The 15th annual Sam Coady Classic basketball tournament was held in Chicago last weekend, and as usual it was a great success. There were 18 teams in the men's Open Division, 5 teams in the Men's Recreational Division, and I think 4 teams in the women's division. The guys who organize the tournament really have their stuff together, the games ran like clockwork, 5 games going on in the gym at once. The competition was the highest level I have ever seen in a tournament, including the two gay games I have been in. Each team played 3 games on Saturday and then had a single elimination tournament on Sunday. The Men's Open Division divided up into 2 tournaments on Sunday, with the teams that won 2 on Saturday playing for the ultimate championship and the other teams playing for the "NIT".

Plus bars sponsored parties each night of the weekend, so you could run your ass off during the day and drink your ass off pretty cheaply each night. On Saturday night they had a banquet that inducted 6 new members of the Gay Basketball Hall of Fame.

All in all it was a great weekend. The LA Freeze won the men's Open Championship, they are a team that has been winning consistantly for some time, with a team of great talent and really nice people. New York was second-place.

My team had a great time playing, we screwed up the first day and ended up in the NIT, but we won that on Sunday, so we played 6 games in 3 days. I still hurt, with two pulled muscles, one bruised calf, lots of bruises and scratches. It took a couple days just to recover but some of that may have been due to the alcohol that was consumed at Sidetracks on Sunday evening. And I asked several people from Chicago teams who might ChiAthlete be, but none knew. I think he was hiding from me. wink

Chicago is an incredible city, the weather was great (but a bit brown, don't you guys get spring before June?) and the organizers of the basketball tournament really put together a great event. If they are as good at organizing all of the other sports, Gay Games 2006 is going to be fantastic, at least for the sporting events. And isn't that where the emphasis should be?

Thanks Chicago! Can't wait until next year!!!!

Hey Rob:
We will post a story and some photos this weekend. Sounds like a great time.

BBALLROB!! You were here! Darn, sorry I missed you. If you had asked Sam Coady or Ted Cappas, they would have known who ChiAthlete was! ;-)
I'm glad you had a great time. Ted and crew did an amazing job with the tourney, it gets bigger and better every year. I was happy to see them work with our bars/sponsors in providing some great parties in the evenings. Were you at T's on Saturday night?! You would have seen me on stage w/Sam, when he was presenting Tony Miller his spot in the Gay Basketball Hall of fame.

Tournament director Ted C is a board member and also heavily involved in Gay Games, so you can be assured some of the same strong leaders that put on this tournament are also working very hard at giving us all an OUTSTANDING Gay Games, one that will have a definite "sports" emphasis.

Rob...also, there were 7 teams in rec. divison. With a lot of out-of-town interest, we hope to increase that even more next season.

Glad you had a good time and congrats on the NIT championship!

Story and photos posted.

I was on the same team as bballrob and I have to say he is my inspiration. There were times when I came out of the game because I couldn't breathe and I would look out at Rob and he'd still be going. You could tell he was 2 seconds from death, but he wouldn't stop. Truly inspiring.

I hope I am able to do that when I'm his age.

Nice pics and article. I'm envious. We don't have a gay basketball league in Toronto. But it looks like fun.

Just wondering if anyone out there might know of other gay basketball tourneys and how someone might be able to get picked up by teams needing extra guys? My town has gay softball and volleyball but no bball

Thanks for any responses...

You can check gaybasketball.com Also check the GLISA event calendar or the Outsports local event calendar.

Txballer,

Sadly there are just a few gay basketball tournaments, one in San Diego in January, one in Chicago in April, possibly one in Long Beach/LA in October, and possibly one in Montreal some time this year. But because there are so few tournaments, the ones that exist are great fun with almost everyone who plays gay basketball attending every one. The tournaments are a high level, but also have recreational divisions that allow everyone with an interest to play no matter what skill level.

Actually there is a team from Dallas that has formed recently, with a friend of mine organizing it. Each tournament picks up extra teammates from around the country, I am from Virginia but have been playing with a team from San Francisco for years. If you want more info please email or pm me, I will be glad to give you the email of the Dallas guy. We always want new and interested people to become involved.

And as to the comments from BBall6'9, don't let him fool you, he was the team mvp this tournament, he was awesome, it is so nice to play with someone at his skill level who can back you up. He also had an awesome dunk in a game, almost tore the rim off. It must be nice to have his talent and good looks too.

Why was the tournament renamed? Seems a bit egotistical. It's not like the Same Coady Memorial tournament. Odd.

[ April 21, 2005, 08:36 AM: Message edited by: ChicagoGuy ]

Egotistical? How so?

This isn't going to turn into another one of those things where the Chicago boys turn on each other and start throwing mud around, is it?

txballer if you're in houston hit me up: faydman@yahoo.com

To have a tournament renamed after yourself isn't egotistical? How many tournaments are there for ever sport that aren't named after the founders. There might be some that have been renamed after the founder has passed on. Should we rename all tournaments after their founder? Just strikes me as odd.
Maybe it's not egotistical. I guess I'd need to hear the reason why it was renamed and then I'll make my decision.

[ April 21, 2005, 11:10 AM: Message edited by: ChicagoGuy ]

Sam Coady had nothing to do with the name change, in fact he was embarrassed, angry and demamded it be changed back to Chicago Hoops Classic. The change came from Ted Cappas and the current league organizers. This was reannounced the weekend of the tournament, at the Saturday night party.

Thanks for the answer.
I'd say see you on Sunday but you don't know who I am
And I don't know who you are.

[ April 21, 2005, 12:31 PM: Message edited by: ChicagoGuy ]

Txballer, I definitely recommend faydman, he is a good player and wonderful guy, if I could just get him to play more basketball and lay off the tennis and poker....

I second the statement that Sam Coady had nothing to do with the renaming of the tournament in his name. He organized and ran the tournament for more than a decade, and he almost singlehandedly nurtured the Chicago tournament into the best gay basketball tournament in the US, which I guess means in the world. It is the de facto national championship. When Sam finally turned over the organization to Ted Cappas, the new head of the tournament, Ted and the committee decided to change the name, much to the chagrin and embarrassment of Sam Coady. The name change was announced last tournament.

I have known Sam for several years and do not find him egotistical in the least. He is just a great guy with no airs or attitude. He has done great work in the gay basketball world and should be honored more than just naming the tournament after him, but I think the gesture was excellent.

Knowing Sam, that's what I'd expect. Thanks again

HUH?! What is it exactly that you would expect?

That he would be
"embarrassed, angry and demamded it be changed back to Chicago Hoops Classic"
I meant it in a good way, softballstud. What softball team do you play on, stud?

[ April 22, 2005, 06:32 AM: Message edited by: ChicagoGuy ]

Yuck...it is supposed to pour rain all day and night.

I don't think any of us will be playing Sunday.
:-(

[ April 22, 2005, 08:08 AM: Message edited by: CHIathlete ]

SPIN Devils. And you?

hey CHIathlete, we all DID play yesterday. it was bright and sunny.

So GB, how did YOUR softball team do yesterday.
<wink wink>.

Bright and sunny but very cold and windy.

Don't let bballrob fool you guys! He's the reason we won in Atlanta last Labor Day. It makes it a virtual cakewalk when you have a center who averaged a triple-double for the tournament.

And I agree - he is a trooper. He played every minute of the tourney and never let up. Rob rocks it, and that's why I voted for him to get MVP. The fact that he didn't get the award ranks up in the sports tragedies of Peyton Manning not winning the Heisman......well, you get my drift!

ps. Was NFLJock at the tourney?! (wink wink)

For those of you who still think it is ODD that the tournament was renamed after S. Coady - please do the following:

(1) Go and start a sporting tournament from scratch, with no use of email and/or the internet.
(2) To be as realistic as possible, pick a sport that has no national gay sports organization and no current tournaments.
(3) Find a corporate sponsor that will buy into your vision and hand you a check - though you have no track record of running a tournament.
(4) Set up competition details and a tournament format from scratch.
(5) Try and find teams from all over the country to come to your tournament. Remember - don't use email or the internet. It didn't exist back then. You have to use phone and regular mail.

(6) After you have done all of this - do it again and again and again. To be as realistic as possible, start in 2005 and don't stop until the year 2017 - that's right..do it for 13 years straight.

It would be odd NOT to honor someone like that.

There are plenty of other reasons why the name was changed - but I think that alone is good enough.

If you knew the history of Gay Basketball you would understand the name change. There is no reason to defend the change. Sam Coady is one of my heros.

justsports...

checked out your homepage, very cool.

http://www.ngba.us