This is a Sign There are Too Many Holiday Tourneys

Over on SI, Luke Winn has an interesting piece about how ESPN largely dominates the holiday tournament landscape after a change in legislation a few years ago. It makes some interesting points that could really be added to the pile of "Prepare yourself to work in the ESPN fields!" file. (Of course, it also creates the Wal-Mart paradox. We love hoops on TV like we love cheap goods, but do we mind that the little guy gets squeezed out?)

Anyway, one of those tournaments that doesn't fall under the ESPN brand is the Cancun Challenge. The big name there is Kentucky, a team that ought to help organizers overcome the lack of a spot on ESPN. So ... can someone explain to me why they're playing in some sort of ballroom with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling?

I railed against some of these holiday tournaments the other day, but this only adds fuel to the fire. A description of the floor, courtesy of the Lexington Herald-Leader:

“It’s a floor, at least,” Patrick Patterson said. “There are cracks in the floor, spacing missing, parts in the floor where it dips in and makes a ‘V’ shape all the way down the floor. We were dribbling the other day and balls were going left and right. John (Wall) lost a couple balls. A couple teammates tripped on the court cause of the cracks. The court is in pretty bad shape, but it's still a basketball court.”

My parents in Cincinnati have a basketball hoop in their driveway still. Maybe they can host a holiday tournament next year. The driveway isn't really flat, and there's only one hoop, but it does seem like standards are lowering, so I like our chances for the first annual Graeter's Ice Cream/Littmann Classic.

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