Just thought I'd share a piece of me with you all...



There is one in every neighborhood, that one place where
you know you will find all your closest friends on a daily basis. It is the same place you long for while vacationing away from home.
If you were to ride by this place now you’d see the bare necessities any local playground possesses. A couple of swings, a sliding board, a few riding apparatuses posing as cute little animals or insects, a hopscotch grid, a small shelter, a grassy area the size of a small suburban backyard, and a basketball court.
What you won’t see is the legacy and history this place has preserved generation after generation. Each and every time I return home; I make sure to get back to the block. Back to the place that has given birth to so much talent and character. I have witnessed the amazing, idiotic, hilarious, crazy, remarkable, and downright unbelievable. Right here, on this three-block stretch, my story has unfolded.
Where the old-heads ruled, parents watched without looking, kids ran wild playing all sorts of games. Kickball, dodge ball, wiffle-ball, to street football, more affectionately known as “Razzle-Dazzle”!
But when the smoke cleared; it always came down to the basketball court! There was a hierarchy here, and every rule was unwritten but very well known. You never played “prime-time” until you proved yourself worthy to be there. You either watched or played elsewhere ‘til it was your turn. And when you were picked; you dropped what you were doing and went on to get “schooled”.
This place has its fair share of athletes, no different from your block, but what sticks out in your minds are the memories of the fights, the girls you had a crush on, the night the meanest dog got loose, the tomato fights in Riccobon’s garden, starting a hike down to the Monongahela river, the shack you and your crew built, playing spotlight at night, assembling everyone for that long bike ride to anywhere. Waiting on the old-heads to finish playing basketball hoping you had enough daylight of your own to play feverishly in. If you didn’t, there was “old faithful”, that lone streetlight overlooking the hoop-court that we all paid our dues under.
This place made us all what we are today. It was the central nervous system of our “hood”. You started out there, you spent days there, you laughed there, cried there. You agreed to meet there, drank there, cussed there, and retired plenty of nights from there. Hell, you “grew up” there!
And when you left this place, a vast part of your heart and soul remained there. They are there for good. This place is, and forever will be…………….”Collingwood”

DexMSR said:

before you leave Cali (if and when) we gotta kick it and go out with a bang homie!!!

makes me wanna go home

pejman said:

Give me your email Pej...orgnote it to me.