This morning's New York Times had a great article about the basketball hoops in playgrounds and street courts throughout New York City. Every other city in the country has a parks and rec department that picks up a catalog and orders a perfectly nice basketball hoop every time one needs to be replaced.
NOT NEW YORK CITY! That would be too wussy for them. Instead, New Yorks streetball stars get to play with CUSTOM HOOPS made by BLACKSMITHS!!!!! The city employs a team of six blacksmiths that work on repairing fences, railings and other wrought-iron fixtures in the city in their Mordor-like chambers on Riker's Island when they're not creating hoops for the hundreds of parks around town. The article goes into great depth about the character of the rims themselves, which has a marked influence on the way the players play the game:
And while it is unclear what, if any, supporting role these immutable rims might have played, Jason Curry, president of Big Apple Basketball, which runs clinics and tournaments around the city, suggested that they might be one reason many of the best players who honed their games outside have historically been skilled at driving close to the hoop rather than shooting from distance.
“There are so many different variables that it makes it difficult to become a really good outside shooter on New York City playgrounds,” he said.
The hoops are forged out of steel on the horn of old-fashioned anvils--the kind that are perfect for dropping on the head of an animated coyote. They're joined to steel slabs and painted orange before they are delivered to their destinations. At one point, the blacksmiths tied a chain to one of the hoops and towed a van halfway off the ground. Rough slam dunkers are no match for these babies.
Maybe the next time you need to replace a basketball hoop, you should turn to your local blacksmith.
