The 2011 Louis Saunders Memorial Basketball Tournament

Have I got everything? Yes.  Nikon D700 with plenty of camera chips and two fully loaded lithium-ion camera batteries.  Laptop computer.  All the necessary lenses.  Full tank of gasoline.  GPS with the proper addresses.

Let’s Go, Cardachrome – next stop, Madison Park High School in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

For the past four years, James Hall has honored his mentor, high school basketball coach and community leader Louis Saunders, with a weekend basketball tournament.  The tournament is full of action and drama, as professional and amateur players gather for a chance to win the coveted championship.  The big team from Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood won the first two tournaments, but a squad led by the Boston Celtics’ Glenn “Big Baby” Davis claimed the title last year.  Mission Hill is back with a vengeance.  So are several other squads.  And for the third consecutive year, I’ve been hired to photograph and chronicle the event.

For me, it’s a win-win situation.  It’s a getaway weekend in Boston, it’s a chance to get my basketball photography skills up to speed for the upcoming PBL season, and it’s an opportunity to reconnect with many of the athletes I’ve photographed in the PBL.  I can do this.  Without any trouble.

I arrived at Madison Park Technical High School in Boston’s Roxbury district.  Hmm.  Something’s not right.  It seems too quiet for a tournament of this magnitude.  I went to the gymnasium, where the event was held for the last two seasons.

Nope.  Not there.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Luckily, I spotted a poster on the door of the gym.  The event was being held this year at a larger building than the gymnasium at Madison Park; the tournament was at the University of Massachusetts-Boston (what we used to call “Boston State” back in my Hamilton College days).  A few miles away, but last-minute changes are nothing I can’t handle.  I quickly reprogrammed my GPS, and Let’s Go, Cardachrome – next stop, the Clark Athletic Center, home of the UMass-Boston Beacons.

Yep, found it.  We’re good.  Time to get everything ready.

Each team pays a fee to participate in the tournament.  During the first day of the tournament, the winner of each game automatically receives a berth into Sunday’s final single-day elimination bracket competition.  If a team doesn’t win on Saturday, they have the option of “buying in” – paying another entry fee – and playing another game.  Several teams did take that option, while others won their games in very spirited fashion.

On a side note – it was great to see some of of the PBL’s top talent from the past few seasons.  On the “Millrats” team, there’s David Cooper – over on the “Rochester’s Finest” squad is Marlin Johnson and Melvin Council, both of the Rochester RazorSharks.  And there’s Louie McCroskey of the Quebec Kebs on one squad, and Q Randall, who played for the PBL’s Montreal franchise a few years ago, suiting up for the BG squad.

Every tournament has the dominant seed, the top squad, the team that everyone wants to knock off the mountain.  In baseball, it’s the Yankees.  In the NBA, it’s the Celtics.  And at the Louis Saunders Memorial Basketball Tournament – it’s the squad from Mission Hill.  Mission Hill won the first two tournaments, and they walked into the building with custom T-shirts and a very deep swagger.  They wanted their title returned right now.  And they knew that Team Citi would not have Big Baby or AA on their squad – although Team Citi did have an NBA player in the Knicks’ s J.R. Giddens suiting up for them.

In order to keep the games moving, each team was allowed only one time out, and the game was played in two 20-minute halves, with the clock only stopping in the last two minutes of play.

Several of the teams advanced without trouble – Mission Hill turned their game against their opponent into a slam and dunk fest, while J.R. Giddens got Team Citi into the second day of competition.  The Millrats, which contained several former members of the PBL’s Saint John Mill Rats team, played their way in for Sunday, as did a yellow-clad Boston community team called the “BG Taskforce.”  The Millrats advanced, so did Rochester’s Finest – as did another Rochester-based team, a squad called “Team E,” who had just recently participated in a $25,000 basketball tournament in their home city.

First day out of the way.

On Sunday morning, before I went over to the Clark Athletic Center, I took care of some of my own personal memories.  I visited my grandparents in Saugus – and left stones on their graves, as is tradition when one visits a Jewish cemetery.  I also had breakfast at the Silver Slipper, a diner on Washington Street in Roxbury – absolutely delicious bacon egg cheese on an English muffin.  Tasty beyond belief.  Then it was off to Boston State – er – UMass-Boston.

On Sunday morning, Team E faced off against Team Citi – J.R. Giddens’ squad. The guys from Western New York tried their best, but in the end they lost 58-46. Team Citi advances.

Then came the first upset of the day. A team called “Out of This World” played like they were out of their minds, and upset the mighty Mission Hill squad 70-63.  That’s right – Mission Hill got beat in the quarterfinals.  The two-time tournament champions were done, while the underdogs advanced.

During one of the games, there was an appearance by the GWOP Divas.  No, I never heard of them either.  But they caught the attention of everyone who possessed a “Y” chromosome, I’ll grant you that.  The GWOP Divas walked through the stands, they handed out T-shirts and they posed for pictures.

Okay, stupid me, I had to ask.  “So what does ‘GWOP Divas’ stand for?”

“We call it Gorgeous Women Operating Papers,” one of them said to me.  Not sure what kind of papers we’re talking about – books, dollar bills, the papers that Richard “Dimples” Fields sang about so many years ago… and here I was thinking GWOP stood for “George Washington on Paper,” meaning someone who claimed to have a big bankroll, but really it’s just a big fat roll of singles.

Anyway, the GWOP Divas were handing out T-shirts.  “Listen,” I asked, “if I had a friend that would like a shirt, would you be able to get me one?”

“Sure,” one of the girls said.  “I think we have a size ‘large’ available for your friend.”

Well THAT was pretty presumptive.

She later apologized.  “I thought you had meant one of your GUY friends wanting a shirt,” she said, handing me a size small T-shirt instead.  She then pointed over to one of the basketball players, who indeed was wearing a GWOP Divas T-shirt.  I think that guy scored about as many points in the tournament as he did with the GWOP Divas.  Yep.  No points at all.  Hee.

I went back to work.

It’s Game 3, and my PBL guys – the Millrats -were up against Team Hardball. Team Hardball started off decently, but could not keep up with the Rats. The Rats advanced 63-51.

The other team with a decent amount of PBL rostership, “Rochester’s Finest,” took on Team BG Taskforce. Despite a strong effort from Razorsharks Melvin Council and Marlin Johnson, for some reason Rochester just couldn’t get the refs’ calls to go their way – and the BG Taskforce took a 60-55 win.

A few minutes of rest, and we were ready for the semifinals.

Any momentum that Team “Out of This World” had in their win against Mission Hill were lost when Team Citi destroyed them, 72-60.  As for the Millrats-BG Taskforce matchup, some of the Millrats were late getting back to the arena, as some of the players were simultaneously playing in another tournament across town! They got back to the Clark Athletic Center with about five minutes to go in the first half – and the score tied at 24-24 – but the weary Rats were no match for the Taskforce, and BG advanced ot the finals with a 66-75 triumph.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that my broadcasting buddy Twizzlo was in the house. Armed with a wireless microphone, Twizzlo would offer commentary as the games were played – mostly his commentary revolved around telling guys at the free throw line to “bend your knees, cuz, just like you were taught to do in basketball camp.” That, and “Hey, hey, hey, no way” whenever someone missed a shot…

So the stage was set. Either Team Citi – with the Knicks’ J.R. Giddens on the team – was going to win the tournament for the second consecutive year; or Team BG Taskforce – with tournament organizer James Hall on the squad, yes, he plays for Team BG when he’s not organizing memorial basketball tournaments – would claim their first championship.

But before the game was played, everybody remembered the reason why we were gathered today. Anthony Saunders took the court and shared his memories of his father.  Then he welcomed James Hall, organizer of the tournament, to the court.   A moment of silence was held, a moment to Louis Saunders’ memory and legacy.  At that moment, you might have heard the sound of basketballs being dribbled; that was actually a thousand heartbeats thumping in memory and in tribute.

Oh, and did I mention that the game was televised?  Yep, the Boston Neighborhood Network – 25 years in the broadcast field – showed up with commentators and sideline reporters and the like.

Let the game begin.

Last year, Team Citi won with Glenn “Big Baby” Davis on the roster.  But J.R. Giddens is no Big Baby Davis, and the BG Taskforce just tore through their opponents like a paper bag.

With five minutes left in the game, I switched out my telephoto lens for my Russian fisheye lens.  I figured that if there was going to be a crunch of people on the court, the fisheye would allow me to get as many celebrants as possible without getting bumped or jockeyed out of position.

In the end, it was Team BG that won the fourth annual Louis Saunders Memorial tournament, with a 59-36 triumph.  Each member of the winning team received $1,000 apiece – a $10,000 grand prize for a well-played tournament.

In fact, here’s a slideshow of action and moments from the 4th Annual Louis Saunders Memorial Basketball Tournament.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=104087

Let me say this.  It was a fantastic weekend in Boston, I enjoyed photographing and being a part of the Tournament.  In fact, I hope that next year the Capital District’s hoops stars can get together, pay the entrance fee and show everyone out there that Albany’s top hoopsters can hang with the rest.  Am I right?  You know I am.

Much credit goes to James Hall and his staff for producing a great tournament.  Everyone had fun and the games were exciting.  Much love and support.  And God bless the memory and legacy of Louis Saunders.