photo: Aaron Fleetwood taking flight.

Saturday, July 19

Its days like this that you wait all year for. Seventy five degrees, women all over, plenty of great hoops…I love my job.

I pick up where I left off yesterday as I catch the 1 pm game between the Home Team and the G-Bears. The Edmonton-based Bears are comprised of former U of A (Alberta) players. Today, the Home Team’s got a more complete squad. Last night, they had five, now they got eight. The most notable pick up is Jermaine Blackburn, former D-Leaguer who had training camp stints with the Sonics and Cavs. The St. Louis native is also a Dolphin regular, reppin’ the Home Team the past three years. Today JB is out there killin’ the G-Bears. Sporting clean white Jordan II’s, JB is hitting jumper after jumper. He must have close to 20 by halftime.

Next up is The School vs. AIA. Aaron Fleetwood from AIA has got this crowd buzzing. This wiry 6-9 swimngman is dunking everything in sight. He reps North Carolina. No doubt in the Mount Athletics/Runnin Rebels match, all eyes are on Bol Kong of Douglas College (BC). Bol has made national news this year because his Sudanese citizenship has prevented him from attending D-1 schools like Gonzaga and Louisville - who have both been recruiting him. At 6-8, this Luol Deng clone is perfectly runnin’ the fast break and dropping dimes.

About midway through the first half I notice Bol’s teammate is getting a lot of buckets. I take a closer look and notice its this guy I see over at the Kits Beach courts - Vancouver’s version of the Venice Beach courts. Funny I mention Venice, since this guys actually really reminds me of Sidney Dean (White Men Can’t Jump anyone?) the way he talks trash on the court. At Kits, he dominates everyone. Dude’s got infinite range and can get to the hole at will. Turns out Sidney has a real name - its Junior Lennon. I caught up with him after the game, and he told me he moved to Vancouver from T-dot (Toronto). Super chill guy too.

photo: Junior Lennon aka Sidney Dean.

Over the day, several players catch my eye. There’s Alex Murphy from the Birds - a team comprised of UBC (British Columbia) guys. Murph has a sweet stroke and is fearless taking it to the rack on the break. Then you got the Moosenuckle’s Ross Bekkering, a 6-9 power forward out of the University of Calgary. Let me tell you, this kid is a straight up monster! He reminds me of a poor man’s Amare Stoudemire with his explosiveness and body. I can honestly say with a straight face he could play high D-1.

Finally, there’s Randy Nohr of the defending champion X-Falcons. Last year’s MVP, this 6-2 guard has ice water in those veins. I love his confidence and competitiveness. He is 31-years-old and had a spot on the Canadian National Team alongside Steve Nash. After playing overseas for a minute, Randy is now the assistant coach at UBC. The way he balls, I guarantee he can still make money in Europe. He told me he still has an itch to play, but the coaching opportunity was too good to pass up.

photo: ‘07 MVP Randy Nohr. A little Teddy Dupay resemblence?

I’m telling you Canada’s a country on the rise, there’s a lot of talent out here. I was talking to Bruce Watson (one of the Dolphin co-founders) and he was talking about his desire to bring a team from down from New York or Chicago one day. He wants Bobbito to come down and bring some of the NYC players with him! I think it would be interesting. While a NY team would probably win, I’m sure some of these Canadian teams can hold their own.

Anyway, it was a long and I’m burnt out (literally). My skin has reached a shade of dark that I didn’t even know was possible. Note to self: use sunscreen. That’s all for now, check back tomorrow for the final installment!

photo: This guy gets creativity points.

photo: Can’t beat summer hoops!