There's something deeply enjoyable about parking my Burgman 650 scooter a few blocks from the Salem Hoopla three-on-three basketball tournament (largest event in Oregon), buying an icy Jamba Juice at one of the food booths, and then watching young guys/gals run around the many courts in 94 degree heat while I stand (preferably in the shade) with my iPhone 4's camera in hand.
I love the energetic, music-pounding, youthful atmosphere. And it's good to see people at the state capitol arguing about bad foul calls rather than bickering over partisan politics.
Appropriately, basketball courts stretch down Court Street for a far distance both directions from Hoopla's center in front of the steps of the Capitol Building.
The Oregon National Guard is the main sponsor of the event. They had a cool climbing tower set up with cables in a clever fashion so that even young kids could safely have fun on it.
Speaking of fun… the capitol mall's water feature got a workout this hot weekend. If my iPhone was waterproof I would have run through the fountains myself.
Ah, to be young again. Barefoot. Shirtless. iPhone-less.
It was great to see that three-on-three basketball has gone co-ed, something I hadn't noticed until this year's visit to Hoopla. The four dudes on the right were considerably heftier than the two dudettes on the left (to put it mildly), but the girls held their own on the court.
There must be some unspoken etiquette involved in co-ed basketball, though. I briefly watched another game where a gal drove to the baseline and put up a shot, which was easily blocked out of bounds by a much taller guy.
While the referee retrieved the ball, one of her teammates (co-ed teams have one female, and two males) ran into the opposing player who blocked the ball, pushing him back a few feet.
Both of them had smiles on their faces afterward, so it wasn't a serious thing. Seemingly just a message of "Hey, dude, you don't need to do any showboating by blocking a shot of a girl almost a foot shorter than you."
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