PLAYING BASKETBALL WITH THE VIETCONG
You never thought it would come to this,
that afternoon in the war
when you leaned so hard into the controls
you almost became part of the landscape:
just you, the old man, the old woman
and their buffalo.
You never thought then
that this grey-haired man in sandals
smoking Gauloises on your back porch,
drinking your beer, his rough cough
punctuating tales of how he fooled
the French in 54,
would arrive at your back door
to call you out to shoot some baskets, friend.
If at first he seems awkward,
before long he’s got it down.
His left leg lifts from the ground,
his arms arch back then forward
from the waist to release the ball
arcing to the hoop, one, two, …
ten straight times. You stare at him
in his tee shirt, sandals, and shorts.
Yes, he smiles. It’s a gift,
good for bringing gunships down
as he did in the Delta
and in other places where, he whispers,
there may be other scores to settle.
by Kevin Bowen
photo: Huy Nguyen
THE MYSTERY OF BASKETBALL ALLEY
This is a place where two buildings meet in San Francisco. It is filled with garbage and needles and broken glass. A prostitute used to work out of the far end, where the walls meet a third building. The place was so messed up that the city placed the narrowest fence in the world across the opening so that no one could get in. The top is covered with razor wire. There are only two explanations for how a basketball could have gotten in there. Either the city was in so much of a hurry that they just fenced it inside, or a bully stole it and threw it over the razor wire after school.
by Erica Kramer
THE HIVE
When the Hornets made their NBA debut in November of 1988, the Charlotte Coliseum was the largest venue in the league, seating 24,086 fans. The Hornets were a competitive team throughout the 90s, but during that time team owner George Shinn became one of of the most hated men in Charlotte. Somewhere between trading Alonzo Mourning and being accused of rape, Shinn caused attendance to sag. This, combined with the Hive’s lack of luxury boxes, made the Hornets one of the NBA’s least profitable organizations. The team moved to New Orleans in 2002. On June 3rd, 2007, the Charlotte Coliseum was destroyed.
R.I.P. Grass Casket
As many of you know, Bread City Basketball was the brains behind Grass Casket Basketball Digest, the greatest basketball/art zine of all time. We put out 11 Issues, but dropped the ball on the full dozen. The farthest we ever got on that last issue was the cover (see below), which was pretty boss, but by then we were being forced to watch the Spurs and Cavs play in the worst Finals ever, so it was kinda hard for us to do anything basketball related. For those of you who never got a chance to check it out, you can see the back issues by clicking here.
END OF AN ERA
ATTENTION ALL HERBS: It’s all over! TAKE THE STICKER OFF YOUR NEW ERA. There’ll be a little circle on the brim where the color hasn’t faded yet, but just wear it out in the sun a few times and it’ll even out. Please, this is for your own good. Don’t worry Herb Williams, I’m not talking about you. You are the man. I remember back in the Knicks’ ‘99 series, damn, you were old. Every time you came into the game MSG blew the roof off cause it was like watching our dad beat up the teacher we hated. Stay up. I really lost track of what I was trying to say.
