Sunset Park - Las Vegas

[Photo Gallery: 14 Photo's at Sunset Park - Night time 4 on 4 (May 2006)]

When I was hooping at Venice, I met this dude Wayne Griffin who told me the night-time pickup ball in Vegas is solid (Wayne is in the process of developing a ball stadium in Vegas).

Makes sense really considering it's so hot here (the night is definitely where it's at). We rocked up to Sunset Park at 9:30pm on a Wednesday night and found four courts running 5 on 5 until lights-out at 11pm (surprise, surpise - I found Wayne here hooping away: what an addict =]).

The highlight at this place was definitely this kid 'Justin'. He threw down on absolutely anyone who came near him. I was running against Rick & Javier & Justin (who put it down on my head a number of times) teamed with Lamarc & Justin's older brother. Rick's hustle (diving on loose balls on outdoor concrete) kinda reminded me of Wozza back home & Javier vs. Lamarc was a flat-chat shootout.

The standard was pretty reasonable for a Wednesday night however I'm told it bangs on Sundays (from 6 onwards).

Sunset Park Streetball Information:
Court Location: "Sunset Park" - Corner of East Sunset Road & South Eastern Avenue next to the Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada
Courts: 6
Runs: 5 on 5 full-court
Best Time for Runs: Sundays 6 onwards

Weber State University – Utah

[Photo Gallery: 52 photo's at Swenson Gym - Stromberg Athletic Center playing 5 on 5 (April 2006)]

Not expecting much (being in Ogden, Utah – not exactly a streetball mecca), me and my mate Nige (from Melbourne Uni Basketball Club & foundation member of Breakaway) headed over to his uni’s sports center (Weber State) where apparently pickup games can sometimes be found at 4pm on uni-days.

We weren’t going to pay to play until we knew there was some decent ball, but we were pleasantly surprised to find Nick Covington and Nedim Pajevic (two of last seasons starters from WSU’s division 1 college basketball program) playing 1’s – these guys did not miss.

As we were warming up, 10 guys from the Weber State American Football team rocked up and hooked up a game of 5’s (these guys play college football in front of crowds of 20,000+ at WSU – they are local heroes).

By this stage Covington & co. had nicked off, so Nige and I called next on the footy guys to give them some what-for (we played 4 games up to 11 baskets with them). When we got running, the standard was pretty bloody good considering how athletic some of these guys were (Zach Hekker was throwing down some monster cock-backs on fast breaks and Drew Dukeshire looked like he was going to break the apparatus when he flushed his deuces).

“Dewey” who Nige reckons plays pickup at WSU regularly, decided he wanted to shut me down, so we had a good tussle up and back (Nige tells me this guy is one of the toughest footy players WSU has ever seen). Nige displayed his current form on a few juicy jumpers – he is the current WSU intra-mural free throw champion (nailing 14 of 15 to take the title 2 weeks back).

After our run, the guys agreed to hold a dunk comp for our paparazzi photographer (my ever-patient girlfriend Irene). They were also interested to see our Sherrin Aussie Rules Football & christened me “Air Melbourne” when I put it to use.

For reference, other ballers from the footy team included: Scotty Goodloe, Craig & Sam North.

Weber State University Streetball Information:
Court Location: "Swenson Gym - Stromberg Athletic Center" - Weber State University, Harrison Boulevard, Ogden, Utah
Courts: 3
Runs: 5 on 5 full-court
Best Time for Runs: School days, 4:30pm onwards
Important Note: You have to know a student at the Uni in order to get in (Thanks again Nige!)