bballbeadle
Woman of a certain age
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
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Dear fellow SU bball fiends, late last night I received an invitation from my friend Gary, who is participating in an SU Legends basketball camp for charity, to come and see one of the games coached by the Legends. At age 65, Gary is the oldest "camper" by at least 5 years, but he runs marathons and plays basketball regularly, so he hoped he could keep up. Of course, I agreed to come, and this morning I entered the Melo Center for the first time.
This facility is beautiful! For those who have never seen it, please bear with a small description. There is a huge hallway where banners hang featuring Carmelo (natch) and on each side of the hall there are pictures galore, trophies, three games playing continuously (SU vs. Wis, SU vs. Kansas 2003, and SU vs. UConn 6 OT). A perky female staffer took me upstairs where I was able to see the conference room where the team and coaches plan for the games, and Boeheim's office, where I walked right in! Next to Boeheim's office is Hop's medium-sized office, and next to his is Gerry McNamara's little-sized office. Just like Goldilocks!
The gym has two full sized basketball courts side by side. There is a huge picture of the Dome's record-breaking 34,414 crowd hanging on one of the walls, and there are 2 very impressive weight rooms. There were 40 geezers, I mean, men participating in the camp and I believe there were 15 of the best players SU has ever had coaching them! Here's who I saw: Derrick Coleman (who could not be kept away), Billy Owens, Lawrence "Poetry in" Moten, Gerry McNamara (be still, my heart!), Mike Hopkins, John Wallace, Sherman Douglas, Stevie Thompson, Todd Burgan, Lazarus Sims, Dante Green, "Pearl" Washington, and Hakim Warrick, whom I talked to. He was eating breakfast and politely responded to my question about how to get somewhere. I told him I would never forget "The Block," and that I thought SU should put up a statue of it on campus. He laughed, "Ha!" and choked a bit on his bagel.
I stood or sat very quietly and watched the game the campers played, coached by the Legends. I rooted for Gary's team. (They won.) I drank it in, friends. Drank. It. In. DaJuan Coleman also stopped by and he looked very tall and not that pudgy. The Legends were all in good spirits and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. I didn't bring a camera and was much too shy to ask anyone for a photo, although I think they would have generously obliged. I am going to ask Gary to write up his experiences and hopefully I can share them with this forum.
This facility is beautiful! For those who have never seen it, please bear with a small description. There is a huge hallway where banners hang featuring Carmelo (natch) and on each side of the hall there are pictures galore, trophies, three games playing continuously (SU vs. Wis, SU vs. Kansas 2003, and SU vs. UConn 6 OT). A perky female staffer took me upstairs where I was able to see the conference room where the team and coaches plan for the games, and Boeheim's office, where I walked right in! Next to Boeheim's office is Hop's medium-sized office, and next to his is Gerry McNamara's little-sized office. Just like Goldilocks!
The gym has two full sized basketball courts side by side. There is a huge picture of the Dome's record-breaking 34,414 crowd hanging on one of the walls, and there are 2 very impressive weight rooms. There were 40 geezers, I mean, men participating in the camp and I believe there were 15 of the best players SU has ever had coaching them! Here's who I saw: Derrick Coleman (who could not be kept away), Billy Owens, Lawrence "Poetry in" Moten, Gerry McNamara (be still, my heart!), Mike Hopkins, John Wallace, Sherman Douglas, Stevie Thompson, Todd Burgan, Lazarus Sims, Dante Green, "Pearl" Washington, and Hakim Warrick, whom I talked to. He was eating breakfast and politely responded to my question about how to get somewhere. I told him I would never forget "The Block," and that I thought SU should put up a statue of it on campus. He laughed, "Ha!" and choked a bit on his bagel.
I stood or sat very quietly and watched the game the campers played, coached by the Legends. I rooted for Gary's team. (They won.) I drank it in, friends. Drank. It. In. DaJuan Coleman also stopped by and he looked very tall and not that pudgy. The Legends were all in good spirits and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. I didn't bring a camera and was much too shy to ask anyone for a photo, although I think they would have generously obliged. I am going to ask Gary to write up his experiences and hopefully I can share them with this forum.
