While I was watching The Last Dance this week I couldn't help but to think about the Michael Jordan collection I have and how it started me on a path to creating a small hoops "museum". At least in my dreams it's the beginning of a hoops museum. Enjoy!
10,538 miles. 24 games. 10 gyms. 2 states. 1 country. 2 NBA games. 0 Final Fours.
Well this basketball season can best be summed up by the popular opening of A Tale of Two Cities- "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...". Early on the season it seemed like this was going to be one of my most adventurous seasons yet, and through March it held up. Then March was abruptly shutdown. As of today the NBA is holding out hope that some sort of finish to the season will happen but I'm doubtful. Here's some of the highlights from a fun season that ended with a bang. 12,425 miles. 23 games. 8 gyms. 5 states. 3 NBA games. 1 NIT game. 1 Final Four.
It was quite the basketball season for myself and looking back only makes me more excited for next year. While the NBA is still playing my hoops travel ended after my dad and I returned from the Final Four in early April. Here are a few of the highlights from this last season: You might have noticed I haven't posted anything in a long time and I'm sorry about that. My full time t-shirt printing business has grown quickly in the last few months and has expanded to take up more of my time. But that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking and dreaming about what the future of Red Phog looks like. My original idea had a lot of different pieces and in the last few months I've come up with a few new things to add. If you haven't already joined the email list, I'd ask you to do that because that is how I plan to communicate with readers for the next few months. In addition I will be sending out the Starting Five email every week with the top 5 headlines from around the basketball world. I hope that you might share this with anyone who loves basketball.
Thanks for the support! James To say the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team is a big deal would be an understatement.
8 National Championships. Big Blue Nation. #1 in the Nation. 24,000 fans in Rupp Arena. My dad and I have been to games that included the Wildcats, in fact 3 of 4 Final Fours we've attended have included Kentucky, but never have we been able to experience Kentucky in Rupp Arena. Country Music Hall of Fame. Tennessee Titans. Vanderbilt Commodores.
The city of Nashville has some great attractions but we were there for basketball. Our main reason for making the trip was to see the University of Texas play at Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY but after looking at various options to make the trip more memorable I stumbled onto the basketball game in Nashville. It just so happened that fellow Big 12 school, Baylor, would be playing against Vanderbilt the night before the main attraction. And I'm definitely not the person to turn down more basketball. We made the arrangements to fly into Nashville on Thursday morning and spent the day exploring the city thanks to recommendations from the car rental employees and Apple maps. The recommendations were spot on and I would encourage you to eat at Martin's BBQ and visit the Country Music Hall of Fame. For a first time visitor it seemed like a fun place to live with the music scene and 2 large colleges added to the government part of things, it reminded me a little of Austin. I was 10 and the year was 1998. Up to that point in my life I knew basketball was something I loved to play and watch. Each year the month of March meant college basketball was on the main stage and I might not have fully grasped how big of a stage it was, but I did know that it was something special. People who didn't care about basketball watched because everyone had March Madness and the basketball enthusiasts were in heaven, 3 straight weekends of the best games of the college season.
My dad wasn't like the casual fan, he had attended the Final Four a few times and had seen some of the greatest final games of all-time. But in 1998 it was my chance to attend my first Final Four. My dad had gotten tickets through the draw so we made plans to attend the 3 games that weekend in San Antonio, TX. I've always been interested in seeing a game at every NBA arena and it would probably just be a matter of time and money to make that happen. After reading The Happiness of Pursuit, I decided to make this "pursuit" a little more interesting.
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