The NBA has put out thirty new floors for its NBA Cup. Thirty. Fully painted, in each team’s colours, with the name in giant letters down each side, the logo at the centre and the trophy in the key. And they’ve done it every year since 2023. Every year, mind you.
At our place, the floor of the council sports hall isn’t something we choose. It’s just there. It has three sets of lines, one for basketball, one for badminton, one for volleyball, and a stain by the club bar that nobody can explain. When someone suggested repainting the centre circle in the club colours, we looked at the tin of paint, then at the heating, and bought heating oil.
They even picked the colours to contrast with the jerseys. I think that’s lovely. For us, contrast is the bag of bibs in the minibus. And we’ve got a minibus, and it starts.
I’m not jealous, I’m a club president. I just think about one thing. Thirty painted floors, used up to the semi-finals, then the final on 11 December in Indianapolis. Someone put them down. Someone will take them up. Someone sweeps a giant logo in the evening, on their own, with the lights half off. Nobody is going to applaud that person. I wish them a flask.
There’s even a slogan in the corners: “30 Teams. 8 Advance. 1 Champion.” For us, the only writing on the floor is the white tape that says where the folding table goes.
Right. It’s late, it’s freezing, and the tape says the table goes against the wall. I’ve still got the chairs to put away.
It’s true, we checked: Basket USA.
