Personal Narrative: The Sport Of Basketball

When you think of basketball you think of a pretty simple sport. The game has its sets of formal rules and regulations that are governed by the AAA, NCAA and NBA. No matter what level you play, the game will be relatively the same. In a formal game or even just a pick up game in a gym, the game is the same. That’s not the case with pick up basketball at a city park though. Depending where you live, every court has its own guidelines. You wouldn’t think that a game of basketball could change so drastically but it can. Park pick up ball is rougher, less honest, gets done faster but has a much slower pace. Park ball isn’t even really about basketball; it’s about feeling apart of something, feeling young and feeding your ego.

I had originally believed that basketball was basketball and that it didn’t matter where you played it because of the rules of the game. I figured that at the park, it was just a

bunch of fat, grumpy, middle-aged men, who got together because they didn’t have anything else going for them. I’ve come to realize that park ball has many different levels of quality in each game, a strong social aspect, lots of different ages of its members, and even early discrimination against new comers of different races or genders.
What most people would be surprised about pick up park ball is that there is a hierarchy of players on the court. From the outside, you have a few middle class, young white college students, who played basketball in high school, the predominately poor black men in theirs late twenty’s, who think they should be playing in the NBA right now, and an older mixed raced set of men who can still play for a short time. When on the court though, because of the different characteristics that everyone has, a natural chain of command is formed that almost everyone abides by. On the court the athletic black members are on top. The not very good black guys are second with the good white guys right under them. The not very good white guys are just barely over the mixed raced old guys. If there are every any females, which are uncommon, they are on the very bottom.
In this social world a team is made up of the Captain, Coe-captain, and their “scrubs”. The young black males pay at socialization within each other by challenging each other to see who is more dominant thus making the first Captain, Coe-Captain and their scrubs the core team. Often the core team is already formed when they get to the park. They will ask strangers for a game, call other members of the social world or add new pick-up players. Depending on the personality, ability, race and gender of the pick-up player, determines if they will be added as a member.
If the newcomer is white and can’t play he most likely won’t be asked back but if he has a black friend that is a member, his chances are higher. If the new player is black and can play he is almost immediately a member. The next time he plays he can be a person who can say “I got next”, thus making him immediately a team captain with the ability to pick his teammates. Most of the time the white college kids will come with an already determined Captain and Coe-Captain hoping to find a game. If the white Captain is not a member, him and his Coe-Captain become scrubs for members needing pickup players. They are usually only called if a team needs more members to play. Then if the white Captain and Coe-Captain are any good, over time they will be accepted into the social world and will work their way up the chain. If they have already been accepted as a member, then he can call “next” and fill in his team with scrubs already there or of his own. When each team has enough players the game will start.
Members of this social world also often experience optimal experience. During an intense game they experience flow. One member explained to me that he often gets in trouble with his “women”. He said, “Before I go, I tell her I’ll only play three games and be home by 8:30. Then I start winning and before I know it, it’s 10:45”.-J He explained to me that he will also be picked on by the other members if he ever says he has to leave early because his women wants him too. J always explained to me how every member partakes in role making. At the park, there is an expected way each member is to act. They are to be vulgar, crude, aggressive and macho. Another member, D, explained to me that it’s just how you act at the park. D explained to me that he met J at the park and hated him because he was “a cocky SB and a jerk”. D and J both being white, good players were put on the same team as scrubs. After being accepted, J being better than D eventually became a Captain and D was his Coe-Captain. After only hanging out at the park, they formed a friendship outside of the game and now live together. D still doesn’t like J when he’s on the court. He said, “Yeah, he’d be my best man at my wedding”. If for any reason J can’t play one night, D steps up as a substitute Captain but returns to Coe-Captain when J returns as a way of role taking.
The object of this social world is the feeling of being superior.

Superior over other members is gained from the sense of winning. A game was described to me by one of the park social members by “playing 1’s and 2’s”. A regular basketball game is played in 3’s, 2’s and 1’s, meaning that a three pointer is worth 3, every other shot is worth 2 and a free throw is worth 1. In the park games, there are no free throws because when a foul is made, the person who made the foul is supposed to be honest and call it themselves. This usually doesn’t happen because that gives the other team the ball. Arguments are a very come aspect during the game he explained. When one team finally wins, that winning team stays on the court and a new team plays the winning team. Many times there is one team who has a better skill level and they can stay on the court for the duration of games. While one game is in session, a team captain from a different team can call “next” and they will the play the winner of the game going on. This cycle continues until there are not enough players to

play.
Something I was surprised about is when a one team loses the players of that team will sometimes have a “drug break” until it’s their time to play, to “ease off the loss”. There are only a few members who are drug users. The members who are not drug users find nothing wrong with the drugs because understand why the others use them. “We all hate to loose.”-D
As you can see there is a lot more to Pick-up Park basketball than you would think. It is very different from playing basketball anywhere else. The most interesting thing is that at each park there are different rules that you have to learn when you first start. If you take out the basketball, the group that meets there can loosely resemble a gang. With its hierarchy of members, the influence the setting has to be aggressive, it’s strict process of accepting members and the at most importance of being a man.