Opening Tip

I think I'm lucky.

I'm lucky because my best friend from childhood is still my best friend. Now, we all know that people change over the years - and in turn your friendship with someone can change as a result. I'm not suggesting that my friendship with Mark hasn't taken some twists and turns over the years (I did my fair share or twisting and turning, I admit), but what is cool about the friendship is that one of our main interests from childhood remains one of the key things that make our friendship what it is.

Basketball.

Growing up, neither Mark nor I had a real basketball hoop to actually shoot on. Sadly, we were reduced to shooting a basketball at street signs on either side of Grove Avenue in Albany, NY. My brain has gone south over the years, but I have crystal-clear memories of Mark and I blowing our opponents out back in 1985. Mind you, we played two-on-nobody and competed against fictitious teams - every now and again, we'd lose a game in a 7 game series but we were about as good as they come. Several years later, Mark's cousin and next-door neighbor Butch got a hoop attached to his garage (wait, the ball goes THROUGH a hoop???) - it wasn't much longer until Mark had one of those portable hoops with wheels on the bottom that you could roll down into the street. Needless to say, our formative years were spent with the game of basketball.

However, if there's one thing Mark and I love more than basketball, it's talking about basketball. A lot. Ultimately, we probably spent WAY too much time watching the NBA and chatting about it too. But let's be real: we had plenty to chat about. Mike, Magic, Larry, Chuck, The Mailman, Stockton, Ewing, Clyde, Hakeem, The Admiral, 'Nique, Pippen, The Reign Man, The Glove, and Reggie are just a few of the players we grew up admiring, mimicking, loving and hating. We've seen the Bulls at their best - and as a result we've seen each other at our worst (I'm a Knicks fan, and Mark bumped and hit his head as a child and woke up a Jazz fan. Just saying). Hands down, our favorite day of the year is the day of the NBA Draft. And neither of us find that weird either.

Rather than keep our passion of the NBA to ourselves (trust me on this: when you've known someone for 25 years, it pretty easy to keep the same routine), we've decided to share it with all of you. With that said, welcome to Hoops Bar.

Neither of us truly know what direction this site is going to go in, but we do know that we love the NBA. If you do as well, feel free to join us as we venture into our site together.

Enjoy!