Dolphin Park Classic

[BlazeArmy]

Hung out in the Beer Garden at Dolphin Park this weekend. Quality level was pretty good. Jamaal Crawford formerly of the Bulls, free agent now, played for a Seattle team all weekend. He was taking it easy (it seemed from my vantage point) but when the beer garden styarted gviing it to him he would do 2 or 3 amazing things to shut us up and then fall back into easy mode. I had to leave for My Brother's Birthday party last night during the semi's before the dunk contest etc. Anyone else there and know who won???????
Quality tournament to watch if you enjoy basketball. and Beer. Lots of lots of Beer.

 

[gomesy_jr]

The Seattle team went on to win the tournament. I think their semi-final game was better than the final though. The one group in the beer garden did an awesome job with some chants during the semi that got Jamaal going a bit. My favourite went like this "Nash is better than any of you, do da, do da, Nash is better than any of you, all the do da day" It was hilarious, especially with Steve Nash watching the game at the other end of the court and having a good laugh about the whole thing. Jamaal was a treat to watch, even though he did appear to be taking it easy, he still showed some great moves.

I believe Josh Masters won the slam dunk competition, i don't know about the 3-point contest.

Cheers,
Gomesy

 

[BlazeArmy]

I believe Josh Masters won the slam dunk competition, i don't know about the 3-point contest.

Thanks Gomesy. The funniest thing i saw all weekend was the tablecloth outfit Masters put on after the Monkeys lost on Sunday. I told him he could have my watermelon and dunk it if he wanted to but that he had to do it wearing that terrible outfit. As for the group of beergardeners singing, that was who i was with all weekend but had to leave about 15 minutes into the Seattle Gentlemens Club team and the Western Canada Basketball Academy . aka Team Canada.

The real question is who won Beer Garden MVP. I was the #1 contender until i had to leave. Unfortunate really as the MVP gets the best trophy around.

Too bad that it normally is the same weekend as Nations Cup. This is the first time i've ever put some quality time into watvhing a lot of it but the level of play is pretty good with pros and ex-pros playing as well as lots of college or former college players.

 

[sensei_hanson]

I didn't go but got a pretty full recap from a friend who was in attendance, who was just going off about how good the action was.

By the way, I was there for all of last year's Dolphin tourney (the Coors Light girls made it a far more appealing draw than Nations Cup) and the highlight was Josh Masters driving his Mazda Miata onto the court for the dunk contest, and then flying over it with a vicious tomahawk jam. I really wanted to get out there this year but I was in Seattle for the Chelsea-Celtic game on Saturday and had to work Sunday. And from what I heard, this was easily the best Dolphin Park Classic ever. Shitty deal for me.

So from what I understand, Crawford's team (Gentlemen's Club - classic) beat the Meralomas in the final. Jamaal prepped at Ranier Beach HS in Renton so that would explain how he ended up playing for a Seattle-based team. Taylor Cherris-Wilding won the 3pt contest in OT - apparently he set a tourney record in the semifinal by scoring 23 points, missing only two shots the whole round and nailing the last three bomb with his left hand. They also said some unknown Chinese kid entered the dunk contest and gave Masters a pretty good run for his money before finishing second. Having played against Josh in high school, I can attest to him having some of the craziest hops around. The guy can flat-out fly.

I also heard that Will Sasso was in attendance for the final as well, and that Nash had to pose for like 1000 photo ops from all the star-gazers. Someone relayed that the attendance figures were from 900-1200 people on Sunday, which is a wicked turnout considering this tournament has zero promotion behind it, mostly word-of-mouth stuff.

 

[BlazeArmy]

Sasso, who i know from Ladner, was there Saturday as well. He wasn't pushed for very many autographs until the day ended which was good for him as he was nursing a very large hangover. A few of the Rascalz were in attendance on Saturday and i would have thought it was closer to 1200-1500 in attendance. At least 7or 8 deep along the sidelines. The beer garden was so packed you couldn't move.(Side note: Coors Light girl were in attendance and they dig watermelon. ) Tremendous event as i spent a solid 18 hours there on Saturday and sunday. I will defintely be there instead of Nations Cup next year as it is a way better event to watch and party at. The only problem of the weekend was I was talked into going to the Coyote with some of the Monkeys. I forgot how hard it is to dance in flip flops and it feels like I sprained both my ankles still today.

 

[BlazeArmy]

The Monkeys were dressed as cops this year and were the Fun Police. Solid solid outfits and gear. The DJ's had the siren on whenevr they entered the court and BadBoyz(theme of Cops) was their intro music.