We spent the day yesterday at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, and what an interesting day it was. My son, who eats, sleeps and drinks basketball, had a blast. M and I slowly perused the galleries, taking in some of the history, while Andy fast-forwarded to the things he wanted to do, namely play basketball video games and shooting some hoops.

M and I stood on the second floor, overlooking the center court in the hall, where perhaps hundreds of young people (mostly) tossed basketballs at the two baskets on either end of the court. What made this experience surreal is that we were nearly over the backboard, and by just concentrating on the top of the hoop, the effect of basketballs coming into the hoop at a rate of one every second was amazing. It was hard to determine who made a basket sometimes, and other times a ball would knock someone else's ball away from the basket. Andy managed to get many baskets, but was was more amazing was the spirit of cooperation on the floor. One person would throw the ball, it came down into someone else's hands, they threw, and it came down into still another's hands. Sometimes a boy (or girl, though they were seldom in evidence here) would stand nearly under the basket, and catch the ball then forward it to someone else before catching the next. It almost seemed choreographed. I wish I had taken the video camera.

The Basketball Hall of Fame, in its new building, is worth a trip if you are a fan or player.

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