It's a Tuesday night, around 9pm and a group of 6 friends are playing 3-on-3 basketball. This is the second game of the night and already everyone is drenched in sweat. The score is tied at 14. First to 16 wins. However, you MUST win by two - so if the score gets tied at 15, it's whoever makes it to 17 - and if the score gets tied at 16 -well you get it, pretty much the game can go on forever.
The ball gets checked, I run across the court. My teammate picks off my defender as the other teammate tosses me the ball. I square up, elevate off the floor, set my target and release the ball. Time stands still as the ball rotates in the air - everyone frozen for the moment as the ball gets closer and closer to the rim. Then...the sweetest noise anyone can ever hear. Nothing but net!
You see, to most Coral Gate probably isn't worthy of the 5 stars, but I have so many great memories at CGP that it would be a travesty to 20 something year old Blue to not give them the perfect rating. So many game winners, so many losses, so many arguments with my buddies - yet it all always stayed on the court. Never any hard feelings, never any animosity, never any dirty play. Competitive play, sure, but we are all friends, so it never crossed any lines.
As my shot went in, my team jumps in the air, high fiving each other. It feels like someone is about to pour Gatorade over our coach's head as we celebrate. We just got a tough, but much deserved, victory. Except, we have no coach, and well, the win really means nothing. I mean, we have played for years and never kept stats. We have no idea who has the best shooting percentage. No one knows who has the most wins or the most losses. Who's made the most 2 pointers? The most assists? Those are all questions we never cared to have the answers for (although we did try to have a buddy's wife keep stats once - that was a disaster). So we just lace up our sneakers and play ball. To hang with the buds, to burn some calories and to compete.
For years I would drive down from North Miami Beach (an almost 30 minute drive) once or twice a week to play some ball. It always started with a text. The originator varied from week to week, but when you saw a text that said "Ball tonight?" you knew it was one! From there you got the confirmations - who's in, who's out, how many do we need? Oh, we need 2 more? No worries, let me bring my NMB buddies out to play. The court saw many players come and go through the years but there was always a core group of guys that met up, played ball for a couple hours, and then walked with a limp the next day. As we got older the limps became more visible, the pains a little more common - but we still showed up.
It's been a while since we played, but the other day I was driving by Coral Gate and a flood of memories came over me. I can't believe I didn't write this review sooner. Thanks Coral Gate for your double rims, your ONE light that works at night, but midway through games would go out, then back on taking a half hour to warm up enough to be bright enough. Thanks to the basketball gods for keeping basketballs to the face at a limit - even in the dim lighting. Thanks to our buddy who brought a camera one time so we can see how ridiculous we look on tape. Thanks for noone ever getting seriously injured. Thanks for never having the neighbors call the cops on us, regardless of how loud we yelled.
Thanks Coral Gate - for the memories. read more
