Jay putting up a sure shot at the Goat Park.

One of the profound books I read as a youth was Jim Carroll’s Basketball Diaries. Unfortunately, it was made into a very forgettable movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio who is a phenomenal actor but can’t poise himself as a believable ballplayer to save his socks. In any event, I love the idea of chronicling daily pick-up activity. We always here about this playground legend and that out of control tournament game, but what about the everyday player searching for a run like you and me?

A couple of weeks ago, I took my “Anytime, Anyday” work-out crew to my lifetime homecourt at “Goat Park” on 99th St. and Amsterdam Ave. Looking North, I could see Douglass Projects where I was born, and looking South in clear view was 120 W. 97th St. where I resided for 24 years in Momdukes’ crib. In the ’80s, the Goat was my home away from home, and during the summers I’d definitely spend more time there than I did at apartment #13-I. It was my sanctuary.

Needless to say, I still feel extremely welcome there, even though the AJO Lumber, Carvel, pizza shop, supermarket, and furniture store all along the ave between 99th and 100th are gone in favor of some new hi-rise apartment complex they are currently building. The neighborhood has changed tremendously, and they’ve even improved the schoolyard, however the two main basketball courts are the same as they ever were.

After our work-out, a couple of players gathered who wanted to play 21. I was still good even though we had just went hard for two hours doing drills.

“My ball,” I said.

“Why?”

“Cuz I’ve been playing in this park since ‘77, almost twice as long as most of you have been on this earth!”

I should’ve kept my mouth shut. I don’t normally talk smack, especially not since I’m on TV doing MSG Summerball at the same time being Editor In Chief of this site and Bounce Magazine. Kids look up to me like I’m some sort of playground basketball ambassador, but I just felt so dag comfortable at the Goat!

So me and this kid start going at each other. Man, his handle was nasty. He dribbled OD low beneath his knees, thru all four of us, and smacked boards on reverses no problem afterwards. And he could shoot from outside, so basically he was un-guardable.

“No foul shots, shoot from the top of the key . . .”

The only chance I had at winning was to beat him at the government cheese freebie line. Then he started talking: “In and out,” “My rebound,” “Gimme dat,” on and on. Seemed like a mini AG was stuck in his throat announcing the game! There was no animosity and it was all in good fun, but wow was it annoying! He did whatever he wanted to us. It was between me and him to win it so I took it upon myself to guard him every possession, which was frustrating.

In the end, I won. After game point, the winning shot had to be hit from the NBA three. He didn’t think I’d hit it on the first try, but I reminded him that it was my park. Not his. Mine!

We played a couple of more 3-on-3s, and afterwards I asked Tone “The Batman” Greer who the kid was. His name was Jay, and he’s the little brother of former Manhattan College stand-out and French pro player Von Damien “Mugsy” Green. Made all the sense in the world to me then. I watched “Mugsy” destroy the comp at the Quai 54 (Paris) 2005 Tournament. I don’t know Jay’s age, but if he keeps on working hard and gets stronger, he definitely has some potential to play somewhere.

And if it doesn’t land anywhere, he can count on me to be at the Goat for years to come so he has someone to talk **** to and have fun playing ball!

Peep my other Harlem Basketball Diaries entries:

Jefferson Projects

Foster Projects