Agree 100% GACOLB. Basketball is king on the streets of DC. Always has been. It's amazing the lack of elementary knowledge about basketball and its presence in the Washington DC Metropolitan area.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3775073
Rated PG
What's the hoops hotbed of the US right now? Chicago? No. LA? Nope. NYC? Sorry. Welcome to Prince George's County, MD.
by Chris Palmer
It happens before every game, a reunion of sorts, one player pausing to catch up with another from his playing past.
On this December night in Miami, Michael Beasley walks to halfcourt, head ****ed slightly to the side, a sheepish grin on his face. Waiting for him is Kevin Durant. Cradling a basketball behind his back in his left hand, Durant extends his right for the familiar half-hug. "What's up, boy?" he says. "How do you like Miami?" Beasley smiles. "Man, this place is crazy," he replies. "Just crazy." There is an awkwardness between them, like close school friends hooking up again after summer vacation. Besides, being cool doesn't allow for poignancy. Their eyes, though, say what their mouths can't: Man, we're here.
Most of the crowd has yet to arrive. Trainers stretch long-limbed players. Scurrying ball boys track down wayward balls. Refs try to loosen aging hamstrings. The early-bird kids clamor for a D-Wade signature. None of them notices the brief meeting at center court.
"How you making it?" Durant asks. "I've been watching you on the highlights."
"Just trying to take it all in," Beasley responds.
Ten years ago, not even the wisest hoops sage could have foreseen tonight's half-court summit. But now, as the future stars head to their own side of the floor, they don't need anyone else to validate the shared moment. They will forever be connected by a dream fulfilled, a dream that first took shape in a rickety Maryland gym.
The backboards in the Seat Pleasant Activity Center tell an indelible story. A scattershot array of fingerprints smudges the glass. To be fair, it's barely glass anymore. With the opacity degraded beyond restoration, it's more like wax paper trimmed with tattered foam and held in place by electrical tape. But the fingerprints, signatures of a thousand ghosts, stand out.
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Why DC Basketball?
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