School and Basketball
This post is about three basketball games that all occurred on March 2nd. I photographed two of the games. The other game was played in 1962.
When I was in 5th grade, I remember taking a standardized reading comprehension test. We read a short story about Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points against the New York Knicks. We were asked to categorize the story. Because I knew it was impossible for anyone to score 100 points in an NBA game, I decided that the story was fictional. Of course, Wilt scored 100 points against the Knicks on March 2, 1962 and my distrust of standardized tests was born.
The second story happened five years ago on March 2, 2011. I was teaching at San Marin High School in Novato, California. I had just learned that I was going to lose my teaching position, because the technology department was closing. Our boys basketball team was hosting one of the state’s top teams, Bishop O’Dowd in a North Coast Section semifinal the next night. I decided to stay late, even though I knew I would not be staying at the school… even though I knew that San Marin would not win.
But of course, San Marin won. On the following Saturday, San Marin won their first boys basketball section title in school history. I photographed that too. I might write more about that journey later; here is my post about March 2, 2011. (March Madness.)
This year, I started working for Albany High School. The boys basketball team hosted a NCS semi-final on March 2, 2016. Albany led 56-54 when the buzzer sounded. Albany students were prepared to rush the floor. The team was ready to advance to tonight’s final, but the ball dropped through the basket and the game went to overtime. The photo gallery from Albany’s loss seems to be lacking a conclusion. Even the other team, the Miramonte Matadors, seemed to disbelieve this story.
NOTE: The Library of Congress announced on March 23, 2016 that the 4th Quarter recording of Wilt’s historic game would be preserverd. I included another link to the home town Philadelphia Magazine.