The summer is over and what did we see?  I'll tell you what I saw, I saw that the Tri-State Classic might be the hottest tournament in NYC with Dyckman right up there, and that Corey Fisher of Villanova might be the best guard to come out of NY in years.  CF is a master of the handle.  I watched him perform "in and outs" on a dime in traffic, he showed me deep 3's and soft tear drops all while he was chased by two defenders.  Yo C Fish, if you don't handle your business this year at Nova something is wrong,  you got the total package Son.  Watching you work over Kenny "Sat". over in the Dyckman playoff game was one of the highlights of the summer for me.  I must give respect to Kenny though, he's been killing dudes for 3 straight summers, uptown, downtown and in their nightmares.  Is this the changing of the guard?

What's going on with Last Man Standing NY?  We have no idea, but if you enjoyed LMS you are really going to love "The One".  That's right, Game Over is launching  the hottest new One-on-One competition in the world.  We started out (as you know) as the driving force behind Last Man Standing, a Game Over/MSG/McDonalds collaboration.  (Shout out to Cliff Morgan for coming up with the name).  We then found ourselves on the beaches of Girona, Spain (Can't wait to go back) watch one-on-one Spanish style.  We are now working on Germany, Greece and France.  Just today we laid out the plans for our Mid-West tour which will kick off in Minnesota this Spring.

What's the difference between this and Last Man Standing?  The difference is that winners from one country can find themselves flying to another country to battle for the ultimate title, "The One".  In fact, check out the visit the winners from Spain made to NYC at gameovernyc.com.

The entire quest will be taped for an up coming TV show entitled . . . what else, "The One".   How do you get in?

Stay close to us, visit every week right here at gameovernyc.com.

Former New York Knick and Truman High School star is heads the list of 8 new inductees to the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame on September 17th.  Other inductees are Kenny Anderson, Sam Perkins, Lou Bender, Eddie Younger, Coach Pete Gillen, Bob McCullough, and Joe Goldstein.  Strickland led Truman to its only City Title in 1984 and then beat Sweet Home High School in double over-time with a reverse lay-up to capture the State Championship.

Kenny Anderson is was a point guard extraordinaire out of Archbishop Malloy before he started the path down to Bobby Cremin's Georgia Tech teams (Stephon Marbury would follow shortly after).  Sam Perkins is best remembered for his winning a national title for Dean Smith at North Carolina.  The one thing adding 8 names to the roster of the Hall is that here will always be plenty more to follow from the furtile playgrounds and high schools of New York City.  Game Over

The words legend and superstar are used as if they are everyday language nowadays.  We call everyone a legend or superstar, watering down the meaning when when a true legend or superstar should be appreciated.  While not getting into a debate on the topic today, does LeBron James, a "superstar" truly deserve the title today?  What title's has he won, other than an Olympic Gold last month?  Does he truly belong in the same breath of superstars, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, etc. that have the hardware and resume to substantuate their inclusion?

Which brings us to the unfortunate passing of a true legend, Coach Don Haskins, this past Sunday.  Most of you only know of Coach Haskins from the Disney movie "Glory Road".  The movie recounts the story of his 1966 Texas Western (now UTEP) team becoming the first all-black starting five to win the NCAA championship.  "The Bear" as he was known, is credited with breaking the color barrier, but that is not what he was trying to do.  He was what we should all strive to be . . .  color blind.  He wanted to win, and his best starting five just happened to be black.  The championship game took on further significance because it was against Coach Adolph Rupp and his Kentucky Wildcats (Coach Pat Riley was a starter).  Rupp was out spoken about his dislke for black players and was the last to recruit any in the SEC.  Haskins received death threats and hate mail during that part of career as he changed the social order in college basketball.  To New Yorkers, perhaps the best known name to play for Haskins is Nate "Tiny" Archibald.

What elevates Haskins to legend is not his 719 career wins (19th most in the NCAA).  It's not his coaching of 1966 or 38 years on the Texa Western / UTEP bench.  It's his understanding and teaching to his players, to his peers, to those that follow college basketball, to all that just pick-up their pool sheets in every March, and bluntly, anyone that breathes oxygen.  You base the quality of a person or persons of what they can do in their capacity.  Hopefully, as we go to the voting booth this November, we will all use Coach Haskins' lessons and view the candidates by their potential to better the human condition instead of their skin pigment.  Game Over

Almost out of a science fiction novel, Patrick Ewing is coming back to the Garden.  Well, almost.  Today the Knicks traded Frederic Weis, yes, that Frederic Weis who was drafted with a first round pick in 1999 (and the passing on of St. John's Ron Artest) to Houston for Patrick Ewing, Jr.  To add more irony to the trade, Ewing, Jr. was included in the trade from Sacramento to Houston with . . . Ron Artest!  Now Weis, if he decides to leave France, will play with Artest.

We liked Ewing, Jr. when he was at Georgetown.  But he is not his father (and in all fairness, very few are) and playing in New York is going to bring unfair comparisons.  He is a good defensive player, but has not the offensive skills of his Hall of Fame father.  Then again, his father didn't have the offensive skills when he came to New York either.  Time will tell if the apple has fallen close to or far from the tree.

After our recent rip to Barcelona, Spain for Last Man Standing - Spain and then hosting the winner and runner-up here in the world's basketball capital, NYC, we were not disappointed in seeing Spain in the Gold Medal game against the USA.  With that said, the physics of the world was corrected early Sunday morning in the USA's Gold Medal win.  Water once again flows downstream, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and the USA is the best basketball team in the world.

And its because order was also re-established in the NBA pecking order.  It was not LeBron James or Dwanyne Wade (though he was high scorer), but Kobe Bryant who hit the big shot with about 3 to go.  And let's not discount having the right coach, a coach that would be and was universally respected by all players, Coach K, at the helm.  The world is now right with itself.  And don't think there won't be a lot of smack talk before the tips of NBA games by all the USA Olympians to their counter-parts.  For the first time in a long time, Game Over.

Game Over All-City Voting #1 vote-getter Omari Lawrence, formally of St. Raymond's has verbally committed to play for St. John's in 2010.  The 6'4" senior-to-be chose St. John's over Uconn and Louisville.  He will play his senior season at Soutn Kent in Connectticut, joining fellow All-City #7 and teammate at St. Raymond's, Kevin Parrom.

Check out the video of Omari at last year's Big Apple Basketball Challenge on our All-City page.  Scroll down the selections to the right to find video of Omari.  And be sure to watch for this year's All-City Voting to start in November.

The more we watch the Olympics and the open court style of ball that the USA can play, we can make our prediction for 2010:  Chris Bosh, not LeBron James or Dwayne Wade will be wearing a New York Knick jersey.  We all know there is a bumper crop of free-agents coming in the summer of 2010.  Its only 2008 and already the Nets are making room for their run a Lebron.

LeBron is a great player.  Hands down.  Maybe the best in the NBA if you want the argument.  King James would be the toast of Broadway.  On that short list would also be Dwayne Wade (not a one-name player).  Already won an NBA Championship.  Would look great in the white-orange-royal blue of the Knicks.  But it is Bosh that fits the bill of what the Knicks need.

He's 6'10", mobile, only 24 yrs.old (26 in 2010) and most of all fits perfectly into the up-and-down style of Knick (and current Olympic assistant coach) Mike D'Antoni.  You don't think its a coincidence that D'Antoni is on Coach K's staff?  He is the US expert on the European style of basketball.  The same style he instilled in Phoenix and the same style Donnie Walsh wants in the Garden.  Bosh is the right fit for this puzzle.  LeBron is more of a power player, working on the blocks.  Wade will work the perimeter and yes, in the D'Antoni system that is an important element.  But that can be found easier than the talent that Bosh has.

So if we were you, to beat the rush, line-up now at Cosby's at the Garden to get your New York Knick Chris Bosh jersey.

Who are they fooling?  We've been watching for the past 8 days and seen some tremendous performaces, listened to insiteful commentaries, and learned of new athletes arournd the world.  NBC and its sister stations that air additional coverage don't need to commercialize the Olympics anymore than it already is.  They hit us with enough NBC coming shows this Fall as it is.  But have any of you noticed how the Olympic Fanfare music has been replaced when the USA Men's basketball team is playing?  If you just hear the familiar tune, you would think there is an NBA game on.

Now, we know that is essentially what we are watching.  Like today, as we see USA play Spain, with all the pros Spain has on its roster.  Did David Stern make it part of the contractual requirement with NBC that whenever an NBA player is being shown, it is an "NBA" event and therefore identifying music and/or other identifying marks need to be used?  Isn't the Olympics already a Summer League game for the NBA?  Stern has done such a magnificient job in elevating basketball to the second most popular game in the world (and could be argued as number one) that he can let the reigns loose and just let the games be games.

Or is this a decision by NBC?  Branding-in-branding of its brands?  Trust us, we all know when the basketball games are on.  Just like there are boxing fans and NBC has basically dedicated MSNBC to show as many baoxing matches as possible, and the boxing fans know that, we basketball fanatics know when the games are shown (and its not on some secondary channel).  Kobe Bryant is already treated as an Earthbound deity in Beijing, China, not being able to walk or go anywhere without being mobbed.  Kobe jerseys out-sell Yao Ming jerseys in China.  Everyone knows about basketball and everyone knows about the NBA.  We're not against free enterprise (in fact, go to our Store now and buy a T-shirt!).  But does the Olympics embody the ultimate games of athletes or does the NBA?

So here is the question NBC.  Which is the greater brand you are promoting, the Olympics or the NBA?  We'll just follow the money trail.  Game Over.

If you have been watching the Olympics (and who hasn't?) you've become aware of the controversy surrounding the Spanish men's basketball team.  That, apparently, is just the beginning.  Now members of Spain's Federation Cup team are seen doing the same in a photo back in April after they defeated China in the semifinals.

The men's basketball team "explained" away the photo of their members slanting their eyes to look Chinese as not to be offensive but as an affectionate gesture.  Would that be the same if the Games were played, in say, South Africa, and the players painted themselves in blackface?

Madrid, Spain is making a bid to host the Summer Games of 2016.  This is not speaking well of a community that is nothing like what is being depicted in the photos.  Game Over has recently had the pleasure of hosting the winner and runner-up of Last Man Standing Spain.  The two gentlemen were anything but courteous, appreciative, and diplomatic in the means they presented themselves.  They were, and are, fine representatives of not just themselves, but of their country.