December snowfall takes Bucks back to younger days, chilly outdoor basketball
by Truman Reed / special to Bucks.com
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| Malik Allen, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Ramon Sessions and Tyronn Lue all remember what winters were like growing up. |
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December 22, 2008
Do you recognize the name Jim Cantore?
Before you go running for the Basketball Encyclopedia, don’t bother. You won’t find him there.
Jim Cantore is the meterologist on The Weather Channel who thrives on putting himself smack-dab in the middle of extreme weather, wherever it may be.
He becomes the eye of the storm. During some of his reports, he has worn crash goggles to protect himself from the elements and flying debris.
If the snow continues to fly the way it has in Milwaukee during the month of December, you might see Cantore show up here. His storm-chasing has become so widely known that a stand-up comic has told his audiences that if they see Cantore anywhere near them, they should leave town and get as far away as possible as quickly as they can.
Cantore obviously has a passion for what he does, and doing it in the face of extreme conditions gives him a rush.
There are members of the Milwaukee Bucks who can relate to that – or at least they used to.
If you grew up with a passion for basketball and you lived in the country’s snow belt, you didn’t let a few snowflakes – or even a lot of them – keep you off the basketball court, even if the only one available at the time happened to be located outdoors.
Others had to cope with extreme heat, pouring rain or other trying weather conditions in the regions where they lived.
Veteran guard Tyronn Lue remembers braving the elements as a kid growing up in Missouri.
"Yeah. We'd go out and shovel the snow off the court and play,” he said. “That might be the dumbest thing I've ever done. Once in awhile, we'd walk through the snow to get to the gym, but I've played outside before, too, on a playground.
“It was probably 20 degress. We were running around playing. We were probably 10, 11 years old. It was crazy. We played for awhile. Once you get a little sweat going, you kind of get used to it. We played with gloves for a few seconds, then after awhile we took them off and just kept going."
“But it was a crazy thing to do. I wouldn't do it now."
At time same time, when Lue looked back on those experiences years later, he had to take some pride in the fact that he and his friends didn’t let the snow stop them from playing their game. He recalls an instance in which it did exactly that to him and one of his seven National Basketball Association teams.
"The worst thing I've seen in the NBA was in D.C. when I was with the Wizards during the 2002-03 season,” he said. “We got snowed in. We got 22 inches of snow. All of the players were snowed in.
“They canceled practice for two days, canceled a game. We were driving downtown and tried to stay in a hotel for a couple of days. But there was snow piled up everywhere.”
Bucks forward Malik Allen, who was raised in New Jersey, became accustomed to East Coast snowstorms as a youngster.
"There were many times when I was young, living in New Jersey, and it would snow,” Allen said. “We'd shovel the snow off the court outside and play with our winter jackets on. That happened quite a few times.
"We obviously played in rain, too. Playing ball where I grew up was sort of a big thing, so we pretty much got after it no matter what. We played inside when we could, but we played outside a lot, particularly before I got to high school.
"I went to high school in a different town, and they had an outdoor court there that we played on sometimes. We'd play out there during the summertime, and it got pretty hot, but that was normal.”
For Allen and his friends, the greatest challenge to playing hoops outdoors in the wintertime wasn’t the precipitation.
"The biggest thing once you got out there wasn't the fact that there was snow on the ground,” he said. “That wasn't the issue. It was, 'How am I going to shoot with this big jacket on?' That was the biggest thing. Once you got going and playing hard, you'd get warm and kind of start losing layers. And we usually played without gloves."
Allen and his friends tried to make their games as authentic as possible, too, even if that meant walking an extra mile, so to speak. But built-in conveniences made a difference, too.
"Where my grade school was, there was a full court in front of the school,” he said. “There was one that was sort of on the school grounds, but it was farther away. One of the courts had a hoop that was always broken, so you couldn't go full-court.
“The nice thing about the hoop near the school was that there was a faucet on the school that we could use and it had hot water. The only bad thing was the rim was always broken, so we didn't like to play there as much. That was sort of the catch.”
What mattered most to Allen and his friends wasn’t where they played, but that they played.
“If you loved the game, you played no matter what,” he said. “It's funny when you look back at it now -- being kids and going out there and shoveling and playing in the snow. You don't forget times like that."
Bucks guard Ramon Sessions didn't grow up in the snow belt. So he remembers the excitement he and his friends felt one particular winter when a rare snowstorm hit his hometown of Myrtle Beach, S.C.
"I can't remember what Christmas it was, but we got some new gold in the backyard," he said. "We always played full-court back there, so we went out to play. And it was cold -- it had never been cold like that in Myrtle Beach. But we were out there playing with coats and gloves on and all. It was crazy. We were out there with our big gloves on ... I remember that like it was yesterday.
"We hardly ever got that kind of snow and cold, so we didn't know what to do. We just put our gloves on and kept going. Once we worked up a sweat, the gloves came off. You might have come home sick, but hey, you had a good day."
Sessions can relate to how rookie teammate Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, a native of the African country of Cameroon, felt when he saw snow for the first time about a month ago.
"I did sit back and watch it," Mbah a Moute said. "I'd never seen snow before, so it was fun just watching it coming down, sticking on the ground. I went outside and played with it a little bit, just in front of my house. It was my first time."
Upon further review, Mbah a Moute didn't give a glowing endorsement of snow.
"It's cold," he said. "It's wet. It's messy. It's dirty."
Most of Mbah a Moute's teammates would agree with him on each of those counts. But when they were youngsters, that didn't stop them from braving extreme weather to get in a game. Visit Bucks.com again soon to read the stories of more weather-beaters.
Reindeer Games, Part II
Extreme weather was no match for young Bucks' basketball passions
December 25, 2008
Charlie Bell and Charlie Villanueva have more things in common than their first name.
They both play in the premier basketball league in the world.
They both experienced the thrill of winning an NCAA basketball championship -- Bell with Michigan State in 2000 and Villanueva with Connecticut in 2004.
And they both experienced unforgettable moments playing outdoor basketball in extreme weather as youngsters.
Since both players were born and raised in the northern half of the continental United States, they learned at a pretty early age that basketball season and snowfall coincided. And there was something about playing the game outdoors that was, well, pure fun -- whether there were snow and ice around or not.
"Everyone did it," Bell said. "You'd get your sweatpants on, you'd get a hoody, then you'd be all set. Once you got that snow, you just went out and shoveled it just enough so you could get that game going. Once we shoveled the snow, we'd go back in the house and get the ball. You can't keep the ball outside because it won't bounce as well when it's cold. So you keep it in the house or in the basement
"You could get a couple of games in before the fingers started getting a little numb, then you go in the house for a little while and then go right back out again.
The backyard of Bell's home in Flint, Mich. became Grand Central Station for neighborhood youngsters -- and adults, too -- who were looking for a mid-winter game of hoops. It was a special place to play.
"We had a backyard court," Bell recalled. "We had a makeshift hoop that my dad and my uncles made, and when I was young, we had to play with a little ball. We had a piece of wood as a backboard and attached a hoop to it. They even put springs on there so we'd have a breakaway rim. It was about eight feet high. You felt like Michael Jordan dunking on that thing."
Some of the most memorable games Bell ever played took place on his backyard court during snowy Michigan winters. And there was never a shortage of players.
"All the little kids who lived in our neighborhood, even when they get older, wanted to come and play by my house, because you could dunk, and you could dunk as hard as you wanted because you weren't going to break that rim," he said. "We had some battles -- three-on-three, my uncles against me and my cousins. We'd have tournaments into the night, because we had one little light outside."
All good things had to come to an end, sooner or later, before they started up again then next day.
"After you started playing, you'd be feeling pretty good," Bell said. "Then after awhile, your fingers got cold, and you couldn't dunk. That was the worst part.
"We didn't use gloves. When you didn't have the ball, you had to pull your sleeves down or put your hands in your pockets to warm them up. Those winters got pretty long."
The stakes of the snowy basketball games at Bell Court weren't high, but that didn't matter. The memories became priceless.
"We used to have a big box of chips, and whoever won got that box of chips," Bell said. "You never forget times like that, because that's when you were just playing for love, just because ... there was no other reason.
"It was just for bragging rights -- the kids on our street against the ones from around the corner. They'd come to our house and we'd play as long as we could."
Villanueva, who was born and raised in Queens, N.Y., certainly saw his share of snow during his childhood. But his most memorable moments of playing outdoor basketball in extreme weather came in the rain.
"Back in the day, it wasn't snowing, but it was pouring rain," Villanueva said. "It was just a day that I wanted to play basketball. I was really looking forward to playing basketball. I remember it pouring, and I was the only one in the park, playing ... in the rain ... by myself.
"I was soaked. But I didn't care. l. This was in Queens, at a playground within walking distance from my home. I was completely wet. And it was freezing."
Villanueva wonders today what passersby must have been thinking when they saw him raining jump shots in the driving rain.
"People were probably driving by watching me thinking I was crazy," he said. "But I was out there playing, envisioning the shot clock running down and putting up shots. After awhile, it got too cold. I had to go in. I think I got sick after that. But I didn't care. I wanted to play basketball."
Luke Ridnour certainly saw more rain than he'd like to remember growing up in Blaine, Wash., in the far northwestern corner of the Pacific Northwest.
"We played in the rain," Ridnour said. "It was there all the time, so that was just part of what we did. We'd play football and basketball in the rain all the time."
Blaine didn't get nearly as much snow as Ridnour will see in Milwaukee, but he and his friends looked forward to the flakes that did fall and accumulate.
"We did get snow where I grew up," he said. "We probably got about a foot per year. We used to play in the snow, tow each other behind the truck, all that good stuff. We'd go to the basketball court, shovel it all off and just play.
"I used to love it. My friends and I would go out and play ball, throw snowballs at cars and stuff like that. It was like the highlight of our year. We'd have snow for about two weeks, and then it would be gone. We took full advantage of those two weeks."
Snowfall in Blaine usually meant snow days, and they were like holidays for Ridnour and his friends.
"There would never be school, so for us, it was like playground time all day long," he said. "Even throughout high school, we did that. You remember playing like that more than anything else.
"We'd go out there for four, five, six hours or until we froze. You never worried about getting sick, or anything like that. You just enjoyed it. It didn't get as cold as it gets here. But we still had gloves on, and we kept them on. We kept everything on."
Michael Redd, who grew up in Columbus, Ohio, saw more snow as a youngster than did most of his teammates. Sometimes it got too deep even for the obsessed outdoor basketball player. But that didn't keep Redd and his friends indoors.
"We didn't play much basketball in the snow," Redd said. "A lot of times, there was so much snow that you couldn't dribble the ball. You couldn't do much. The ball would get too wet.
"We'd still play our basketball inside. But for us, when snow came, we played football rather than basketball. We really enjoyed it."
Ohio has always been a football-crazy state. Redd and his neighborhood buddies had a tradition to carry on, and they did their best.
"Football has always been big in Ohio, but it was fun to just get outside with the guys and enjoy the snow," Redd said. "We'd be dressed appropriately so we stayed warm enough. We'd go five-on-five or whatever.
"I played wide receiver, where I could get out and make something happen, and DB. We didn't really know the positions that well; we were just kids. We were just playing. You covered your guy and went for it.
"We loved our Nintendos, but it was just fun being out there playing instead of being inside playing video games. My parents didn't make me go out, but they allowed me to go out, and I wanted to go out."
Redd and his friends didn't have to go too far.
"We had a park right in front of our neighborhood," he said. "All the kids would get together. There would be 10 of 12 of us playing football, tackling each other in the snow. It would get so freezing outside, we'd come inside and I'd put my feet up on the furnace."
The games became part of a winter ritual in Redd's life.
"I'd just enjoy playing football in the snow and watching Christmas cartoons in the evening, have supper and get ready for bed," he said. "That was our typical evening after school, especially around Christmas time."
Redd's basketball career has been blessed with a cavalcade of memories, but doesn;t believe his memories of frozen football games in the neighborhood park will never fade away.
"I miss those days," he said. "Today's generation is all about Facebook, My Space, the Internet, video games, Wi ... There's so much for kids to get involved with now.
"But when I was a kid, it was just fun to get out with the guys and play football in the snow."
Joe Alexander saw a substantial amount of snow during the years he lived in Maryland. But his most vivid memories of playing outdoor basketball dated back years earlier, when he and his family lived in China.
"It snowed a lot when I lived in Maryland," Alexander said. "We got about two feet of snow every year. I don't remember playing much outside in the snow there. I was older then."
The climate and envrionment Alexander experienced in China years earlier was dramatically different. And it didn't keep him off the outdoor basketball court.
"We only got about four or five inches of snow in China, so I don't remember playing in it too much there," he said. "It would rain sometimes on the court that I played on. It had some big potholes on it, so all the water would rush into the holes and make big puddles. It rained a lot there."
Alexander's most memorable brush with extreme weather on the basketball court didn't involve snow nor rain.
"When I used to play outside in China during the spring, the sand from the Gobi Desert would blow into Beijing and it would cover everything with a thin layer of dust," he said. "So my ball would turn my hands black from dribbling it. If I touched my face or my arms, there would be a layer of sand or dust all over me."
So when the Bucks have their next debate over which of them were most passionate about playing outdoor basketball as youngsters, many of them can tell their snow-covered tales.
Others can tell of how they weathered the rain.
But only Joe Alexander, the rookie, can legitimately claim that he spent so much time on the basketball court that he collected dust.
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