. His teammate junior guard Lamont Jones (remember that name) also impressed, stepping up as team leader in the 2 half of the game.

American Christian struggled for 3 quarters, with inconsistent play, as they seemed to play down to the competition and not to their max potential…either that, or ANC was much better than people gave them credit for.

In the end Evans took over on two consecutive drives to the basket, giving American Christian a 71 -69 lead with 90 seconds to go in the 4th...with good ball control, and the right amount of made free-throws, American Christian pulled it out 78 – 71 over ANC.
Evans received MVP honors with 33 points, 9-23 FG, 1-6 3 PT, 14-17 FT, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks.

GAME TIME: Talk about basketball in regard to being and playing as the best player in the country:

Elena Delle Donne: “It can take a toll on your body. You can go 7 days and play 14 games. It can take a toll on your body and mentally. You just have to prepare for that, and being on a good team, colleges are around all the time looking at you, so its tough, but its also great because you get to compete against the best players in the country and really see how you stack up and what you need to work on. And being number 1 is a compliment, but it also makes me work harder for the people that have never seen me play before.”

Caroline Doty on Elena Delle Donne: “I was cheering for her today...you can ask my teammates...they were looking at me, like I was crazy. I’m just so excited, and I’m so happy that she decided to come to Connecticut! It’s going to be so awesome, she [Delle Donne] has so much fun on the court and the next time I play I’m going to have as much fun, and playing on the same team at UCONN, it will be even more special. She is such a great player, and she can handle anything, and she is so unselfish, and she makes me and everyone a better player. She knows exactly what to do, and when to do it. I’ve been fortunate to play with her since I was 11, so next year we are going to have so much fun!”

Tyreke Evans on Elena Delle Donne: “This is big, and I’ve seen Delle Donne play one other time, and she’s tough...she’s taller than me, and she’s big and she can shoot the jumper. I think she’s going to be a great WNBA player.”

The 2 top prep players in the nation lead their teams to victory, walked away with MVP awards, and scored 33 points each…just another day in the gym, and next year the saga will continue.

I wrote that the saga will continue...I just didn't expect it to be like this, but at the end of the day Elena Delle Donne is doing what is best for her in staying close to home and playing volleyball for the Blue Hens, so I tip my cap to her for staying true to herself...as we can all learn from her.

Peace.

The Most Known Unknown.

By Any Means Necessary...

The calm before the storm

Rip and AG. in Coatesville, PA

"Rejoice O young man in thy youth..."

Ecclesiastes

Thirteen years ago I was really concerned about Nike Air Force 1 sneakers and the various colors I could acquire via my shopping downtown Brooklyn. I focused on basketball...both playing and watching the game that I fell in love with around the same time I was infatuated with Hip Hop music.

From boys to men

Its remarkable how I have matured, yet remained the kid at heart, as I have incorporated my love of sports and sneakers into a one of a kind journalism career. NEVER in a million years would I have imagined that those days and nights spent playing on courts until the lights went out would pay off in the way of my becoming a respected member of the media. The thing that my mind’s eye couldn’t see was the professional career of Kobe Bryant and Richard Hamilton.

Growing up in Philadelphia it was obvious that Rasheed Wallace was going to play in the NBA. He starred at the legendary Simon Gratz H.S. and had a promising future at the University of North Carolina. Besides he is from North Philadelphia and as my uncle always says, if you can grow up here, then you can live anywhere. I didn’t know Wallace, or Hamilton, but I did know Kobe and his family, and yes while he was born in Philly, he moved overseas, and when he came back, he resided in the outskirts of the city. Needless to say, when it comes to Southeastern Pennsylvania the only thing that mattered in basketball, was what is known as “the PUB”, which is the Philadelphia Public League. Two people shattered that line of thinking and it was the two most feared guards in the entire state, Richard “Rip” Hamilton, and Kobe Bean Bryant.

I didn’t meet Rip until 2001 at the NBA Store in New York City. I was on my lunch break as I would tend to venture into the NBA themed store to window shop. One day Hamilton was there and he was with a mutual friend. After an introduction, we talked about “home”...his Coatesville, to my Philly. I have not only admired him for his all around versatile game, but also his ability to put his hometown on the map and represent where he is from, when most would turn their back on a town of 11,000.

Fast forward to the present day and the more things change the more they stay the same, as I recently had an opportunity to catch up with Rip Hamilton at his annual Rip City event in the little industrial town of Coatesville, PA.

Here is the score on our courtside conversation:

You love your hometown so much. Can you explain what that is all about?

"This is where I'm from and the kids come out [to my annual event] they all have a good time...the community helps me out...with security, all the security is pretty much home grown, and everybody just helps everybody and its a good thing. When I think of Coatesville...I think of family...I mean my whole family is here. My mom, my dad, my grandmom, my grandpop, all my aunts, uncles, friends, everything. Coatesville is loyalty, and hard work. That's what inspires me to keep on going on the basketball court. I know where I come from, I know what it means to struggle, and when you know that...you try everything possible to never get back to that situation, but to keep rising to the occasion. I love my town and I love my city. I have it tattooed on my stomach and on my arm. Its more than basketball for me. I'm the one that made it out, but I want to be the stepping stone for everybody else. I want everybody else to look at me and say if Rip did it, I can do it. I hung out at the same places that they hung out, so me coming around all the time, lets them know that I'm just like them."

Talk about your friendship and rivalry with Kobe Bryant:

"We played on the same AAU team...we've been roommates on AAU trips, roommates at the McDonald's game, and Magic Johnson Roundball Classic. We played against each other since the 10th grade...we were the number one, and number two best players in the state, so we have always had that rivalry. I remember this article in the Daily Local and it said, if you don't come and watch these two kids play now...the next time you will see them play you'll be paying $100 a ticket! And that's crazy, because as a kid you're like...what do they see? I'm just trying to get to college, and they were right. And then I had the opportunity to play against him in the Finals, and to win, it felt good to me...because he beat me [in high school]. When I was in college I told him, I was about to come to the league and stuff like that, and I just won a national championship...and I was like man you can have that high school championship, that don't mean nothing...I have a college [championship]. And he was like 'you know what Rip...by the end of this year I'm going to have me a championship. I'm like 'yeah right, but I'm up on you...so when he was winning those championships he was like 'yeah, now what, now what, so when we had an opportunity to play him in the Finals...it was the best thing ever because now I got a chance to throw one in his face and actually to beat him at that high level...it was the best thing about it."

When you played for the Washington Wizards, you met Senator Obama:

"Actually my uncle Wes knew him. So when I was out there playing, he said that the Senator would come over the house and eat, and hang out after a game. So he came over and we talked, and watched TV, talked about basketball...and Wes was like 'that's going to be the first black President...and I was like 'for real? So then I was like okay...and then I was watching TV when he was running, and I was like 'he looks familiar but it didn't register yet, and then one of my guys Henry he was like remember when he came to the house...he is going to be the next President."

You played for UCONN and as of last season your team has the most players in the league:

"We still have the most guys! We're a fraternity, we have the best group of guys!" 

By Any Means Necessary...

RG and AG courtside in Philly

Sports and sports culture are often a metaphor for our daily lives. You win some, you lose some…basketball, as the game pertains to me, and how I view things, are one in the same, as the game has provided joy, pain, wisdom, and life experiences far beyond my childhood dreams.

Along my journey, I have encountered my fair share of ups and downs, making decisions, right and wrong. The saying of, “you live and learn”, rings so true, and with new ventures on the horizon, I know that I have a lot more learning to do. Sometimes you figure things out later than you would like, nevertheless it is better to learn at any moment, than not at all. The point I would like to make revolves around something that is both black and proud.

“I’m dark like the side of the moon you don’t see…” – Mos Def, Astronomy (8th Light)

The Bold and the Beautiful

A few years ago, I received a gift that I didn’t quite comprehend and or appreciate. Right in front of me was something that I needed, and always longed for, however I believe that I didn’t understand what I had because it was given to me, and I didn’t work hard enough for it. Now that I have your attention I’m talking about my first pair of Nike ACG boots. A good friend had sent them in the mail at the beginning of the winter months, and instead of putting them on right out of the box, I waited until I was ready to wear a boot that Nike had made. Having grown up in Philadelphia, a Nike boot was one of the last things I was going to wear, let alone purchase.

One day on my way to work on a snowy, frigid day, I decided to adorn my feet with the boots I had cast aside like Robinson Crusoe. The first thing I noticed was how comfortable they felt, as if I was wearing a product from Nike Basketball. Once I stood up, I immediately noticed that I was taller, from there nothing was ever the same again, as I have met my match.

There is a region on the eastern seaboard, affectionately called the DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia) by those who live there, and if style and swagger is what you are looking for, then you will not have to go far around these parts, because the DMV is home to everything from GO-GO music (Chuck Brown, UCB, Wale) to some of the best athletes in the world. (Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Shawne Merriman)

A few miles north in between this area and my hometown of Philly rests Baltimore, home of Carmelo Anthony, Rudy Gay, and no doubt the Nike ACG Boot. I recently sat down with Rudy one day after a game to catch up on things.
Here is the score on our courtside conversation:

Can you shed some light on the Nike ACG Boots?
“Man I was in middle-school when I had my first pair of Nike boots! I wear them the same as I did then. Nike boots go with anything. I used to wear them to church, you can wear them to the club, wear them to school…and we wore uniforms. Nike boots can go with your uniform! I think that people are just learning about Nike boots outside of Maryland, but we never receive the credit. I remember the first time I wore them in college (UCONN) and everybody was asking me what are they? They look like space boots, and now everyone is trying to get a pair. I had the Goadome, and I just got another pair.”

How did you get into sneakers?
“Well I started late because growing up I always had the hand-me-downs, and stuff like that, and I think that is what gave me a love for sneakers. Growing up I had 2 pair of shoes…I had my play shoes, and my old good shoes. My play shoes were sometimes too small and everything, but that’s how it was. Having grown up that way, I appreciate things much more now.”

What is your favorite sneaker of all-time?
“Favorite shoe of all-time…I would say the Jordan XI, they’re crazy, white/black! Oh and how could I forget about the Nike Foamposite shoe, the Duncan’s, I would say those too.”

Talk about your relationship with Nike?
“My relationship is good. I went to their camp when I was younger. Actually they accepted me…I didn’t expect to be in any camps. I wasn’t on the radar at all. They gave me a chance and I took advantage of it, that’s how I see it. When no other camps were looking at me…I really thought I was going to a JUCO, (Junior College) but Nike gave me a chance and there were a lot of coaches out there watching and I made the best of it!”



I sometimes marvel at how things happen…one minute, I figured boots by Nike were irrelevant and now, they have been a staple in my wardrobe for quite a few years now. They are so good, that I’m crazy without them.

I’m so thankful for second chances…luckily for me, it was a matter of comfort, style, and height…and not anything more serious like lost relationships and love.

Peace.


AG.