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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Basketball’s love letter to Spokane

Former Gonzaga University basketball player Nigel Williams-Goss conducts a skills clinic at Hoopfest’s Nike Center Court, Friday, June 29, 2018 in downtown Spokane, Wash. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)
By Chris Crutcher For The Spokesman-Review

My Dearest Spokane,

You have stolen my air pump.

For decades I have been enticed by the most stylish of metropolises: cities who dub themselves Emerald, or Windy; who claim Brotherly Love or an affinity for Oversized Apples. One even calls itself “The City who Loves you Back.” (Hah!)

But I have never been one attracted to glamour. From wherever I am launched, I always seem to bounce back to that which is small and natural, unpretentious and inclusive.

You need not have sold yourself to me so completely; I was moments away from texting you with the proposal of a lasting bond, hesitating only because I feared you might think me a romantic trickster, dazzling you with some between-the-legs, behind-the-back sweet-talk that would leave you dazed and flat-footed as I dribbled on to some swankier locale; maybe one with smoothly paved, unbuckled streets. (Fear not, Sweet Spokane, your imperfections beckon me.)

Hoopfest crowds fill downtown Spokane around Stevens Street and Spokane Falls Boulevard Saturday, June 24, 2017. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)
Hoopfest crowds fill downtown Spokane around Stevens Street and Spokane Falls Boulevard Saturday, June 24, 2017. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)Buy a print of this photo

My magnificence doesn’t come from the Michael Jordans and Cheryl Millers, strings of championships or the Sweet Sixteen, but rather from the sleepless anticipation of the young girl or boy on the night before an important game, or a 3-on-3 street festival; or the “possibilities” beckoning the melancholy grown-up, wistful for never having made the team. You offer those possibilities by the thousands. I have forever felt at home with you, unconditionally welcome.

Your fans stream in from miles around for the B tourney; fill your arenas to the rafters for regional March Madness contests. Your high school teams compete at the highest levels, volunteers come out from under the hardwood by the thousands to run your 3-on-3 street tournament, which I know to be the largest in the world. It is not your wordsmithery that draws me in, but your being.

My only hesitation, Spokane, is with the “e.”

I share the consternation of the above mentioned sportscasters and flight attendants — as well as foreign exchange students and newbie Weather Channel broadcasters. Reading “Spokane” while saying “Spokan” is like patting your head while rubbing your stomach. While it’s too late to eradicate your “e,” you must swear in our prenup never to sully our union by calling us “Hooptowne.”

With that guarantee, we have a slam dunk.

Forever and Ever Yours,

Basketball