Providence got game

Somewhere in the capital city is a game for you

There are courts in Providence for every type of game, skill level, and attitude. Nestled into every neighborhood and every part of the city, they map out Providence's various identities. From the harder, inner-city flavor of the hardest courts in the poorer sections of town to the polite competition of the suburban courts, each game gives a clear reflection of the neighborhood in which it is played. The beauty of Providence, though, is that no matter how rough or rich the environment, everyone is welcome, even asked, to play.

And that's the way it works, really, each neighborhood being a bit like stained glass to Providence's light. There are drug courts and murder courts, dope courts and malt courts, prep courts and preppy courts.

All told, some 31 public sites fall within the jurisdiction of the Providence Parks Department. Twenty-nine of these are within a two-and-a-half mile radius of the State House, which means that there is a game out there for everyone -- and within close proximity.

The Providence league system, for example, boasts more than 40 teams, whose players range from high-school students to adult women. The men's league draws crowds three nights a week to three of the glory courts in our roughest neighborhoods. And, again, even within that league, what determines the type of game played is its location -- the rougher the surroundings, the more "street" the game.

Outside of the league system, Providence also has a bustling pickup community, everything from high-speed and high-skills hooping to standard weekend warriors with more brace around their knees than cartilage. All you need is a little knowledge of basketball and inner-city pickup to get in on the action.

League flavor

Officially, there are only two city leagues in Providence, but these break down into six divisions and some 45 teams. Most are part of the indoor, statewide high-school league at the Neutaconkanut recreation center, which lies at the bottom of Neutaconkanut Hill on the Providence/Johnston line on the West Side.

But for serious ballers older than 18, there are the four divisions of the Providence Midnight Basketball League -- the North, South, and East sides and one women's division on the South Side. The "Midnight," however, has less to do with time than with concept. In the mold of nighttime programs in bigger urban areas like Los Angeles and New York, the league was formed in the early '90s to keep young gang members and criminals off the streets after dark.

And so, in an effort to reach at-risk youth, the Providence Midnight League is centered around three of Providence's poorest and toughest neighborhoods: the North Side's Davis Park, which is just southwest of the Smith Hill housing projects; the South Side's Bucklin Park smack in the middle of South Providence's toughest area; and the Gano Street Park in the center of one of the East Side's poorest neighborhoods, Fox Point.

All three branches of the league sport highly competitive teams, six to a division. But Bucklin probably has the hardest game out of the three. It is known as the best local court for "oohs" and "aahs," a serious slamma-jamma game of dunks and showboaty flavor that reflects the high-chrome, low-rider cars and pumping stereos of the people who play and watch.

Davis, on the other hand, reflects its cushier West Side neighbor, the suburban Mt. Pleasant. Although still inner-city and tough (some team players appear to run drugs from courtside), Davis features a steadier, more heady game. The play at Gano, surrounded by softer streets than Bucklin's, has more flair than Davis but less trash talk than Bucklin.

All three courts act as community catalysts, drawing people from their homes or off the streets to picnic, watch play, and watch each other. Each team pays $250 to enter the league (the steep gate causing instant and obvious accessibility questions about just who gets kept off the streets) and the games run from early June through the championship match on August 20.

The playground rules

But while the leagues end in August, the Providence pickup game goes from snowfall to snowfall. And pickup in Providence -- how most people get their balling -- works like the league, with neighborhoods determining what kind of attitude games are played with.

There is a big swath of hardness running through Providence. It starts near the intersection of Douglas and Broad streets on the North Side, comes south through the Chad Brown housing project and Smith Hill, west and south into the Hartford Projects and Laurel Hill, Olneyville, and then down into the South Side -- inner-city areas with burnt-out houses and abandoned lots dotted with young men leaning against beat-up cars or drinking from paper bags.

It's in these areas, plus the East Side's somewhat separated urban sections of Fox Point and Camp Street, that the pickup language is both the most interesting and intimidating:

"It's 9-8!"

"It was 9-8 when I smoked you; sit down 'cause the game's over."

"Smoked nothin', B. Everybody got the luck workin' is all."

"Yeah, everybody but you! Next!"

At the Candace Street Park, a small and ramshackle court next to a new children's playground in Smith Hill, the game flows in slightly different hues than league play. The showmanship has been raised to another level -- people choose to make a between-the-legs pass rather than an easy one, launch up long-distance shots with an opponent in their face, or go to the air with no options, forcing up dumb or wild attempts at Michael Jordan-type artistry.

An aping, bump-the-chest mentality colors the game on courts like Candace, Bucklin (on its non-league nights), and the Laurel Hill Park near the Hartford Projects in Olneyville. And at times, it can be difficult to walk onto a court with so much jawing, where everything from shot selection to girlfriend selection is criticized and abused every step of the way. But if you carry yourself with confidence, you'll have no problem fitting in.

Moving out from the hard-core centers to the cushier neighborhoods on the East, South, and West sides, the game also becomes cushier, more comfortable. On the East Side, there are hard fouls and, at times, hard games, but the bravado level drops quickly in the green surrounds of one of Providence's oldest sections. Over at the Nathan Bishop Middle School on Elmgrove Avenue, speed bump-type crevasses crisscross the court and the broad bodies come out every evening for solid pickup, but without the talk or "look at me" flair of the harder areas.

Then there is my own beloved "Wick and Ives," the court on which I've been playing for years in the Cabral/ Tockwotton Park at the corner of Wickenden and Ives streets in Fox Point. "Wick and Ives" is basically a safe haven for the "fundamentally challenged," a place where, given its position between College Hill and the grittier areas of the Point, inner-city kids mix it up with Ivy Leaguers.

Of course, anywhere you go in Providence, you'll find the same thing -- the characteristics of the neighborhood are the same as those of the game being played there. And regardless of the flavor, that essentially Provcat hoops attitude will have someone on the court coming up to you and asking, "Hey, you in this next game?"

-- D.A.S., with reporting by Chris Conti and Joshua Byrne Spector

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