THE DREAM LEAGUE
National Basketball Tournaments
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2008_Gotham City Games (New York) |
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Welcome to the Gotham Games 2008 | ||
| Dear Gothamites: Welcome to the 3rd annual Robert Lee Memorial Gotham City Games! While we still consider ourselves to be in the infantile stage of what will hopefully be a longstanding tradition in the years to come, we are remarkably excited to have come even this far. What began as a simple agreement between the Dream League of New York and IndoPak Sports of New York to put together a tournament has now already become one of the East Coast’s only, if not only only, pan-Asian-American basketball tournaments. While we honor the traditions of our respective communities annual games – the Chinese-American Nationals now in its 29th year, the Japanese-American Nisei Athletic Union’s 34th year with the LA Tigers Tournament, 20 years of the Staten Island Philippino Athletic Group (SIPAG) league, the 4 to 6 IndoPak Nationals that happen around the country – we are still building to become a weekend your yearly basketball circuit calendar. It’s year 3, and the experiment continues. Some of you have become mainstays already, others of you are new. Whoever you are, we hope that you have, do, and will, enjoy the competition and unique format of our tournament. We know we enjoy putting it out there for you – to see the best of the best come to compete. With each passing year, as the face of America changes – and really did you ever think we’d see a black president? – the landscape of our communities from businesses to schools to even sports keeps evolving.
Not long ago, Yao Ming came onto the scene. The other week, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed two Indian athletes in hopes of developing them into major league pitchers. Golf’s slate of Koreans is at an all-time high right now. Well, how about the homegrown Asian Americans like us? We’re doctors, lawyers, teachers, husbands, fathers, sons, and hey, we can be pretty darned good basketball players too. We may not be NBA material. Heck, most of us can only hope to be Jeremy Lin, but for the amateur level that brings out the best of the best, the Gotham City Games is becoming a place for this talent to gather. And before you think that’s us patting ourselves on the back, we know that without YOU there is no us. So Gotham Guys, THANK YOU. Thank you for trekking out here San Francisco. Thank you for hauling up the turnpike Dirty South. Thank you for taking time out from watching your Celts dominate, Boston. We’re glad all of you could make it this year and we hope that as we continue to march on, you’ll help us grow with you. Please pass the word on to your friends, your circuits, your opponents the next time you participate in a tournament at home or on the road. This tournament can only be as good as we collectively make it. Our mission has always been to bring together the best of the best across North America on one floor, over one weekend, to showcase it all at once (we do this in Vegas too in the summer). Last year, the NJ/Cali Soormay Franchise proved they were kings. While that same team can’t make it this year, their reigning MVP Balbir Singh - all 6’7” of him – will. Who will it be this year? Who will it be next year? Who will it be 25 years from now? All very valid questions, only one way to find out. 25 years from now, we’ll get back to you with all the answers. Game on, Gothamites! Best of luck to you all!
Brian Yang & Varun Bhartiya P.S. We would be remiss if we did not send a special shout out - big ups - to our our sponsors and volunteers. Alfred, Andre, Arif, AK, Derik, Eke, Rita, Sung, Wilson - you make us go. Rich, thank you for it all. Jae, thank you. Thank you PHILOSOKICKS (or is it BALL OR DIE?) Thank you PEQUOD COMMUNICATIONS. |
