There's a Whole Lotta Ballin' Goin On
So, the guys from the And1 Mix Tape tour, you know... the streetball guys, made a stop at Lyndonville last night. I had known about it for awhile. Now that only created marginal interest for me. Might've gone, might've not.
But Cassie had tried out for the team that'd face the street ballers. And made it. Take into consideration that not only was she the only girl trying out, and that she actually made it, plus it's against showboating players near the pro-level, that's impressive. Really impressive.
I went with Cassie's parents, Ryan (B.), and her boyfriend Robbie. We got to the college, and it was like a trip down memory lane for me. I was at the college a couple times in between my withdrawal, but never outside of the Whitelaw dorms (where Tuity is). So we get there about 2 hours in advance, and believe you me, those 2 hours crawled like a fucking snail with ADD. But, just as we sat down, we got a little bit of a surprise.
Coming up the bleachers was this pretty burlish looking latin man. I swear he looks familiar, and as soon as he passes us, Ryan shares the same feeling. A couple of ganders, and we come to the conclusion... It was Luis Guzman (he was in a bunch of movies .. Anger Management, Dumb and Dumberer, Harold and Kumar, others I'm sure [clicky clicky]). There's no mistaking that mug, that's for sure. What he was doing there is anyone's guess. He brought his (exhorbent amount of) kids to the game. Some assumptions were that he lived up this way. Question: Why is a minor actor like him living in a place where the number of cows out does the number of people? That amused us for a moment or two throughout the game.
The game got underway. And of course, the street ballers were creaming the house team. Let's set some of the guys for you on this semi-pro team. ... "Silk" ... the Jack-of-all-trades, moved with the ball smoothly (thus the name), supremely mad ups, and can thunder dunk with the best of them. ... "Seven-and-Change" ... A whole lot of man at 7' 2" (thus the name). The guy had an armspan that nearly went from one end of the gym to the other, he was a fucking albatross. He could literally dunk from just above the free throw line with his massive wingspan, as he showed us many times. He also had some rather magnificent throwdowns. But the thing that stands out about him in my mind is he dunked on a drive from the 3-point arch. For those not athletically intelligent, you can take two steps when you drive (otherwise it's a travel)... The 3 point line is 20 feet away from the rim. One - Two - Jump - Dunk. That may have been the most amazing thing I saw that entire night. ... "Byrd" ... Highest ups on the entire team (thus the name). And because of that, he naturally had some of the best thunder dunks of the night. The best one might've been during the warm ups when he threw it down then hung on to the rim by wrapping his whole arm around it. Sweet. ... "Headache" ... The fan favorite. His coupe de grace was his extremely skilled dribbling and ball movement. There really is no way to put some of the stuff he did into words, but you should know the drill. About 9000 head fakes every possession, between the legs, off the head, rolling it around his feet, etc. One of the good moments was watching Cassie try to guard him, he gave her a fake crossover that ended up putting Cassie on the floor. Now that, my friends, is an ankle breaker.
It was amusing. But it was a bit longer than I expected. Taking into the fact that we sat through dinner, and I didn't have any lunch, I was damn hungry the entire time. Also, the entire time I had to endure rap music pulsating from the dj's spot in the corner. 4 hours of rap music is enough to drive any pure rocker to the brink of madness. I got home and listened to the rockin-est tunes I could to get the 50 Cent, Xzibit, etc. "songs" the hell out of my head (AiC, STP, Local H, and Metallica does the trick nicely...).
Of course, this post would be rendered useless without corresponding photogs.
(Unfortunately, the lighting in the gym kinda counteracted with my camera, so they're kind of blurry. But it's all good.)
Cassie warmin up
Cassie warmin up part deux
Dunk you very much...
Using two hands like his momma taught him...
Drivin into the Lane
Alley OOP! (Pushed it too soon, and it's a shame because that was one of the best dunks of the night...)
Despite first thought, not all the baskets were dunks, as told by this strong jumper...
"Can I have your autograph?" (I thought this was cool. Ryan said [sorta scoffingly] "Cassie's a role model for young girls everywhere". Well, think about it for a second. She's the only girl playing on an all-guys team against a team of street-walking semi-pros. Young girls everywhere, fuck that... she's my role model too.)
... I was also going to critique the new QotSA album, but the temporary ADD has just set in... ...Best left for a future post.
But Cassie had tried out for the team that'd face the street ballers. And made it. Take into consideration that not only was she the only girl trying out, and that she actually made it, plus it's against showboating players near the pro-level, that's impressive. Really impressive.
I went with Cassie's parents, Ryan (B.), and her boyfriend Robbie. We got to the college, and it was like a trip down memory lane for me. I was at the college a couple times in between my withdrawal, but never outside of the Whitelaw dorms (where Tuity is). So we get there about 2 hours in advance, and believe you me, those 2 hours crawled like a fucking snail with ADD. But, just as we sat down, we got a little bit of a surprise.
Coming up the bleachers was this pretty burlish looking latin man. I swear he looks familiar, and as soon as he passes us, Ryan shares the same feeling. A couple of ganders, and we come to the conclusion... It was Luis Guzman (he was in a bunch of movies .. Anger Management, Dumb and Dumberer, Harold and Kumar, others I'm sure [clicky clicky]). There's no mistaking that mug, that's for sure. What he was doing there is anyone's guess. He brought his (exhorbent amount of) kids to the game. Some assumptions were that he lived up this way. Question: Why is a minor actor like him living in a place where the number of cows out does the number of people? That amused us for a moment or two throughout the game.
The game got underway. And of course, the street ballers were creaming the house team. Let's set some of the guys for you on this semi-pro team. ... "Silk" ... the Jack-of-all-trades, moved with the ball smoothly (thus the name), supremely mad ups, and can thunder dunk with the best of them. ... "Seven-and-Change" ... A whole lot of man at 7' 2" (thus the name). The guy had an armspan that nearly went from one end of the gym to the other, he was a fucking albatross. He could literally dunk from just above the free throw line with his massive wingspan, as he showed us many times. He also had some rather magnificent throwdowns. But the thing that stands out about him in my mind is he dunked on a drive from the 3-point arch. For those not athletically intelligent, you can take two steps when you drive (otherwise it's a travel)... The 3 point line is 20 feet away from the rim. One - Two - Jump - Dunk. That may have been the most amazing thing I saw that entire night. ... "Byrd" ... Highest ups on the entire team (thus the name). And because of that, he naturally had some of the best thunder dunks of the night. The best one might've been during the warm ups when he threw it down then hung on to the rim by wrapping his whole arm around it. Sweet. ... "Headache" ... The fan favorite. His coupe de grace was his extremely skilled dribbling and ball movement. There really is no way to put some of the stuff he did into words, but you should know the drill. About 9000 head fakes every possession, between the legs, off the head, rolling it around his feet, etc. One of the good moments was watching Cassie try to guard him, he gave her a fake crossover that ended up putting Cassie on the floor. Now that, my friends, is an ankle breaker.
It was amusing. But it was a bit longer than I expected. Taking into the fact that we sat through dinner, and I didn't have any lunch, I was damn hungry the entire time. Also, the entire time I had to endure rap music pulsating from the dj's spot in the corner. 4 hours of rap music is enough to drive any pure rocker to the brink of madness. I got home and listened to the rockin-est tunes I could to get the 50 Cent, Xzibit, etc. "songs" the hell out of my head (AiC, STP, Local H, and Metallica does the trick nicely...).
Of course, this post would be rendered useless without corresponding photogs.
(Unfortunately, the lighting in the gym kinda counteracted with my camera, so they're kind of blurry. But it's all good.)
Cassie warmin up
Cassie warmin up part deux
Dunk you very much...
Using two hands like his momma taught him...
Drivin into the Lane
Alley OOP! (Pushed it too soon, and it's a shame because that was one of the best dunks of the night...)
Despite first thought, not all the baskets were dunks, as told by this strong jumper...
"Can I have your autograph?" (I thought this was cool. Ryan said [sorta scoffingly] "Cassie's a role model for young girls everywhere". Well, think about it for a second. She's the only girl playing on an all-guys team against a team of street-walking semi-pros. Young girls everywhere, fuck that... she's my role model too.)
... I was also going to critique the new QotSA album, but the temporary ADD has just set in... ...Best left for a future post.