My Knicks and my Colts lost but I couldn't be happier.
Today was the showdown at Madison Square Garden.
Christ The King vs. Murry Bergtraum
The Royals vs. The Lady Blazers
Tina Charles vs. Epiphany Prince
Queens vs. Manhattan
The Public School Athletic League vs. The Catholic High Schools Athletic Association
The future of UCONN vs. the future of Rutgers
#1 in the country vs. #2 in the country
8th Avenue side of The Garden vs. the 7th Avenue side
It lived up to all of the hype.Here's my as-it-happened game report.
Live From Section 88I don't know who to root for. I'm from Queens so I should be going for Christ the King. But I graduated from public school and played PSAL ball.
For those that don't know, us PSAL kids have always stuck together because we're always the underdogs. We're always assumed to be the kids who couldn't handle strict rules and authority, couldn't make the grades, couldn't afford to attend, or weren't good enough athletes to go to a good Catholic school or play CHSAA ball. The CHSAA and PSAL kids all live in the same neighborhoods, all grew up playing with and against each other in the parks and are all aware of the stigma that surrounds PSAL schools and the expectations of CHSAA schools.
So whenever the PSAL plays the CHSAA, it's just that. Us vs. Them. Not Bergtraum against Christ the King.
Us vs. Them. It doesn't matter if it's a non league Nike sponsored exhibition or the New York State Championships at Glens Falls.
With my high school days in mind, I decide that I'm Bergtraum all the way as the Long Island Railroad train pulls in to Penn Station.
I walk upstairs to The Garden making a point to notice the huge column at the entrance with a larger than life picture of Teresa Weatherspoon and the list of Liberty accomplishments since 1997.
Although I get carded and eyeballed like I'm lying through my teeth when I'm at the club because I don't look like I'm about to graduate college, I've been in this building so many times, security knows me.
I say what's up to my favorite security guys who's names I've never gotten and I walk past the wand waving individuals like a diplomat while all of the high schoolers get searched and wanded like we're at a 50 Cent concert. Don't miss that at all.
Thanks to Donald Douglas and the PSAL for the comp seats about 6 rows behind the visiting bench.
It's not like I needed my seat printed on my ticket because no one is sitting in assigned seats. My 8th grade English teacher would be
tight if she saw this.
Fitting that someone is sitting in my seats. But rather than fret, throw a tantrum or call an usher, I let the culprits live and sit a row closer.
We've got the finest in New York City School Safety scattered throughout the building. Because we all know, they are a lot more prepared than the undermanned Garden ushers for an event like this.
As usual, every high school event is a fashion show. See and be seen.
Even the grown a$$ adults are getting in on the act. I haven't seen this many dead animals in a while.
It's a 25 degree, 50 miles per hour wind gust, bone chilling day, and there are a good 11,000 people according to my naked eye guestimation. Purple seats are filled and the teenage disease - can't sit the &^%* down-itis - is in full effect throughout the arena.
Unfortunately we're all yawning through the Grady vs Boys and Girls boys game. I cannot wait until the PSAL puts in the shot clock for the guys games.
Grady wins although I was privately rooting for the female head coach led Boys and Girls High.
(Post Game Note: That would be the 8-1 Ruth Lovelace) I haven't cheered for Grady since Quincy Douby left for St. Thomas Moore Prep/Rutgers.
Three point shootout - these kids are either nervous or terrible. A young lady from Francis Lewis ties with some dude from some other school. Instead of shooting it out, announcer dude just envokes the sharing is caring rule and moves on.
DJ Kut from Power 105 is dj'ing throughout the afternoon. All games should have a DJ instead of some out of touch music director.
Tierra Marie - Ashanti '05 - performs that horrendous "No Daddy" song, some other nonsense and "Make Her Feel Good" to the warm delight of impressionable young sponges who think they just witnessed a singer. The best part was the dude from Grady still in his warm ups, fresh off of a win, being pulled out onto the court by Tierra and outperforming her.
Kut announces Jay-Z's in attendance, the crowd roars. Kut announces he was just playing, the crowd sighs.
The requisite "where's Brooklyn at?" Mass pandemonium as usual. I've learned from personal experience, that you can ask that question Anywhere USA and get that same reaction.
Christ the King comes out from under the tunnel, organized better than the Bloods and Crips, runs around the entire length of the court like the old Liberty used to do and get booed and ignored by all except their supporters behind the opposite basket.
Murry Bergtraum scatters out unorganized, takes a seat to begin their stretches and a thunderous roar booms through the arena led by the Bergtraum students seated behind the basket where Christ the King is warming up.
There's no question that Bergtraum is
not the visiting team, no matter what color they're wearing. I was also feeling the 7-peat PSAL champion t-shirts.
Christ the King's cheerleaders try to do a little something and no one notices. Bergtraum's cheer/step hybrid on the opposite side of the court, gets up, does their thing, stares across the court with a collective attitude and intimidates the hell out of Christ the King's squad.
Everybody notices.
Nothing beats high school warm ups.
The crowd is hyped and just like that, an MSG coming attractions promo sucks the life out of the room.
The legendary Ron Naclerio is in the building.
(Post Game Note: Head coach of Cardozo boys for the uninitiated.)The game begins and Bergtraum starts off fast. On offense, Erica Murrow is making her presence felt. On defense, they put two on Tina Charles, front and back, all over the floor.
Bergtraum soon finds out something they've known for at least 10 years...Christ the King has never been a one woman show. Charles is getting nothing, but Sky Lindsay is wetting jumpers from outside and Lorin Dixon is breaking down the defense with ease.
Charles looks frustrated when she finally does get the ball for the first time, misses a 15 footer.
Epiphany Prince is gangsta. She is unguardable. She's got the crowd on her side as soon as she cuts a CTK defender with a mean crossover. The 200 remaining people who weren't pro-Bergtraum and didn't arrive with Christ the King have already swayed and there are 38 minutes left in the game.
The only women to play in this arena and get more love are Becky Hammon and Teresa Weatherspoon. Seriously.
Prince is a
problem. She's big, strong and quick. She's got legal streetball handle. She gets into the lane at will. She's got a Marbury-Iverson-esque ability to change her shot mid-air that you rarely see in the women's game.
On the other end, Tina Charles' first basket is fittingly an And 1. She's smooth. She reminds me of a better offensive version of Delisha Milton Jones.
A couple of possessions later, Charles comes down on the break in full stride and the crowd wants a dunk. Charles gracefully swoopes in and lays it up. The crowd sucks their teeth in disappointment and finally, after a little thought, applauds and gives her a break.
Bergtraum draws 2 quick fouls on Charles and Bob Mackey takes her out.
(Post Game Note: So don't blame me that most of the notes until the second half are about Bergtraum.)Then it becomes the Lorin Dixon show. She's all hops and handle. She's not as flashy as Prince, but she's getting the same end result. She gets her share of ooh's and aah's from the crowd.
Murrow and Prince alternate between the 1 and 2. The offense flows better with Murrow at the 1.
Mid-way through the second quarter, the whole arena is scratching their heads, wondering if Epiphany Prince notices those other 4 players in black jerseys.
On the one hand, you can feel the energy of the crowd when she has the ball in her hands on offense. On the other, you know she alone can't possibly score the 70 it usually takes to beat CTK.
Or can she?Just then, Prince goes on a streak of 5 incredible passes on the break and in the half court set to set up easy baskets. You're gonna have to play like that more often next year for Coach Stringer if you want to keep your sanity, kid.
It looked like she took off her Kobe Bryant jersey once she realized she could get whatever she wanted, and revealed her Jason Kidd jersey underneath. Or maybe she heard the scattered shouts of "PASS" around the arena.
It looks like Bergtraum is dominating the game until I look up at the scoreboard and CTK is only down 4 without their best player.
Dixon and Lindsay are keeping CTK in it by hitting timely shots and working the ball around, finding wide open teammates.
Buckwild from the Star and Buckwild morning show is announced as being in the building, he comes out to half court, asks which hood is the loudest and shouts out Brooklyn, Yonkers, the Bronx and Manhattan to respective cheers from those repping those hoods...the crowd stares waiting for him to finish...he never does. Note to Buc: when you do the neighborhood/borough shout out...you can't leave out 2 of the 5 boroughs (Queens being the biggest and Staten Island) altogether, shout out Manhattan without saying Uptown or Harlem (Manhattan is not the same to a real NY'er), shout out Yonkers and the Bronx separately without doing the same for Brooklyn and Bed Stuy or have the blasphemous nerve to forget all of the above yet ask if Jersey is in the building.
CTK goes on a run to end the half in the lead.
40-36 Halftime
CTK has a balanced attack, with Dixon, Charles and Lindsay all having between 8 and 12.
Bergtraum is all about Epiphany with 19. Murrow's a good Robin, but after that there isn't much else. It takes a gang to beat CTK. After Prince and Murrow, Bergtraum's only equipped with a couple of pocket knives.
Christ the King is smooth and steady with a lot of substance.
Bergtraum is full of flash with a lot of substance.
Again, CTK's cheerleaders get served by Bergtraum's. I wonder to myself if Gabrielle Union's going to pop out and yell "Bring It" any moment now.
An anti-climactic Slam Dunk contest at halftime - "booooooooo," yells the crowd to 5 of the 6 poor high school contestants.
106th and Park Freestyle Friday winner Big Will gives a freestyle - "booooooooo" yells the crowd from the birthplace of hip hop.
Gotta love NY. We are a bunch of proud haters.
DJ Kut is killing the 1's and 2's, keeping the crowd hyped.
The 3rd begins and Prince crosses up anyone who got burn for CTK. She's been doing it all game, but now they're becoming even nastier. Every CTK defender that gets left in her rear view only seems to pump her up even more. She gets more aggressive. The crowd gets louder.
The unthinkable happens as she crosses up her defender and the defender 3 feet away from her
(guarding someone else no less) falls. How do you make someone who's not even guarding you fall?
Bucwild gets on the mic again and proves to be as useless as he is on the radio.
Prince picks up a cheap 2 fouls in a row, giving her 3.
CTK doesn't go at her at all for the rest of the game even though she is all Bergtraum has at this point.
CTK remains steady and goes on a decent run led by Charles and Dixon. Charles is crashing the boards, changing shots, fighting through double and triple teams and finding open teammates.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, CTK is leading and I decide to do some crowd scanning.
Not so super, but still Brooklyn's own - Zab Judah, Vince Carter and Juelz Santana are in attendance. White Trash Helene from the Star and Bucwild morning show has just entered the building. Her, Bucwild and DJ Kut get into some small talk on the mic and no one cares.
(Post Game Note: Yes, that's what they call her on the show)I look up to see the Knicks have lost to the Raptors and I notice an American Express ad on the 33rd and 8th scoreboard:
The 94 Rangers.
The 70 Knicks.
The 97 Liberty.
I immediately break out into mental song:
One of these things is not like the others.
2 of these things are kind of the same.
Which of these things is not like the others?
Now it's time to play our game.
It's time to play our game.This ad also reminds me that there are no Liberty players or representatives visibly present and I have only seen 1 Liberty ad up on the far scoreboards and heard 1 announcement that was drowned out by poor timing during this entire game.
I shake my head at the Liberty's continuing ability to ignore the young urban crowd.
There are 11-12,000 screaming teens in attendance
(the W is the family friendly league, remember) who paid the same amount of money they would pay for a Liberty game. They are watching and actively participating in a girls high school basketball game and the Liberty drop the ball in their own building.
At the start of the 4th, Prince can't throw the rock into the Hudson while CTK is continuing their balanced attack. Prince is obviously fatigued from carrying an entire arena on her back, but she's fighting through it stubbornly. Ed Grezinsky couldn't take her out even if he wanted to.
Instead of switching up her game in the 4th like she did in the 1st half to offset her tired legs, she becomes a bonafide chucker. Fortunately for her, all of the calls she wasn't getting earlier, she's getting now.
Not that it should dramatically change the game for these 2 semi-pro teams, but let's not forget that we're on a pro court here. Prince's fatigue looked to be related to effort rather than lack of preparation, but some of the secondary players on both teams looked to be a bit winded.
(Post Game Note: As did some of the guys in the first game.)CTK looks to be in full control of this game while Bergtraum misses opportunity after opportunity.
The 3 headed monster of Charles, Dixon and Lindsay are all in double figures and stifling Bergtraum on both ends.
Bergtraum/Prince cut the lead to 5 and Tina Charles gets fouled on a shot attempt. She misses the first free throw that from the feel of it, could have closed the door on Bergtraum's newfound momentum had it went down.
I look up at Garden Vision and Epiphany Prince has 35...
on a bad day.
Just then, she gets fouled by Dixon with a minute left, steps up and hits 2 huge free throws to put Bergtraum within 4.
The entire arena is on its feet roaring with approval. They wouldn't sit down until the final buzzer.
The next possession she drives through the lane and gets fouled. 2 more free throws all net. Nothing but ice in her veins.
That was Dixon's 5th and final foul. Ouch.
The crowd has a playoff energy...Knicks, Liberty, Rangers, whoever. Everyone is standing, all eyes on CTK as they bring the ball upcourt against Bergtraum's press.
The ball gets worked around. The crowd reacts with every bobbled catch or missed steal.
Bergtraum is playing their notorious scrambling defense.
Somehow, Tina Charles gets left under the basket with a much smaller defender.
She goes up for the shot.
Out of nowhere from the weak side comes #10 in black. 5'9" Epiphany Prince with the huge rejection on the 6'4" Tina Charles. Everyone in the building knew Charles was going to score the nail in the coffin bucket and Prince came from Jersey with the block.
Bergtraum comes down at full speed, Prince finds Murrow who takes the shot and misses. Randall grabs the rebound, gets fouled. She proceeds to miss a huge free throw. CTK would return the favor by missing 2 with 22 seconds left.
The game remains tied at 63.
Bergtraum has the ball as Prince comes down the court with it, crowd expecting something big.
Everybody is up. Even Vince Carter.
Prince comes down the lane, bobbles the ball on the way up and a held ball is called.
Possession - Christ the King.
The worst rule in basketball.
CTK comes down the other end with the ball and 11.5 on the clock. The ball goes in to Tina Charles who misses. With 1 second left, she gets the ball back...
puts it back up...
and the buzzer sounds as the ball goes through the net.
Any doubts about it counting were gone when the ref emphatically signaled it good.
65-63 Christ the King.
Christ the King is running around the court going crazy, the crowd is pissed, Bergtraum looks like they just lost the State Federation title all over again.
Tina Charles ends up in the stands celebrating with the Christ the King faithful and Bergtraum sits dejected on the bench in disbelief.
As Tina Charles conducts 3 interviews, the crowd loudly cheers for the great show they've just witnessed.
The Player of the Game is announced and Tina Charles finished with
20 points and 24 rebounds.
Vince Carter is announced as the presenter of the award...nobody cares.
Charles is busy giving tv interviews when her name is announced and has to be coaxed away from the camera to get her Nike trophy.
She laughs it up with Vince and poses for pix. The girl is a star.
Prince is announced as the winner of the Sportsmanship Award, and the whole crowd, still standing, gives her an ovation. She would finish with 39 points on a day where she didn't even have her B+ game.
She poses with Vince and the NY branch of Nike execs, unfazed by their presence and still seething from the loss.
Vince goes over to the possible future of Nike's women's basketball line, Charles to give her props again.
(Post Game Note: So what she's still in high school. She's going national next year. It ain't that far fetched.)The crowd is beginning to die down when all of a sudden the familiar sound of the Dip Set comes through loud and clear. Teenage girls storm the front rows of the arena as Juelz Santana comes out and does "Oh Yes," "The Whistle Song," and "S.A.N.T.A.N.A."
Now I ain't really one for the rappers, nor do I like Dip Set, but he rocked the crowd.
School Safety and Madison Square Garden's Finest were no match for screaming teenage girls with their eyes and hearts fixed on getting as close to Juelz as possible.
School Safety did their best by boxing the hormones out along the baseline.
After Santana, me and about 6,000 other people headed for the exits.
All agreed that there was nothing the Rice and St. Patrick's boys could do to top Bergtraum, Christ the King or Juelz.
