Inside the Cage: A Season at West 4th Street's Legendary Tournament - Hardcover

Martindale Jr., Wight

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416905391 ISBN 13: 9781416905394

Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2005

Synopsis

It is no wonder basketball purists love the kind of game that the Cage produces. Because of the court's small size, the action of the game is compact and intense. The short trip up and down the court produces a game with more shooting and more offense with less legwork. Big people moving quickly in a small area are bound to bump into one another, so the West 4th Street games remain the city's roughest. Over the years, basketball at West 4th Street has created a legion of enthusiasts who understand basketball and want to see it played well.The most compelling aspect of a sport is that it never dies; it is always being reborn. The seasonal nature of West 4th Street brings fans and players back every year. One summer may end in disappointment or in victory, but the victors must prove themselves the following summer, and those who were defeated can try again.The tip-off game on Saturday, June 1, officially begins the twenty-fifth season.The most popular outdoor basketball court in New York City is half the regulation size, offers no seating, and has sidelines bounded by a chain-link fence. The summer league on West 4th Street, in the heart of Greenwich Village, has developed its share of stars. But it has become known throughout the world for another reason: In the age of commercialized sports, West 4th Street stands out as a last bastion of true sportsmanship, a rare place where the only thing that matters is the game.Inside the Cage follows a single season from start to climactic finish, chronicling its unlikely twenty-five-year history along the way. Founded and led by a limousine driver from Brooklyn, Ken Graham's West 4th Street Pro-Classic tournament receives virtually no support from the government. Still, the Cage is home to the city's longest continually running tourney, attracts thirty thousand spectators annually, is featured in one of PlayStation 2's hottest games, and was recently named the number-one playground court in America.Martindale captures the extremes of the playground game with the scrupulous intensity of our best sports writers. But perhaps more remarkably, he introduces readers to the men on and around the court with the insight of a prize-winning novelist. From 1970s playground legend Fly Williams to NBA veteran Anthony Mason and rookie Smush Parker, three generations of players mastered their game at West 4th Street.Inside the Cage asks how it is that a seemingly unorganized league, populated by men from Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, has flourished in a neighborhood where less than 10 percent of the residents are African American or Hispanic. The answer: Play, for its own sake, matters. In an age when even the NBA is plagued by violence, how else could a tournament loaded with ambition, intensity, and aggression thrive for more than a quarter century?The Cage is a rare place where men stand on equal ground. It is a place where movie stars rub elbows with high school dropouts, evangelical Christians mix it up with convicted drug dealers, and hungry players receive support and encouragement from NBA greats.It is no surprise that Nike's new Battle-Grounds clothing line adopted the Cage as a logo. West 4th Street is a battleground, a hallowed place where men can be perfect for all the right reasons.

About this title

Reviews

Wedged into a corner of the intersection at West 4th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan's Greenwich Village is a tiny basketball court surrounded by a 20-foot-high fence, known as the Cage. Although ramshackle in appearance, it's one of the world's best-known courts, attracting international scouts to scope out the talent who play there each summer in the intense, emotional West 4th Street Tournament. Martindale chronicles the competition's history and its 25th season (in 2002). It's an exciting though hardly dispassionate tale, as the former Wall Street moneyman is also one of the tournament's managing directors. While the book spends a good amount of time profiling the hotshots who come to play, it's far more engaging when discussing the stalwart old-timers—like Moneybags, the homeless scorekeeper, and the instant-nickname-bestowing announcer, Dee Foreman—who run the often rambunctious games. Chief among them is the event's founder, Kenny Graham, a limo driver with an entrepreneurial streak, a pillar of the community and the book's most fascinating character. Though Martindale has a preachy attitude and a penchant for inappropriate literary references, he is a vivid portraitist, bringing readers inside the pulsing heart of this urban phenomenon.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

For many, the most compelling street-hoops action in the Big Apple takes place in Greenwich Village, on a half-sized court on West 4th Street. The Cage attracts a very competitive group of city kids, many who do, did, or will play at major universities. The court's unique dimensions foster a unique style of play, and excellence in the standard game does not assure dominance. Martindale began handling some of the Cage Tournament's finances about 15 years ago, and in recounting the 2003 season, he also refers back to related moments from the Cage's 30-year history. But as much as he stresses the on-court action, he also analyzes the sociological implications of black men playing in a white neighborhood simply for the joy of competition. There are no contracts to be had or endorsement deals to be made; any fame is limited to one's opponents and teammates. A thoughtful examination of an urban tradition that touches on such issues as the meaning of manhood, family, and of playing just for fun. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1416905391
• ISBN 13: 9781416905394
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288