Notre Dame Bookstore Basketball 2010
Why Bookstore Basketball is so Unique
Courtesy of sportscenter.cnn.com
Bookstore Basketball is an unparalleled event because it brings together a great collection of people into an athletic arena in which all of the participants are amateur athletes and any given team can ultimately be crowned as bookstore champion. This year's tournament played out as follows:
# teams: 670
# all-women teams: 60
# players: 3,350
# 1st round games: 158
# different regions/brackets: 16
# team names referencing the Tiger Woods scandal: 20
This year's tournament has brought together nearly half of Notre Dame's undergraduate student body in competition, and that figure does not include the great number of students and faculty that came to the tournament merely to observe some of the contests. There is no other competition in the world that brings together such an array of spectators and competitors. This three week spectacle is so unique that participating in it was voted #40 on Sportsillustrated.com's list of "Top 100 Things You Gotta Do Before You Graduate."
# teams: 670
# all-women teams: 60
# players: 3,350
# 1st round games: 158
# different regions/brackets: 16
# team names referencing the Tiger Woods scandal: 20
This year's tournament has brought together nearly half of Notre Dame's undergraduate student body in competition, and that figure does not include the great number of students and faculty that came to the tournament merely to observe some of the contests. There is no other competition in the world that brings together such an array of spectators and competitors. This three week spectacle is so unique that participating in it was voted #40 on Sportsillustrated.com's list of "Top 100 Things You Gotta Do Before You Graduate."
2009 Final 4 Game. Courtesy of Ballersnetwork.com
With over 6,000 competitors in it's intramural sports programs, the University of Notre Dame was voted the most athletic college campus in America by SportsIllustrated. The Princeton Review even named Notre Dame as the number one college where "Everyone Plays an Intramural Sport." As each academic year comes to an end, it is ultimately the Bookstore Basketball Tournament which is where everyone affiliated with the university is able to participate in far and away the largest intramural sport Notre Dame has to offer.
Each year, the bookstore basketball tournament provides people of all varieties to come take in and enjoy the great number of games that take place within a two and a half week span. Not only do competitors get to take part in the tournament, but so do their friends and the fans that follow them throughout the tournament. Once a team reaches the deeper rounds in the tournament, they begin to foster a cult following from many of their fellow students and casual observers. On a smaller scale, these fans share parallels that could be found with those of English soccer hooligans. Here in this tournament, one can find many people dressing up and drinking heavily before their favorite teams' games. This creates the feel of a home court advantage for the underdog teams whom the majority of the crowd usually begin to root for. Those few close friends and diehard fans become a catalyst for getting the entire crowd of upwards of two hundred people behind the undermanned team. These fans are in fact affecting the outcome of the game, and are experiencing doses of marginal play.
Each year, the bookstore basketball tournament provides people of all varieties to come take in and enjoy the great number of games that take place within a two and a half week span. Not only do competitors get to take part in the tournament, but so do their friends and the fans that follow them throughout the tournament. Once a team reaches the deeper rounds in the tournament, they begin to foster a cult following from many of their fellow students and casual observers. On a smaller scale, these fans share parallels that could be found with those of English soccer hooligans. Here in this tournament, one can find many people dressing up and drinking heavily before their favorite teams' games. This creates the feel of a home court advantage for the underdog teams whom the majority of the crowd usually begin to root for. Those few close friends and diehard fans become a catalyst for getting the entire crowd of upwards of two hundred people behind the undermanned team. These fans are in fact affecting the outcome of the game, and are experiencing doses of marginal play.
2002 Tournament. Courtesy of The Observer
Similar to the readings we have recently discussed in Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book "Flow" we can find that most every competitor interviewed or surveyed found the play they were engaging in to be more complex than they originally thought. Bookstore basketball combines the aspects of ritual, sport, and play to the maximum as all three are fully engaged, often subconsciously, throughout the bookstore tournament. Surveying the courts, one can find teams that engage in rituals such as having team prayers, or practicing lay up lines before their games, or even teams that have their own cheers and dances that they display.
Each year, players in the tournament compete in the most popular sport in the United States. No matter how competitive they are or what their outlook is in engaging in Bookstore Basketball, they are in fact experiencing involvement in sport. And finally play is the ultimate theme that was found throughout the research done on the 2010 Bookstore Basketball tournament. Engaging in forms of play was far and away the most common answer for people in explaining why they participated in this year's tournament. Most all of the people that were interviewed or surveyed talked about how they wanted only to have a good time with their friends, in an arena they would not normally find themselves in. It is what makes Bookstore Basketball unique, that there can be so many different competitors, all amateur, and they all get to partake in an open tournament in which the winner gets nothing at all but pride.
There is truly no experience quite like the University of Notre Dame Bookstore Basketball Tournament. The survey and interview results do not lie, the ultimate goal in partaking in Bookstore Basketball is enjoyment. Just as found in the book "Flow," it can be seen that the quality of the experience is the most important factor for the overwhelming majority of participants. The reward is in the doing, in being with one's friends and competing together in a sport with one common goal, but the emphasis from nearly everyone surveyed was placed on being with those they wanted to be with. While Notre Dame students and faculty get to enjoy themselves on the old blacktop outside the bookstore, they can smile a little wider knowing that there is a group of kids in Jamaica doing the same thing at the place they call home. As long as those young children in Jamaica continue to benefit from the aid that this university if providing to them, we can only hope that the Bookstore Basketball tournament will continue to grow and give aid to those in need, and that it can continue its unique reign as the world's largest outdoor 5-on-5 basketball tournament.
Each year, players in the tournament compete in the most popular sport in the United States. No matter how competitive they are or what their outlook is in engaging in Bookstore Basketball, they are in fact experiencing involvement in sport. And finally play is the ultimate theme that was found throughout the research done on the 2010 Bookstore Basketball tournament. Engaging in forms of play was far and away the most common answer for people in explaining why they participated in this year's tournament. Most all of the people that were interviewed or surveyed talked about how they wanted only to have a good time with their friends, in an arena they would not normally find themselves in. It is what makes Bookstore Basketball unique, that there can be so many different competitors, all amateur, and they all get to partake in an open tournament in which the winner gets nothing at all but pride.
There is truly no experience quite like the University of Notre Dame Bookstore Basketball Tournament. The survey and interview results do not lie, the ultimate goal in partaking in Bookstore Basketball is enjoyment. Just as found in the book "Flow," it can be seen that the quality of the experience is the most important factor for the overwhelming majority of participants. The reward is in the doing, in being with one's friends and competing together in a sport with one common goal, but the emphasis from nearly everyone surveyed was placed on being with those they wanted to be with. While Notre Dame students and faculty get to enjoy themselves on the old blacktop outside the bookstore, they can smile a little wider knowing that there is a group of kids in Jamaica doing the same thing at the place they call home. As long as those young children in Jamaica continue to benefit from the aid that this university if providing to them, we can only hope that the Bookstore Basketball tournament will continue to grow and give aid to those in need, and that it can continue its unique reign as the world's largest outdoor 5-on-5 basketball tournament.
