Reminder: I would love to hear/read/see you share your favorite 2023 basketball highlight
Also: Happy World Basketball Day
ORLANDO — First things first: I’d like to wish you a Happy World Basketball Day.
For real.
It was announced in August during the FIBA World Cup that World Basketball Day would indeed be placed on calendars internationally on Dec. 21 because that is recorded as the date Dr. James Naismith is credited with introducing the game of basketball at the Springfield YMCA in 1891.
Next up: This request has been lodged in a few places elsewhere this week, but I wanted to ask it (at least) one more time before I leave the G League Showcase here in Central Florida and with the focus soon to shift to the NBA’s five-game Christmas Day slate …
I’m looking for community contributors to my 2023 Year In Review piece to be published next week. It will feature a listing of some of my favorite basketball moments from the calendar year that we’re wrapping up shortly, but I want to print some of yours along with it.
So …
The comment section below is a great place to register your standout basketball memory from the past 12 months. The same goes for the comment section in Tuesday’s newsletter. Or the two recent chat threads found in my Substack Chat room.
Let me know what professional basketball moment from 2023 will stick with you. And why!
I’ve shared season tickets for the last few years, which meant I had 10 home games a year to see the Blazers (and Dame) play basketball. With two small kids, my wife would often decide not to go last minute. In her place I’d invite a friend who also loves ball. He probably went to 8-10 games with me over three years.
Well, he felt bad about never paying for tickets, but I was just happy not to be solo so it seemed fair to me. Nonetheless he wanted to “repay” me by buying great seats to a game when a lackluster opponent came to town (so they’d be affordable).
So he picked the lowly Rockets last year on 2/26. He bought fifth row near center court. We got there early to enjoy the courtside amenities which I had only ever experienced once before. Watched intros and warmups. Assumed it would be a meh game.
And then we got to watch Dame explode for 71 in what was his last great performance as a Blazer. By halftime we were wondering if he’d possibly beat Kobe’s all time high. I got his career high record breaking three on video along with my idiotic cheering.
I was heartbroken but understanding when Dame requested a trade. The org let him down. As fans we’ll always wonder what could have been. But I’ll also always have that game when he went for 71 and I was in the fifth row.
Best basketball moment of 2023. Probably best basketball moment of my life.
Marc, I do love the picture of The Circle that is sports. In 2023, we saw one phenom putting the final chapter(s) in a career that started with a much anticipated lottery in 2003. LeBron hit that iconic shot that broke another phenom’s all-time scoring record. Later in the year, we welcomed another much anticipated lottery, and another star, Wemby, debuted. Circle!