Summer Quiz: Know Your Courts
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We were all chatting in another thread about basketball courts in Europe. So I started digging around on Google Earth in hopes to recover some of my favorite old spots from a few decades back. I had success finding some, and not so successful with others. I have a feeling life has moved on for some of those outdoor rims because the property values in European cities is sky high. My guess is someone’s office or bedroom marks the spot where I battled players for loose balls back in the '80s and '90s.
But I did find a few places and thought it might be fun to post them here, without identification, and ask posters to guess the city. I apologize that some of the images are blurry. I had hopes of having very clear images, but I guess Google Earth and Google Maps is not always accommodating when it comes to clarity.
Good luck guessing… I’ll post answers soon.
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@drgnslayr Top to bottom, Amsterdam Chania Paris Brussels
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I don’t know why but I think the bottom pic is Moscow and the top might be Rome or somewhere else Italian.
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Ooooo this is fun! Top to bottom totally guessing.
London.
Rome.
Barcelona.
Berlin
mi casa
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Love it!
Could you confirm that these four are from the 6 places you mentioned in your earlier post?
Without that tip, I’m guessing things have changed in Paris and Athens and you couldn’t find your spots. So, of the remaining four cities I’ll place them in this order:
- Rome
- Berlin
- Chania, Crete
- Amsterdam
I’m probably way off.
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While digging around on the internet with Google Maps and Earth I ran across this nice helper:
http://www.courtsoftheworld.com/
Very cool website! I’m just getting into using it now. I know at least one of the above are on that site.
Wow… even an iPhone app!
http://www.courtsoftheworld.com/mobile
What I would have given to have this 30 years ago!
If you are going to Amsterdam soon, and if you have an iPhone (the GSM version) it will work in Europe. Set the phone to use WIFI and shut off the Cellular data and then I think you can roam for free (as long as you find a hotspot). I always had good luck finding some free internet abroad. The GSM aspect is only if you want to use the cellular part. Europe doesn’t support CDMA (Verizon).
I highly suggest plucking down the $.99 for the mobile version of this app.
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I’d say the first is Berlin?
I can’t see the image all that well so let’s say somewhere not popular with google… The court style reflects the courts in Athens? So that’s my guess there.
Agree on the third one being Chania, Crete.
Last one is Amsterdam.
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Answers:
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Antwerp
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Athens
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Chania
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Amsterdam
I had mentioned previously about the court in Amsterdam was near Vondelpark. Which it is… it is in Museumplein, the park area around several big museums. The court was much different back in the 80s but it is still there.
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Dammit Jim, I missed all four. My bBall days on the court were over decades ago but I’m traveling with a young colleague to Amsterdam soonand it would be fun to see what he can do on that court-jet lag withstanding.
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The court on the Museumplein will be easy for you to find. It is right behind the Van Gogh museum and the Rijksmuseum… two big time attractions.
I last witnessed the court about 7 years ago. No one was on it on a beautiful day. The big attraction for young guys was the skateboard ramps. Pity…
Back in the day, that court had a line of guys ready to challenge the current game winners on every decent weather day.
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Su casa has a court right off a big circular swimming pool?
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@drgnslayr Found it thanks, the area I stay is walking distance. I won’t be there until FIFA is over so maybe we’ll have some luck.
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@drgnslayr If so, Vail needs to hire my pool man. I’ve seen algae as green as that grass in a pool before but that grey stuff looks terrible.
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“Found it thanks, the area I stay is walking distance. I won’t be there until FIFA is over so maybe we’ll have some luck.”
Or… if Holland wins the world cup this spot will be absolutely packed with fans partying down! The Museumplein is an area used to stage gigantic public events.
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@drgnslayr I tried to cut and paste a neighborhood photo I took just before Euro 2012 but I couldn’t figure out how to make it work. Anyway the place was wall to wall orange for a whole block. Homes with nothing but orange paint or orange plastic tarps.
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Orange is their country color and the entire country turns orange during World Cup and almost as orange on Queen’s Day every spring.
Got to hand it to them… they have the best public parties of any country I’ve been in!
Hup, Holland!
