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It may have been the 20th Hoopfest, but two of the three elite division finals were full of new flavor Sunday.
Participating in Spokane's cultural recreational sporting phenomena such as Hoopfest becomes a difficult habit to break, as the 70-plus who have perfect attendance in all 20 can attest.
If it wasn't for the fourth player they picked up, they could be called Team Redden.After the first day of the 20th Hoopfest, the Redden triplets are thankful that Hayden Burris at 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds is on their team.
Family ties brought one group of Hoopfest court monitors together they include a father and daughter and two sets of sisters but it's the de facto family they've formed on downtown Spokane basketball courts that has kept them coming back year after year.
There is almost an innumerable group of numbers associated with the previous 19 Hoopfests.
The most impactful history is always personal.It is this truth that informs the second act of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's life, although it's misleading to suggest he took on a new identity simply because he stopped playing basketball 20 years ago. Almost since childhood he resisted being pigeon-holed solely by his ability as a player, as only a driven and intensely self-aware man who grew to stand 7-foot-2 can.
There is just too much dead time in a softball game. And no good can come from it.Sitting on a bench in a Franklin Park dugout some 20 years ago, a decision was made that led to more than a decade of pain one weekend at a time.
See what people are saying about Hoopfest on Twitter, a social networking site that users post messages of up to 140 characters.
As 200,000 players and spectators descend on downtown Spokane for Hoopfest this weekend, here are some fun facts about the worlds largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament.
In West Central's Cannon Park, the passing of the city's pool bond meant the replacement of a worn-down, leaking pool with a new pool, complete with slides and other water toys. But to make room for the new pool, it also meant the small yet heavily used basketball courts had to be torn down.
Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will be coming to Hoopfest June 26-27.
Technically, this doesn't qualify as breaking news, it being a Hoopfest story and Hoopfest 2008 having been put to bed for a week already.
Word on the street was that Wade Joseph's nickname after this weekend should be "the human Band-Aid."
A sun hot enough to soften blacktop Sunday was no match for thousands of Hoopfest players as relatively few people visited the First Aid tents with heat-related illness and dehydration.
For Monday, June 30, 2008.
As Hoopfest players ground their way through games on the baked streets of downtown Spokane on Saturday, thousands of fans hunted for shade and a cool breeze during a scorching first day of Hoopfest 2008.
Bobby Homminga was tired. He was hot. The only thing that got him through the rest of his Hoopfest game was the memory of his son.
The event by the numbers:
Hoopfest is developing a reputation for being more than just the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world at least with area law enforcement.
Live videocasts will be streamed on the Internet during this weekend's Hoopfest games, along with a highlights program next week.
It's kind of a trick question. How many people are on Jordan Howell's Hoopfest team? "Four!" he says. Isn't it three on
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It's fitting that Gabe Doran's team will play in Hoopfest this weekend even though it has to play without him. The Wilson Elementary fifth-grader gave his best effort to everything he tried and wouldn't let anything get in his way, his friend and teammate Terry Cox said. Not even epilepsy.
Phil Von Buchwaldt's first impression of Spokane was that the second impression should come via rearview mirror.
Longtime friends and educators Clay Henry and Jeff Miller took to the streets Saturday morning for the 18th time at Hoopfest.
Spokane Valley residents Dave and Eileen Green spent their first 12 years at Hoopfest mostly as spectators.
Hoopfest brings thousands of extra people to downtown Spokane but their pets aren't welcome.
Hoopfest court monitors may take a lot of grief, but if they hang in there through Sunday, they'll at least get their T-shirt.
Milt Rowland has observed many different things over his 16 years as a Hoopfest volunteer.
Hoopfest, the world's largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament, is looking for 3,000 volunteers for the 18th annual tournament June 30-July 1.
So, not only can you go home again, but you can even get your old job back. Not that Hoopfest was a job to Rick Steltenpohl so much as it was a cause.
With Hoopfest just seven weeks away, Brady Crook, executive director of the world's largest 3-on-3 street basketball tournament, has resigned.
Stacy Clinesmith showed that there's still life in the ex-WNBA basketball player's legs. There had to be, considering that Team Idaho took the longest possible route to the Elite Women's Hoopfest title.
Size matters, apparently. Winston Brooks, whose Hoop Hearted team won Hoopfest's Men's Elite 6-feet and under division for an unprecedented fourth straight year, noticed.
Don and Ev Newland have lived in Spokane for 62 years. But it wasn't until this year that they made it to Hoopfest, drawn downtown to watch their grandson and granddaughter "We're just down to take in the games," Don said, as he and Ev enjoyed ice cream bars on the shady side of Riverside Avenue.
View a slideshow of action from day one.
Read stories about Hoopfest '06.Don't let the gray hair fool you. The average age of the four men who make up Juicr Plus Schaplow Atty is 57. But they still got game.
For Lapwai, Idaho, sisters Jaci and Margaret McCormack, it had been a decade since they've experienced Hoopfest. On a day when summer heat and Hoopfest collided in full, their eclectic Team McCormack, including a player from Illinois and another from Calgary, Alberta, made the most of their Elite Women's competition start.
Former Ferris Saxons player John Mietus came into his own as a basketball standout at a college in Oregon, named of all things, Lewis & Clark.
Hoopfest organizers want players to bring their game, not their attitudes. As the largest 3-on-3 tournament in the world enters its 17th year, a new sportsmanship program has been implemented to promote good behavior among players, coaches, parents and fans.
On a concrete court surrounded by yellow clover and a row of freight trailers, Rick McDonald spun a weathered leather ball in his lanky fingers.
Men's Elite DivisionBattle in Seattle returns for Hoopfest 2006 to defend its first championship in an Elite Division packed with previous champions, along with former college, professional and high school stars.
Hoopfest is a word that's hard to define. To a player, it's "Christmas in June," a great time to be alive. To a nonplayer, Hoopfest, which turns 17 this year, brings the same issues as any other 17-year-old parking nightmares and stinky potties.
Getting to and from Hoopfest could be a bit more challenging this year because of Interstate 90 construction downtown, but organizers and Spokane Transit employees are urging people to plan ahead and consider several options to make getting around a bit easier.
Basketball players and fans are taking over Spokane this weekend, so expect it to be a little more difficult to get through downtown beginning Friday evening when Hoopfest backboards start sprouting on the streets.
The world's largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament is just around the corner, but the organization is behind in its number of needed volunteers. The 17th annual Hoopfest tournament will attract about 24,000 basketball players June 24 and 25.
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