[basket] Articoli A Cura Di Daniele Vecchi Opzioni

[pottydj]

da www.bouncemag.com



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Italy's Daniele Vecchi a.k.a. "Baby Face" is a journalist/streetballer who writes for several magazines, including American Superbasket. He has a Master Degree in Sports Marketing from the University of Venice, and is the author of several books: Playground in New York, Philadelphia Basketball Stories and Heroes. Daniele looks like a tough guy, except when he handles his little daughter, Cloe.



THE KING OF DEEZA STREET
by Daniele Vecchi aka Baby Face


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Gabriele Piazzolla

He was the King of Dezza Street Playground, the most famous and important court in Milan. His reign has been recognized by all Milan’s ballers, no doubt about it. Gabriele Piazzolla, 6′1″ point guard from Missaglia, Milan suburbs, could make you sick with his crossover, could penetrate in all the strong defense he faced, and could mortify you with his three-pointer. Simply you couldn’t stop him.

He grew up in the Armani Jeans Milan, one of the most winning teams in Europe, then he played in a lot of italian minor leagues, but his life was the asphalt of Dezza, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At the end of the day, when everybody were destroyed by the dozens of games played on the court, he was always the only one who remained on the concrete, taking some jumpers, waiting for some fresh baller, and telling everybody: “hey, one more game?”. Piazzolla was literally untiring, always looking for a challenge and also a genuine trash-talker, when he crossed someone he always had a word for his victim, no mercy with the smile on the lips.

A legendary anecdote: before a practice of the turkish national team (during their training camp in Italy before the FIBA World Championship), Gabriele was in the gym, watching the only player on the court, the strong 6′5″ turkish Alper Yilmaz taking some jumpers. Piazzolla took a ball, and said to Yilmaz: “d’you want to play one on one?”. No time for the answer, he passed the ball to the disoriented turkish saying: “you start”. The strange challenge began, and after three minutes the score was 5-0 for Gabriele, who trash-talked the turkish every single action. Yilmaz was terribly mad, maybe he didn’t played seriously those game, but in the game after, starting 0-0, he played at his best. No way, 7-0 for Gabriele, Yilmaz was humiliated, just before the turkish coach yelled to his guy for playing (and losing) with some strangers, ending the short but intense game.

In may 2006 Gabriele died at age 26, leaving an enormous vacuum in the hearts of everybody who knew him and seen him on the court. He had a tattoo on his ankle, three words: “It Never Ends”. We are sure his soul is still flying on the Milan’s playgrounds, and above all we are sure that his legend it will never end.




CONCRETE BALL FROM ITALY
by Daniele Vecchi aka Baby Face


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Photo AP Marco Belinelli

Thousands of times in the United States people told me: “are you italian? Ciao amigo, ciao bbella, pizza, spaghetti, mafia, mandolino!!! Italy? Soccer!!”. Thousands of times I answer : “mmmhhh, what’s wrong with you man ?”. The stereotypes who involve italian people in the world are always the same, some are true, some are false. I think I ride the false side. I’m not a mobster or a “picciotto” or a “mariuolo”, I don’t play mandolino (I play guitar, reggae-ska-punk with my band), I like spaghetti but they’re not my only food pleasure, I like soccer (in Italy “Football”!) but my sport is basket. My country is the world, I enjoy my world-traveller status with enthusiasm, the fact that I’m italian is just a detail.

And I play ball. I’m not so talented but I play hard, don’t care where I am, if on the asphalt of Sambe Playground (in my hometown, Ferrara) or on the concrete of West 4th Street Court in New York, I feel adrenalinic when I have the rock in my hands on the court, and when I take the first shot I feel like my life is completely for the Game.

Despite the commonplaces, the basketball culture is strongly rooted in Italy, also and especially on the asphalt. Don’t forget that the three italian players in the NBA, Danilo Gallinari (from Milan), Andrea Bargnani (from Rome) and Marco Belinelli (from the so-called “Basket City” Bologna) are good players also because they grew up playing b-ball in the streets, before starring in the Italian League and in Euroleague.

Italy, not just food, fashion and gangsters.

[Edoardo83]

Molto bello il sito!
E grandissimo Daniele! essendo un grande lettore di ASB ho avuto modo di "divorare" le sue storie di playgrounds..
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p.s.= grazie a Potty per aver aperto un topic del genere!
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[pottydj]

Streets Of Belgrade
by Daniele Vecchi aka Baby Face

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Kalemegdan Court

From Italy to Belgrade, one way, looking for some streetball. Belgrade is the Serbia’s capital city, a nation with a great b-ball tradition, and a key city of the european ball movement. The former Yugoslavian national team (Serbia & Montenegro from 2002 ’til 2006, Serbia right now) won tons of international trophies, one Olympic Title, five World Championships, eight European Championships, being (together with Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia until 1991) a fundamental part of the european b-ball heritage. In Belgrade there are three professional teams always top ranked in Europe, Red Star (Crvena Zvezda), Partizan and FMP (recognized everywhere for its youth teams), and also an huge concrete ball movement.

The most famous court in the city is Kalemegdan, down the old fortress and right in front of the Main Street Knez Mihajlova, one of the big tourist’s attractions of the city. Right there, more than 60 years ago, the Yugoslavian Basketball League began to organize b-ball in the country, and right now at Kalemegdan the local ballers play hard. Some rash tourists try to take a stab at the court, but the level is very high and some of them are punctually posterized. But be careful, sometimes you can see people with sunday dress with a terrific ball skills or a great jumper, you don’t have to judge the ballers from the brand of their sneakers.

Another great court is Ada Cinganlija, a big sport center on a peninsula in the middle of Sava river, a complex with more than 20 ball courts. Right there the motto is “never play against three old men”. In fact at Ada Cinganlija you can find some 50-year-old men’s teams who can destroy, technically and physically, the 80% of the young ballers. “You will not like it” is the warning of people who know the motto to the guys who are gonna play the old men. The olds are nasty, dangerous elbows and intrinsic toughness are on their side, together with great fundamentals and superior b-ball IQ. The youngers who face them try to do a sort of flying circus on the court, but no way, the olds win, again and again and again.

These are just a little part of the infinite stories from the Belgrade street courts, a big b-ball heart who pulse in the middle of Europe…

Belgrade, Serbia, a city where concrete ball is life.

Thanks to Roberto Babini, an italian baller in Belgrade.


PS un grazie particolare a Daniele (IMG:style_emoticons/default/post-185-1140356224.gif)

[Edoardo83]

very interesting!
Belgrado è una città in cui si respira tantissimo basket ed in cui è naturale che nascano storie di basket come quella dei 3 vecchi o di altri fantastici ballers..

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[pottydj]

Giardini Margherita Nike Tournament, Bologna, Italy


by Daniele Vecchi aka Baby Face

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2008 Giardini Margherita Finals

“Basket City” is the real name of Bologna, Italy. Two teams in town, Virtus and Fortitudo, two tribes who face the hard battle between fellow citizens, two opposite realities in all ways, lifestyle, counsciousness, passion, background, confidence, two faces of the same city. And Bologna has its own concrete, one of the biggest concrete ball tournaments in Italy and Europe, the Giardini Margherita Nike Tournament.

Born in 1982, the Tournament is the main stage of the italian concrete ball, from the early 80s more than 1000 ballers have touched the asphalt, big names like Roberto Brunamonti, Andrea Niccolai, Roberto Chiacig, “Sugar” Michael Ray Richardson, Davide Bonora, Gek Galanda (the most famous Italian National Team’s captain), Alessandro Abbio, Gianmarco Pozzecco and many others made the history of this tournament.

Several curiousity happened in the tournament in last 26 years. In 2007 Father and son played in the same game with the Fossa dei Leoni’s team (the Fortitudo’s hardcore fans), Dan Gay and his son Louis. In 1994 Mario Boni, one of the best three points shooters in the italian ball history, played in the Tournament as “Mister X”, while serving a doping disqualification in the Italian League, leading his team to the victory. In 2002 the biggest audience ever was a spontaneous tribute to Ettore Messina, fired by Virtus in a controversial front office’s move. In 1990 Claudio Crippa (present Cska Moskow GM) came on the court saying “a friend of mine is in the car, could he play?”. He was Mike Brown, an NBA player. In 2007 the big brawl in the Final, with a final police action, everything seemed lost. But in 2008 a great edition, with a lot of pros (like Daniel Hackett, USC Trojans guard, born and raised in Italy) and a higher ball level.

Waiting for the 2009 Tournament…