women's league streetball at west 4th street

Subject: women's league streetball at west 4th street

yesterday afternoon I ran across (and then parked myself for a long while) a women's league streetball tournament. this shit was raw and rough. and awesome. some of these women had major amounts of talent, though the heat was definitely affecting folks. the discussions I overheard made me think there will be more games (someone mentioned a 7 p.m. wednesday game, for instance) but I couldn't get much info about the league.

if you enjoy basketball without 80% of the b.s. rules, you would have LOVED this tourney. I loved it because it was a showcase of interesting talent - players definitely trying to stand out and then pulling crazy moves out of their asses, for instance. also, the rules were fascinating to figure out (I couldn't hear the announcer very well) but realized there was a $20 fee for a technical foul ... which allowed the player to get back in the game. I mean, that's amazing. the only fouls that were called involved a direct hit - people weren't flopping all over like they do in college and pro ball because, well, wtf is that going to get you? the refs fought with each other, the coaches cursed out the the refs and each other, the players cursed out each other, the refs, and the coaches, and no ... those weren't foulable offenses. there'd apparently been a brawl earlier but there was also a true sense of camaraderie among the players cross-team and within their own teams. the teams were very interracial and included players of all sizes - tiny little point guards who protected that ball and directed their teams like pros, gigantic blondes with slick-ass moves, a fat chick with huge tits who was a great 3 point shooter, etc. it was really fun to watch. construction workers sat and watched while they ate lunch, random new yorkers sat there, like me, slack jawed like "omg", and tourists just stopped and watched for several minutes trying to figure out what was going on. a true nyc experience. I just wish I'd known it was happening - I would have skipped brunch and brought a picnic.

and yeah. a lot of the players were psyched about pride.