Feeling A Little Different This Christmas
In another day when Christmas comes, something will feel different. Something will be missing from the day’s activities. No, it’s not time with family – in fact, there will be more of that than the past three years. It’s not because I’m getting older and the day changes in that respect – that’s already happened, anyway.
This Christmas day will be the first in four years that will not end in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The Slam Dunk to the Beach Tournament – a legend in high school hoops lore the past 15 years – was cancelled by tournament director Bob Jacobs due to health reasons. Early this month, Hoopmasters reported that Jacobs sent a letter out to all schools that were slated to participate, citing his family’s health as well as his own as reasons for the cancellation. It came as no surprise considering that the War on the Shore prep school showcase in November was also cancelled, but it gave a little insight as to what’s behind the scenes.
By the time November rolled around, the Web site for Slam Dunk to the Beach, which includes details on the War on the Shore prep school showcase, had not been updated for a while. Then at the end of the month, the site was down; going there led to being redirected to a Web site design firm. The domain name for it (slamdunktothebeach.org) is still owned by Jacobs, according to godaddy.com. Jacobs could not be reached for comment about this or the tournament’s future.
Slam Dunk became legendary for a variety of reasons. It consists of five days of non-stop high school basketball, starting from early in the morning and running until late at night. The talent level was always tremendous, the matchups between top prospects just as great, and the atmosphere was that of a big-time college basketball game. The gym would be packed with college coaches – often including a good number of head coaches – along with media and NBA scouts. Fans would come early in the morning, find a good seat, and settle in for a day full of great basketball – and those fans weren’t always from Delaware. It was fan-friendly, media-friendly (not an idle point, as some tournaments and showcases are not media-friendly) and made for a terrific way to spend the holiday season. In short, it was the kind of event that anyone involved in basketball would look forward to every year.
And all of this took place at little Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes, Delaware – not New York, Los Angeles, Boston, or any other big city you could name. The closest major cities to Lewes are Philadelphia and Baltimore, both of which are about a two-hour drive away.
The first year I went, the Lebron James-led St. Vincent-St. Mary’s High School played to a couple of packed houses. For their first game in the National Power Series, the attendance was so great that they closed the doors to the high school an hour and a half before the game was to start because the school was going to be packed. As legendary as Lebron was, even more legendary was the last game of the tournament, where Villanova junior Jason Fraser helped lead his Amityville (N.Y.) High team to a great win over James and St. Vincent-St. Mary in what some think may be the greatest game in the tournament’s storied history. The difference was two free throws with four seconds left by then-sophomore guard A.J. Price, who had 21 points and 5 assists. The free throws came after James had made an incredible four-point play with 5.4 seconds left to cap a 39-point performance.
There is much more that can be said, but this gives an account of the taste I have had of it. It will certainly feel different on Saturday, not flying out of Logan International Airport to Philadelphia, then driving down Delaware’s Route 1 – a pleasant drive, partly because traffic is scarce on Christmas night, partly because Delaware is a nice state and Route 1 takes you through a good portion of it, and mostly because of anticipation of what was in store for the next five days. Much of my liking for Delaware is courtesy of Jacobs’ tournaments; prior to attending Slam Dunk and War on the Shore, my only forays into the First State were all to the Newark/Wilmington area for games at the University of Delaware. Going to the southeastern part of the state – affectionately known as “the beach” – one goes through much of the state, and the drive is such a nice one that when it finally ends at the Hampton Inn in Rehoboth Beach, it’s hard to believe almost two hours have gone by since picking up the rental car from Philadelphia.
Traveling to a small, out-of-the-way town see high great school basketball is certainly quite a way to spend the Christmas holiday, and it’s one that will hopefully come back again soon.
