Ritzville Scores With Streetball

They closed off several blocks of Main Street in historic downtown Ritzville Saturday.

And parts of Washington and Railroad, too.

The event: Streetball ‘95, definitely not the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world.

But size isn’t everything. Sometimes just having a good time is what counts. And on that score, Streetball (T-shirts for $12) looked like a winner.

Players of widely varied shapes, ages and skill levels competed beneath some two dozen baskets.

Charts on the windows at Wheatland Insurance showed the progress of teams such as Big Hooters, Below the Rim, Mac Attack, Crazy Noodles and Sharon’s Drive-in.

Court monitors got to deal with the standard assortment of easygoing good sports and sputtering jerks. A hovering gull came close to getting called for goaltending. And onlookers heard a steady stream of roundball talk that would have been familiar to anyone who has been to Spokane’s Hoopfest.

“Steps.”

“Switch! Switch!”

“Stay with it.”

“Help! Help!”

“C’mooooonnnn!”

“You’re calling THAT a foul?”

“Nice touch.”

Rock music throbbed from an amplifier beneath the Pastime Sports Center Tavern sign.

Outside the Eagles Lodge, hot dogs smoked on a grill.

“Hey, Richard,” said a woman walking into a store on Main Street that appeared to have everything from fishing rods to liquor. “Selling many pizzas?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “We’re up to 34.”

Players left bags and belongings unattended as they concentrated on trying to look like athletes they had seen on TV.

Kids parked bikes and walked away.

Sweaty strangers started conversations, “How’dja do?”

The thump-thump-thump of dribbling kept up a beat, drowned out only by occasional trains.

One player, his team finished for the day, tried the doors at the renovated New Ritz Theatre before heading to his car. It was too early.

“I haven’t been over here in a while, and I’d heard they had redone this,” he said.

Someone was noticing Ritzville.

Score one for Streetball ‘95.

, DataTimes MEMO: Being There is a weekly feature that visits gatherings in the Inland Northwest.