Hoops Nation : A Guide to America's Best Pickup Basketball

by Ballard, Chris

• ISBN13: 9780803262355
• ISBN10: 0803262353
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-30
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

Looking for a game? Here's your guided tour of the country's best pickup basketball courts, from the blacktops of Brooklyn to the asphalt of Anchorage to the gyms of Jackson, Mississippi. It's all inside: where the pros play, the most scenic runs in the land, and a ranking of the top five courts.Chris Ballard and three other former college players piled into a used Chevy van and traveled thirty-one thousand miles in seven months, playing at over a thousand courts in 166 cities in forty-eight states. This is the story of their roundball road trip and a guide to the places, people, and communities they encountered.More than a travel guide, Hoops Nation is "a celebration of the game of basketball as it is played in America." It includes guides to streetball fashion, the lingo of the courts, the etiquette of the pickup world, the tricks of old-guy basketball and tips for the dunking impaired. Also included are profiles of playground legends and dispatches from the legions of basketball lifers who populate the country's courts.This book can tell you where they're running today, all over America. Who's got next?Chris Ballard is a staff writer covering the NBA for Sports Illustrated and is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine. Clark Kellogg is a CBS basketball commentator and former NBA star. Chuck Wielgus and Alexander Wolff are the authors of The In-Your-Face Basketball Book.

Author Biography

Chris Ballard is a staff writer covering the NBA for Sports Illustrated and is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine. Clark Kellogg is a CBS basketball commentator and former NBA star. Chuck Wielgus and Alexander Wolff are the authors of The In-Your-Face Basketball Book.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Foreword	xi
Introduction	xiii
The Hoops Nation	3	(11)
Pregame Warm-up	14	(20)
A Pickup Primer
Regal Runs	34	(12)
The Five Best Pickup Basketball Courts in the U.S.A.
THE COURTS
Court Criteria	46	(4)
Explaining the Court Ratings
The Golden State	50	(27)
California
Flavor of the Game: The Cast of Characters	77	(52)
Pickup Personalities and Court Fashion
The Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Hawaii	86	(20)
Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii
Texas and the Southwest Region	106	(23)
Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah
Flavor of the Game: Talking the Talk	129	(78)
Arguing Like a Playground Pro and Hoops Lingo
New York	139	(28)
New York City and New York State
New England Region	167	(17)
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
The Southeast Coast	184	(23)
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina
Flavor of the Game: Making the Highlight Reel	207	(71)
Dunks, Swats, and the White Man's Elixir
The Great Lakes Region	217	(32)
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin
The Great Plains	249	(16)
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota
The Rocky Mountains	265	(13)
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming
Flavor of the Game: Playing Past Forty	278	(61)
The Tricks of ``Old Guy Basketball''
The Middle Atlantic Region	283	(29)
Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia
The Deep South	312	(15)
Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee
Is Heaven Still a Playground?	327	(12)
The Changing Game
Appendix: The Cream of the Crop	339	(4)
Index of Courts	343	(12)
Index of Hoops Culture	355