An Evening at Rucker Park
This is Kareem Abdul-Jabarr on the Rucker Tournament:
"Nowadays white people know about the Rucker Tournament. It has been discovered and duly noted by the press as a summerlong meeting ground between professional basketball players and the uptown playground types. But back then you either had to be a ballplayer or have a serious tan to be hip to it. Holcombe L. Rucker, a black social worker, had created the tourney in 1946 as a means of getting attention for the Harlem brand of ball and getting the attention of the guys who played it. Just as white college basketball was patterned and regimented like the lives awaiting its players, the black schoolyard game demanded all the flash, guile, and individual reckless brilliance each man would need in the world facing him. This was on-the-job training when no jobs were available. No wonder these games were so intense, so consuming and passionate. For a lot of the men on that court this was as good as it was ever going to get, and it was winner-stay-on. Who says the work ethic didn't live in the ghetto, that Calvinism and social Darwinism were outmoded credos? These were philosophers out there, every one-on-one a debate, each new move a breakthrough concept, every weekend another treatise. I took the seminar every chance I could.
Some of the best were Fred Crawford, who played for the Knicks and Lakers, Miles Aikens, Helicopter (because he could sky and hover). These guys had some names. There was Foothead--"Hey, Foothead, what's happenin'?"--who had a long, narrow skull, a head like a foot, and must have picked the handle up early; it's not the type of name you'd accept late in life. These cats were deep!"
--Giant Steps, The Autobiography of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Peter Knobler
Since the publication of Giant Steps the games at Rucker Park were discontinued and resurrected. Nowadays, several leagues play, the most prominent being the Entertainer's Basketball Classic (EBC). Among the EBC's biggest draws is a team sponsored by Fat Joe called Fat Joe's Terror Squad. On Tuesday night I went up to Rucker Park with Mark to see a playoff game between the Terror Squad and the X-Men.
While this wasn't streetball at its most intense--the Terror Squad easily defeated the X-Men--there was much to recommend the experience. For one, it was a small park, and really impossible to have a bad seat. Plus, it was completely free of charge. The involvement of the audience also contributed to the fun, their commentary often peppered with colorful expressions like "the shake and bake," as in, "Man, you can't stop the game in the middle of the shake and bake!" But the emcee was what most made the evening for me. His schtick included barbs at audience members like, "Ladies and gentlemen, the gay black Sylvester Stallone" and "Your tongue is so dry you gotta eat Armorall pizza!" I don't know what that means, but I certainly enjoyed hearing it. I was worried the emcee would notice Mark and me, and make comments about us being two out of perhaps five white people in the audience, but this thankfully did not happen.
True to Abdul-Jabarr's description, there were NBA players on the court: Ron Artest (famous for his brawl with audience members at an NBA game) and Al Harrington, both on the Terror Squad. Artest in particular was fun to watch, and pulled off some amazing, can-you-believe-it shots. But there were some streetballers on the Terror Squad, and a couple on the X-Men, who also put on a nice show. These included, on the Terror Squad, Kareem "Best Kept Secret" Reid [EDIT: After some research, I've found that Reid actually plays for the NBA's D-League, or Development League, so I don't know if he would really be conisdered a streetballer proper], who played a big role in keeping control of the ball for the Terror Squad, and the precocious "Sir Lancelot the Teenage Phenom," who is currently 15 years of age, and admirably kept his cool when a big guy on the sidelines in a blue "Brooklyn" t-shirt (coach for the opposing team?) knocked the ball out of his hands. I didn't catch his name, but one of the players on the X-Men stood out for aggressive guarding, such that the emcee christened him "The Landlord": "He's all over you, like the landlord! 'Where's my rent?! Where's my rent!' 'I don't got it, man--I don't even got an apartment, man!' 'I don't care, where's my rent?!'"
Of course, I should mention that Fat Joe himself was there (or "in the building," as the emcee put it), though I didn't actually spot him. Also rumored to have been there were Cam'ron and DMX. This last rumor's pretty dubious, though, as the information was gleaned from a conversation behind me between two kids, which went as follows:
First Kid: Yo, that's DMX!
Second Kid: Man, that ain't DMX!
Nevertheless, I'd like to believe DMX was there.
"Nowadays white people know about the Rucker Tournament. It has been discovered and duly noted by the press as a summerlong meeting ground between professional basketball players and the uptown playground types. But back then you either had to be a ballplayer or have a serious tan to be hip to it. Holcombe L. Rucker, a black social worker, had created the tourney in 1946 as a means of getting attention for the Harlem brand of ball and getting the attention of the guys who played it. Just as white college basketball was patterned and regimented like the lives awaiting its players, the black schoolyard game demanded all the flash, guile, and individual reckless brilliance each man would need in the world facing him. This was on-the-job training when no jobs were available. No wonder these games were so intense, so consuming and passionate. For a lot of the men on that court this was as good as it was ever going to get, and it was winner-stay-on. Who says the work ethic didn't live in the ghetto, that Calvinism and social Darwinism were outmoded credos? These were philosophers out there, every one-on-one a debate, each new move a breakthrough concept, every weekend another treatise. I took the seminar every chance I could.
Some of the best were Fred Crawford, who played for the Knicks and Lakers, Miles Aikens, Helicopter (because he could sky and hover). These guys had some names. There was Foothead--"Hey, Foothead, what's happenin'?"--who had a long, narrow skull, a head like a foot, and must have picked the handle up early; it's not the type of name you'd accept late in life. These cats were deep!"
--Giant Steps, The Autobiography of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Peter Knobler
Since the publication of Giant Steps the games at Rucker Park were discontinued and resurrected. Nowadays, several leagues play, the most prominent being the Entertainer's Basketball Classic (EBC). Among the EBC's biggest draws is a team sponsored by Fat Joe called Fat Joe's Terror Squad. On Tuesday night I went up to Rucker Park with Mark to see a playoff game between the Terror Squad and the X-Men.
While this wasn't streetball at its most intense--the Terror Squad easily defeated the X-Men--there was much to recommend the experience. For one, it was a small park, and really impossible to have a bad seat. Plus, it was completely free of charge. The involvement of the audience also contributed to the fun, their commentary often peppered with colorful expressions like "the shake and bake," as in, "Man, you can't stop the game in the middle of the shake and bake!" But the emcee was what most made the evening for me. His schtick included barbs at audience members like, "Ladies and gentlemen, the gay black Sylvester Stallone" and "Your tongue is so dry you gotta eat Armorall pizza!" I don't know what that means, but I certainly enjoyed hearing it. I was worried the emcee would notice Mark and me, and make comments about us being two out of perhaps five white people in the audience, but this thankfully did not happen.
True to Abdul-Jabarr's description, there were NBA players on the court: Ron Artest (famous for his brawl with audience members at an NBA game) and Al Harrington, both on the Terror Squad. Artest in particular was fun to watch, and pulled off some amazing, can-you-believe-it shots. But there were some streetballers on the Terror Squad, and a couple on the X-Men, who also put on a nice show. These included, on the Terror Squad, Kareem "Best Kept Secret" Reid [EDIT: After some research, I've found that Reid actually plays for the NBA's D-League, or Development League, so I don't know if he would really be conisdered a streetballer proper], who played a big role in keeping control of the ball for the Terror Squad, and the precocious "Sir Lancelot the Teenage Phenom," who is currently 15 years of age, and admirably kept his cool when a big guy on the sidelines in a blue "Brooklyn" t-shirt (coach for the opposing team?) knocked the ball out of his hands. I didn't catch his name, but one of the players on the X-Men stood out for aggressive guarding, such that the emcee christened him "The Landlord": "He's all over you, like the landlord! 'Where's my rent?! Where's my rent!' 'I don't got it, man--I don't even got an apartment, man!' 'I don't care, where's my rent?!'"
Of course, I should mention that Fat Joe himself was there (or "in the building," as the emcee put it), though I didn't actually spot him. Also rumored to have been there were Cam'ron and DMX. This last rumor's pretty dubious, though, as the information was gleaned from a conversation behind me between two kids, which went as follows:
First Kid: Yo, that's DMX!
Second Kid: Man, that ain't DMX!
Nevertheless, I'd like to believe DMX was there.