NYC Playground Hoops Stories from My Vault

My blog post about the passing of New York City high school basketball coach Jack Curran led me to reconsider other hoop experiences in the big city.

My parents and I moved to Queens when I was entering my teen years. Our apartment included a view of a junior high school and its adjacent playground. That gave me a somewhat distant vantage point to watch some of the City's best ballplayers compete against one another. I don't know why this particular playground, in the heart of a middle-class neighborhood, was the chosen ground. Two ideas come to mind: (1) The basketball courts were within walking distance of the subway, New York's transportation lifeblood; (2) Gangs were not contesting this particular turf.

The games were typically held on Sunday mornings, starting around seven o'clock. The level of play bordered on superb, with an emphasis on moves to the hoop. Jump shots were something of a last resort. While the players were mostly teenagers, these Sunday morning affairs were a man's game. Competition and testing one's opponent formed the fulcrum of these contests. I suppose somebody kept score, but the final tally wasn't the point.

West 4th Street Courts
(Old School photo: nycgovparks.org/parks)

Basketball for serious adult playground legends didn't take place in my neighborhood. That happened elsewhere. My one window into that world was the West Fourth Street playground in the City. This constantly active scene bordered on Sixth Avenue and sat adjacent to the subway station that was the gateway to Greenwich Village. West Fourth's Showtime atmosphere was just as much fun for spectators as for the players. Some urban hoop legends played here, but I didn't know who they were. The games, at their best, were intensely spirited affairs where, on occasion, wagers were placed. This was also the land of night basketball; it didn't threaten anyone except those hostile to earthy urban lifestyles. When I watched these games, I felt at one with the City, just as much as when I saw boats sail under the Brooklyn Bridge at night.

Jack Curran, NYC High School Hoops Pontiff -- RIP

Jack Curran
(Illustration: molloy.org)

Jack Curran, who coached high school basketball and baseball in New York City for over a half-century, passed away earlier this week.

The late coach's prominence can be measured by his obit on the lead sports page of The New York Times, a Lenn Robbins column in The New York Post that recalled Curran's life and career, a Wall Street Journal notice, and an Associated Press story that the Long Island-centric newspaper Newsday ran. The piece I found touching was New York Post beat writer Zach Braziller's heartfelt, self-deprecating remembrance of "Mr. Curran." Not bad for a high school coach.

The obits demonstrate just how profoundly Curran's story links with Gotham's close relationship with basketball. He coached a number of future NBA stars, notably Kenny Anderson, Kevin Joyce, Kenny Smith, and Brian Winters. Curran's former players also included some who later became hoop coaches. He also was well known in the college game, with basketball deities such as Dean Smith among the people Curran could (and did) call, get his call answered, his request acknowledged and usually addressed.

Curran was a significant locus of the New York Catholic basketball coaching crowd, which over the years featured, among others, Lou Carnesecca, Frank McGuire, Rick Pitino, Bob Hurley (New Jersey's version of Curran), Billy Donovan, and (my favorite by far) Al McGuire. (For a thoughtful, splendidly written insight into this world, read David Halberstam's "He Got a Shot in the NBA, and It Went In," from the collection Everything They Had: Sports Writing from David Halberstam.) Most of their action was spawned in the Northeast, with some outposts, such as Al McGuire's Marquette teams, in the Midwest. New York was this world's heart and soul; Curran lived and breathed that atmosphere. Sometimes, his high school team -- the Archbishop Molloy Stanners -- played in Madison Square Garden. Yes, it was a big deal.

Archbishop Molly HS
(photo: Wikipedia)

The Stanner coach's office at Molloy was not far from the track and field section of the locker room. I was a shot putter through most of my Molloy high school years. (In case you're wondering, I sucked at shot put.) Curran kept to his world, although he often acted as if the track team, which had won many more team championships than his basketball squads had, was an annoying swarm of gnats. The track team's head coach at the time was Frank Rienzo, who eventually became Georgetown's athletic director. He did not tolerate fools and he was bluntly outspoken on matters athletic, political, or personal. For the record, I never witnessed any banter between the legendary basketball coach and the proud, accomplished track boss. Ever.

During the spring athletic season, Molloy's pole vaulters, shot putters, discus hurlers, and javelin throwers practiced inside the track oval. The baseball team, which Curran coached, sometimes practiced in the oval, probably on a shared schedule. Well, one day, Curran and his squad came out with bats and balls and made a move to practice inside the oval, in what seemed an apparent and arrogant violation of the coaches' agreement. The field teams were conducted by a mild-mannered Marist brother from the same Grace family that owned W.R. Grace. When he saw what was coming our way, the man of Christ summoned Mike, the best we had with a spear. "Mike," our coach said, "I want you to practice for distance now." Mike took the hint and let fly.

Now, why anyone would let a teenage boy hurl metal spears around an infield still unnerves me. I'm not alone in that thought: it only took one javelin toss for Curran to get the message. The baseball team quickly retreated from the track area. For the pontiff of New York high school sports, it was a humbling moment, and one that to this day I remember fondly.

Feds Extend Spy Probes Into Citizens' Banking Data

For some time, the privacy rights of Americans has been depicted as a "fringe" issue. Its strongest advocates have tended to be connected to the Tea Party or to the Occupy movement. The Occupy crowd found out just how quickly their privacy wasn't worth a damn. What really mattered was social control and the perpetuation of a fraudulent sense of class harmony, notably in the supposedly liberal bastion of New York City.

The Obama Administration has been something less than progressive regarding privacy rights. The federal government's ambivalence comes across in matters of "national security," the boundaries of which remain as ill-defined as the more remote areas of the Mexico-US border. The basic notion appears to be that just about anything in one's personal life is fair game to investigate, collect, and keep indefinitely. Anything labeled "national security" trumps due process.

This disturbing trend is only gathering momentum. A Reuters story picked up (ironically) in today's Chicago Tribune claims the Obama Administration is creating a plan that would allow US spy agencies "full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country..."

The Big Brotherish scheme is unsurprisingly cloaked in national security imperatives. The idea is to follow the money and snag the forces of evil. This is hardly a novel idea. The question isn't whether the proposed snooping will be effective; the doubt stems from the plan's erosion of fundamental democratic rights. Relying on a government's good intentions, from those who think they know what's best, is a dangerous road for a democracy to travel.

Tech, Pharma Firms Lead Overseas Cash Stash Race

Mitt Romney (upper right) and
an Offshore Island Haven for Large Bank Accounts
(photos: Vanity Fair)

The next time you use a smartphone or a laptop computer, think about where your payment for these gadgets lands. The corner bank? No. A regional financial services firm? Nah. One of the New York money center banks? Well, yes and no. The nyet part involves the domicile of the funds. Major tech firms, including Apple and Microsoft, are hoarding billions in overseas bank accounts, principally to avoid US taxation. The si, si answer comes from the banks that have corporate headquarters or a significant presence in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

According to a Reuters article picked up by siliconvalley.com, the five leading cash stashers include the two tech rivals already mentioned, along with Big Pharma stalwarts Merck and Pfizer and old pal Google. The situation gets me so upset that I want to call someone on my smartphone and....hmmm, that won't do. OK, I'll go to my laptop and I send an e-mail....oh, that's a problem, too. I've got it! I'll call some firm's corporate headquarters. Since I don't have those numbers in my speed dial (there's that pesky cell phone again!), I'll look them up in.....uhhhh, Google. Well, that won't do. The whole thing is so upsetting that I'm getting a headache. Dammit! All my relief meds are either made by one of the Big Pharma firms!

So then I decided to eat to forget my problems. I took out a frozen burger. As I looked at it, I realized the possibility of the patty including a percentage of horse meat gave me the heebie jeebies. I went to bed hungry, with a headache, and wondering if my gadgets were tracking my every move and my every move.

Call it a taxing situation.

Financial Media Star Jumps to Morgan Stanley

Gary Kaminsky
(photo: CNBC)

Gary Kaminksy, CNBC's capital markets editor, is reported to be preparing to move to financial titan Morgan Stanley. The CNBC talking head will become a different sort of head -- the vice chairman of MS' brokerage department. Kaminsky does have prior, high-level finance experience, so the move is something more than just window dressing. The entire story is noted in the financial blog zerohedge.com.

What's novel about this story is its parallels to the Beltway style of careerism, in which public service and private labor become a very profitable, and power-centric, ballet. Kaminsky's move suggests Wall Street and big-league media have become dance partners similar to its DC cousins. The consequences of major league finance becoming intertwined with message distributors such as Comcast are bleak ones for a public longing for "objective" news.

Jeff Bezos Flies Solo on Phone Patent Application

Most of us are familiar with Jeff Bezos as Amazon's caudillo. It turns out Mr. B. also has a touch of the inventor in him.

A report in geekwire.com noted that Bezos applied for a patent involving smartphones and information sharing via audio signals. The current standard, known as "bumping," would presumably be the target of Bezos' proposed "innovation."

What's remarkable is that the Amazon CEO has enough time on his hands to tinker in the lab. Perhaps that explains why he rarely talks to the media, shareholders, or (heaven help us) Amazon customers.

In case you're wondering, Bezos is the sole inventor listed on the patent application. Well, at least one can't accuse the caudillo of false modesty.

Maryland to Open State Park Honoring Ex-Slave Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery at age 27, helped others in bondage flee to freedom via the Underground Railroad. To honor her achievements and her historical legacy, the state of Maryland has just broken ground on a new state park in her honor. According to a Reuters story published in today's Chicago Tribune, the construction of the park commemorates the centennial of Tubman's passing.

"The house," the article noted, "coincides with the opening of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, a 125-mile drive with more than 30 historical stops related to Tubman's early life and the Underground Railroad."

Guess Who Dominates Upcoming "Dot Book" Domain Auction?

Once upon a time, the Internet was a place where paywalls did not exist, where activity tracking profoundly violated individual rights and online privacy, and where obtaining domain names required a brief registration and maybe a couple of bucks.

That "Internet Spring," with its enticing promise, is long gone. The Internet now increasingly functions as a "monetization" arena, with profit often characterized as the greatest possible good human activity can produce. A prime example of this degradation of the Internet is ICANN's (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) current auction of the "dot book" (.book) domain name.

According to a piece in mediabistro.com, the market for .book is sizzling. One contender for the domain is Amazon, which is bidding to own the entire domain. No sharing, which is in keeping with the Seattle firm's M.O. Another player is Google, which went to some lengths to obscure its interest in the auction. A surprise entry is Bowker, the firm that provides ISBN numbers and other data for the book biz.

For better or worse, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) has publicly objected to Amazon's Darth Vader-style grasp for dominance. Apparently, AAP wasn't quite as concerned with the folks from Mountain Valley, California. The organization didn't seem to mind Bowker's desire to seize the domain day, either. Keep in mind publishers work closely with Bowker. The Big Five and the other members of publishing's solar system may not be so strongly motivated to challenge the provider of the industry's data lifeblood.

Amazon, for those of you keeping score at home, prefers to use its own data management system. They don't want Bowker, or anyone else, for that matter, to intrude on its data juggernaut. As in old movies in which secret police play a prominent role, Amazon only needs your information. Content may yearn to be free, but data cries out for control.

PS. A March 24, 2013 article in the Financial Times follows up on this topic and provides a brief summary of the stakes for trademark holders in the domain auction scenario.

Spain to Sephardic Jews: Please Return

Map from Sephardic Women's Seminary

According to a story in today's online editions of the BBC, Spanish government authorities have encouraged Sephardic Jews to return to Espana. The news seems incredible. Over the centuries, Spain's relentless, officially sanctioned anti-Semitism drove Jews out of Spain, hideously murdered thousands in the name of religious purity, and publicly demonized Jewish religious practices. What a difference a millenium makes, eh?

The BBC report notes how some Sephards or possible Sephards found Madrid's current initiative an exciting event. Considerable efforts have been made for people to establish appropriate Sephardic credentials, and thus qualify for Spanish citizenship. The article also observed the difficulties some have experienced in establishing their Sephardic Jewish heritage. All in all, it seems like a profound amount of work and psychological adjustment to "return" to Spain. How many will resettle in the land of their Sephardic ancestors? Hard to believe the number will be a large one. However, the Spanish government's gesture is the right one to make, even if it is more rhetorical than practical. We have to start someplace.