Me in my hometown shooting outdoors. Check my form, Bob! Photo: H. Rumph Jr.
Los Angeles has a bad rap when it comes to playground basketball,
because despite the ridiculously lovely weather, nobody serious plays
outside. But we all know they got ballers out there. So where they be
at? Last Monday they were definitely at the 24 Hour Fitness in
Hollywood, on 6380 West Sunset Boulevard. I was in town looking for a
run with no idea where to go. A lot of 24 Hour joints have courts, so
I went online and found a spot. As soon as I walked into the front
door I saw a 7-foot brother signing in ahead of me. Word up, he was a
legit 7 feet. I paid my ten bucks and hustled through the packed
workout areas up to the gym. I walked in and saw serious talent on
the court, dudes with size, skills, athleticism, sometimes all three.
Bangs were being bonged, ankles were being fractured, all that. Me
and this young PG got third next and lucked up when the
aforementioned 7-footer came in with his homie and asked to run with
me. It ended up us four, plus a 5-foot-5 cat with tattoos literally
all over his face and head, including a 5-inch Wu Tang “W” on one
cheek. I said I was from Brooklyn, and he said he was down with
Brooklyn Zoo. “What part of Brooklyn you from?” I asked. “Nah, I’m
from Ohio, I said I’m down with Brooklyn ZOO.” Ummm, OK. But the way
dudes were acknowledging him I knew he could play. Sure enough, we
got on and money started going kamikaze to the hoop for and-ones,
pulling up for 15-footers, just generally getting busy. Tall Boy (who
must have got some kind of League look because he was rocking a Sac-
town Kings shirt and matching Nikes) was hitting fade-aways. I
concentrated on D and boards. E’ybody on my squad was nice. We won
three tough games, and then a shortish white kid came out and started
CRACKING dudes on my team (not me though). He had a funny grin and I
thought he had one of them James Posey half-black mouth guards. But
when I got up close he was missing his four top front teeth! The
“Gummer” ran all through us and we had to sit down. Cats said they run
hard there Mondays and Tuesdays from 2:30 until about 7 or 8. I
highly recommend it . . .
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Sean Couch says:
Jess:
I feel the concentration on D, but the question is did you get a bucket?
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love says:
C’mon, Sean–you know if he did he would’ve mentioned it! He must’ve been on his donut, tu sabes! Goose egg. That’s why he put a picture of him shooting a jumper in Philly, cuz he didn’t bring it to LA! hahaha
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Joseph Vecsey says:
Jesse:
You know I keep going back and forth to LA, and I played at that place for two nights. I’m surprised it was a good run because the run was so awful when I went there that I never came back. I went there at night to check it out. I didn’t even play, so that’s weird because everyone was telling me that the run was bad over there. That’s the one on sunset and Ivan, right? Glad you had a good run cuz’ I certainly didn’t get lucky on my two days. When I’m in La, I play at the hollywood Y and the Santa Monica YMCA
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Jeremy Ripley says:
Good stuff. I remember when we went out to Muscle Beach a few years ago on a family vacation. I always bring my ball on trips, so my brother and I hit up the playground. Apparently, there are some huge games there (peep the last And1 show this year) but my bro. and I were seriously outshooting the people we saw around us. We were pretty disappointed.
March 4th, 2008 at 3:05 am
love life says:
yoyoyoyoyo
good words ya got here
i just moved out here myself
OVERLAND & NATIONAL
i founnd a few parks to ball at
SANTA MONICA BEACH(m/w/f..12-2pm)
MEMORIAL GYM(14th & olympic–m/w/f) aint as good as i’d heard it was!!
outdoors @ PICO & CLOVERFIELD is pretty good when the weather is nice..especially on the wknds!!
drove by VENICE BEACH a few times!!
looked hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhorrible!!
hit a brotha up
ifya get sum time
my ass neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeds 2 get in shape!!
maybe THEN
KOOL BOB LOVE
will hit me with sum
PUERTO RICO SHORTS?!?!?!?!?!?
haha
haha
bobby
http://www.myspace.com/bobbylove2
http://www.myspace.com/sundaycrew2
April 19th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Nhamz says:
LA definitely gets it done. I took a squad out there this past summer to play in a series of games. We played a team from that Sanyo summer league, who had 7′3 center Keith Closs (former Clippers) and a bunch of cats who could get it done. We went out to Long Beach to get in a game too, and played in the Time To Shine at Venice Beach. The best runs were at The Point, which is indoors but has great talent to go up against. Lack of a true point guard killed us - but it was all good run.