Manny’s Converse and Amar’s Jordans were the BCNY sneakers of the week last thursday

Every Thursday, Manny Maldonado organizes a nice invite-only run at the Boys Club of New York on 10th St. and Ave. A in the Lower. The objective is to unite entertainment/apparel industry folks with the BCNY staff in order to make connections that ultimately help the city’s youth. For example, NBA player Jalen Rose donated $10,000 to the program after Vibe magazine used the BCNY Jefferson Park (Harlem) location for a photo shoot because his PR rep was present and respected what Mr. Maldonado was doing. It was a beautiful gesture.

As wonderful as the relationship has been, the actual Thursday games can get very heated!
Bounce contributing writer Jonathan Lopez does a weekly write-up of the run, and here’s last week’s round-up:

More ominous than a full moon, Manhattan-henge (when the sun lines up with the NYC street grid, similar to Stone Henge in England) occurred last week and it set the stage for one weird night of run at Harriman Clubhouse. For starters, it is possible that Ralph, aka Physical City, may have led all scorers. In addition, Amar made Manny fall, Will did not attempt a spin move, Amar knocked down jumpers, Tony looked to be a threat on offense, Jon had more turnovers than the rest of his stats combined, Jarod didn’t attack the basket and Izzy made a return after an extended leave of absence.

Top play nominees include:

On a quick change of direction with Manny guarding him, Amar drove to the basket for a tough lay up; immediately following the basic crossover dribble, down goes Manny & was helped back on his feet for the next possession; he was not immediately available to comment on the play, but Manny did finish the game; as if competing for the last NCAA scholarship in the country, Amar went extra hard going for stop & pops (something he hasn’t done his entire career), attacking the basket, making lay ups, forcing turnovers – it was an overall career Thursday night for Amar; on his return to Harriman since his stint with the BCNY Academic All-Stars basketball team in ’99-’00, Omar out-leapt everyone in the gym for rebounds, dominating the glass & scoring at will in the painted area; perhaps the only good thing Jon did last night, while Amar defended him, was an in-n-out stepback jumper – Purity!; Sean has a streak of about 24 consecutive games with at least one angry, power drive/super drop step bulldozer guaranteed bucket; Bobbito put Manny in the blenda on the wing one time en route to a graceful floater; Somehow, some way Bobbito managed to finagle his way onto the winning team again; Jarod swatted one of Ralphs shots into next week; Izzy slashed his way to the cup a few times for some acrobatic finishes; and, possibly the player of the day, Ralph was feelin’ good most of the night as his jumper never seemed to cool off and he drained shots over many a defender.

Among the not-so-top play nominees:

A team made up of Jon, Sean, Will, Headache & Tony managed to not only lose to a squad of sub 5’6″/under 150 lbs players, but they also managed to miss 1 out of every 2 lay ups; on a fast break Jon attacked the rim and attempted what looked like a tomahawk clap but turned out to be more like a backboard pass to the opposing team; sometimes the free-throw contest to decide who will play next was more competitive than the actual game; After missing a lay up, Tony commented, “#@$#%@!%$#@!#$**, !@#@#@$#%$^$%^** and ##$%$^%&**!”; In an attempt to play what he thought was defense, Ralph attempted to fake-scare (you read that right) Will, who is triple Ralph’s height & weight, as he plowed his way to the basket for an easy deuce; on a routine inbound pass with not 1, but 2 open teammates, Jon decided to pass the ball directly to a defender (Amar, who had just scored) instead; what makes that play worse is that the point Amar scored off of Jon’s assist was the game-winner; Headache accidentally tipped in a rebound for the other team; Jarod, much shorter than Headache, took the opportunity to claim the rebound & point; lastly, Jon’s performance was so gross it provoked Will to ask him, “Jon, seriously, were you point shaving today?”; Jon declined to comment.

Jonathan Lopez

For info on donating or volunteering at the Boys Club, contact Manny Maldonado: mmaldonado@jefferson.bcny.org