sports

Danny Harris is a DC-based photographer, DJ, and collector of stories. In September, he launched People’s District, a blog that tells a people’s history of DC by sharing the stories and images of its residents. Every day, People’s District presents a different Washingtonian sharing his or her insights on everything from Go Go music to homelessness to fashion to politics.

“I came to D.C. in the first grade. My family moved around Washington a couple of times, and we eventually settled in Brookland when I was 8. Moving to that neighborhood got me really interested in sports. One of my neighbors was McKinley Armstrong, the famous basketball coach from McKinley Tech High School. He had a son my age and a hoop in his yard. I always played sports in the neighborhood and eventually started playing on intramural and school teams as I got older. Where I grew up, if you didn’t follow sports, you were out of the lunch-room conversation. Sports became the all-consuming pastime in my life, whether it was playing them, following them, or watching them on TV.

“After high school, I was playing less, but I was following all of the sports in D.C. religiously, especially basketball, and got interested in writing about sports. Through that, I really learned about Washington’s amazing basketball history. Little did I know when I was a little kid that high-school basketball in D.C. is as popular and well-played because of something that happened in a century ago. There was a gentleman with a doctorate from Harvard named E.B. Henderson, who learned basketball from James Naismith, the inventor of the game. Dr. Henderson introduced basketball to schools in the D.C. area, especially the segregated schools, and to the first historic YMCA down on 12th Street, which won a colored national championship in 1910. While D.C. did not have the size, it became a hotbed of basketball. Because of that, by the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s, D.C. had some very good teams. Great local players like Elgin Baylor, Dave Bing, Adrian Dantley, Danny Ferry, and Len Bias are largely an outcome of the growth of the game here, and of the great local high-school basketball programs like Armstrong High, McKinley Tech, Cardozo, De Matha Catholic, and St. Anthony’s. Recruiters started beating a path to D.C. to find the next great players. Continues after the jump. (more…)

The National Marathon takes place this Saturday. Here’s a map:

I’ve learned from my mistakes. So if you can’t read the map above you can download a bigger version here – Map_With Timeline_Open Access Roads

Anyone running it? Good luck to those who are! Press release after the jump. (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user a.w.miller

Ed. Note: I’m not a huge basketball fan but a reader wrote in requesting a March Madness Pool. I said if she’d like to set it up, I’d be happy to post and donate some PoP t-shirts to the winners. Good luck. Lindsey writes:

“It’s that glorious time of year–2010 NCAA March Madness! Sure, your office, family, and friends have started a March Madness pool, but a Prince of Petworth Pool? The alliteration alone makes it awesome.

Entry is free, and each person is allowed to submit one bracket. The winner of the 2010 Prince of Petworth Pool will receive a free PoP shirt and a year’s worth of blogosphere bragging rights. To join the pool, create a CBS Sportsline log-in, click the URL below and enter the password:

http://pop2010.mayhem.cbssports.com/e
password: pop

Make sure to fill out your bracket before Thursday, March 18 12 noon EST. Information on rules and scoring are available here: http://pop2010.mayhem.cbssports.com/rules?tag=pageContainer;backetCont.

Have any problems or questions? Email [email protected] (sparingly please!)

All are welcome to join, and feel free to pass this on to other PoP fans!”

Good luck!

If you live relatively close and/or aren’t afraid of a mere super snow storm then I’m happy to offer up 5 pairs of tickets to Saturday’s game at the Verizon Center courtesy of DC Lottery. I have to send over your names by noon on Friday. So leave a comment if you wanna go to the game and I’ll announce the winners by 11am in order to have your names emailed to me by noon. And I’ve been told that Villanova is getting to DC early Friday so no matter how much snow comes down the game is on. Thanks again to DC Lottery for providing the tickets.