Hoopin' it

Many years ago, when we were not exactly starving, but young, Carl worked as a stringer for the wire services in P'burgh, covering the Penguins and the Duquesne basketball team.

Both were abysmal.

I used to go with him and sit behind the press table for the basketball games at Mellon Arena, then known as the Civic Arena. I always froze, thanks to the ice under the basketball parquet.

So here in the 21st century, the Dukes finally are a semblance of a good team and have all the accoutrements required: a mascot, a student cheering section with rituals (turning backs when the visiting team is announced, waving wildly when visiting team tries free throws, etc., etc., etc.), dancing girls, cheerleaders, pick-your-song for halftime, etc., etc., etc., They even play in a bigger box than Palumbo Center when a nice crowd is expected.

So today, we went. Big Consol Energy Arena crowd, the architecturally bland replacement for the Civic Arena. (Real estate tip: Buy now in Uptown Pittsburgh. Duquesne is crowding the neighborhood and I bet it will be a showdown between it and UPMC creeping down from Oakland.) Oh, and years later, there's still no warm way to enjoy a basketball game played over a hockey rink.

Dukes lost, though not without a nice first half rally to go into halftime leading Xavier. Bad second half: No rebounding, too many turnovers, lousy free-throw percentage, and ice-cold shooting.

That ice-cold part I definitely get.