photo by Danny Weiss
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NYC IS A STATE OF MIND, BEST REPRESENTED BY CHARLES OAKLEY’S ELBOW. I’LL BE BACK.

The first night game at Ebbets Field was played on June 15, 1938. Colorized in 2009.

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Detail from a collage by Neckface, snapped from his Return to the Womb solo show at V1 Gallery in Copenhagen this summer.

Stephon Marbury’s internet livecam is 100% the best reason for the internet.  In case you forgot: this guy once ran the floor in the Garden. Now there is a 24/7 window into the depths of his basketball-free bad judgment and paranoia. I’ve been dreaming of a show like this for years.

With just a little clicking around youtube highlights you can see him blazing roaches in the back of the black Phantom, getting into car accidents, eating Vaseline, and running his mouth way too much in sporting goods stores, in no particular order. But who cares about highlights? As long as this thing exists, I am watching live.

Carlton with the tongues out
white Air Force optometrist
bout to fly off on a carpet
like you never even heard of this.

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Warmup windbreakers tearing, assistant coaches flying everywhere. Greg Anthony snuffs KJ, and still keeps his silk shirt fresh, pre-dress code. Starks does his signature fight move, a.k.a forehead-to-forehead trash talking. Even Rolando Blackman gets up off the bench looking for some, so you know it’s good.

At the time, Phoenix and New York were the two best teams in their respective divisions. The league handed out $160,000 in fines.

The brawl doesn’t really get going until the 4:00 minute mark, but it’s worth watching the fight-before-the-fight, if only to see how funny Danny Ainge looks when he’s mad.

Gotta love the clean deco lines on that 90s Suns court design.

Siggi Eggertsson’s “Childhood Quilt” is the jam. It was his graduation project for the Iceland Academy of Arts in 2006, and was featured in Athletes, a Barcelona solo exhibition circa 2007. The quilt is based on his childhood memories, and is made out of 10,000 pieces.

I’m feeling the object itself, which is probably the most badass quilt ever. But what I dig even more is the idea that we live in a world where a basketball player in Chicago made a such dominating impression on a little kid 3,000 miles away in a small town on the Northern coast of Iceland. That’s why this is my 4th of July post. GO AMERICAN CULTURE!

thanks Olivia!

The all-native basketball team in the photo below was balling back in 1909, which explains the swastika unis. Scholars agree that the symbol comes from India, but it is also a part of American Indian culture. For the Navajo Nation, the swastika represents the legend of the Whirling Logs. The story is about a journey down a river in a hollowed out tree. It involves multiple Gods, and a pet turkey with a lot of personality.

The important thing is that the Whirling Logs legend is a part of the Night Chant, a nine day long ceremonial performance considered the most sacred of all Navajo ceremonies. It is a healing ritual that is performed to both cure the sick, and to restore order and balance to the universe.

Sans swastikas, basketball is still fanatically popular amongst American Indians, but the group has long been severely underrepresented in college ball. Why? Because Division I and II scouts are only allowed to attend high school tournaments that are NCAA certified. Until recently, NCAA certification rules stated that all teams must reside in the same state as a given tournament. This made it impossible for American Indian high schools to participate in any certified tournament, because tribal citizens are technically not state residents.

The NCAA made an exception to this rule in 2007, and this year’s NCAA certified Native American Basketball Invitational, a showcase for high school age teams, will take place in Phoenix, July 7-11.

Hot long purple
purple nights
here we come.

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by Jeff Shaw

Wait for it. Clip gets slowmotion classic about 17 seconds in. A perfect video companion to your NBA Finals.