Roman Perez a.k.a. “El Regalo” going to the skillet on me hard at Goat Park on 8/5/09. Kevin Couliau photo.

“Anytime, Anyday” Work-out/Open Run Read More »

Clark “Mr. Backboard” Elie was born into the world on December 20, 1954. Growing up in Manhattan’s Upper West Side neighborhood, he played ball with his friends and wasn’t the best at it. At Brandeis HS, he ran intramurals, not varsity. In the early ’70s, the group of cats he rolled with all got recruited to play college ball outside New York. Left behind, he decided to attend City College. And that’s when the legend started . . .

“We used to tease him,” childhood friend Greg “Elevator Man #2″ Brown reminisced with me. “But when we all went away, that’s when Clark got 20 times better!” Elie wound up taking a couple of CUNY chips at CCNY, but his legendary tear in the parks began when Greg Brown returned home. The two, along with Clark’s little brother Mario, wound up terrorizing every playground in the vicinity. Read More »

Embedded video from CNN Video

This past weekend, CNN aired a prime-time two-minute piece on me as a prelude to their upcoming Latinos In America documentary (scheduled to premiere 10/21 @ 9pm). While filming, I took them to my homeland Goat Park on 99th St to peep some pick-up games, and it made the final cut as well as my Anytime, Anyday/Bounce shorts by Shirts & Skins that I had on!

After leaving a youth playoff game for the Entertainers Basketball Classic at Rucker Park, I walked down 8th Avenue in Harlem and noticed this:

Photo: Casey Lee

The asphalt mark signifies that the Nike Tournament of Champions (TOC) is coming to the Big Apple next Saturday at GOAT Park located on 99th & Amsterdam! Are you going to be there?

In your opinion, who will be the player to watch at the TOC and why do you think so?