What's good y'all. Hope everyone stayed dry yesterday. From the looks of it, NYvsNY had a great opening day. If you were looking for Team Dyckman — we had a bye this week. We make our debut at home next Tuesday!
To be honest, I didn't know what to write about today. It would be wise to have a bunch of these story times already written and just pick one, but I like to write in the moment. There has been one major theme on my mind regarding the tournament this summer:
Our crowd has gotten significantly younger.
Back in the day, you could look at a specific section of the park and know exactly who was going to be there every single day. Some sections even had names. Directly behind the scorers' table at the top right was the "Get Money" section. Those seats were RESERVED — you were not sitting up there if you were not a member 😭💯 Directly across from the scorers' table to the top left was the "Brugal section." The section to the right of the basket on the 10th Avenue side was the "Mountain Dew" section — you know what I mean?! We know what you mean 🗣️ IYKYK. And the section to the right of the basket on the Nagle Avenue side was the "40 and Over section." Nowadays it's more of a "get in where you fit in" situation.
To be clear, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It's a blessing — and really the purpose of the tournament — to provide the community with a safe space where they can watch high-level basketball free of charge. The kids are outside. By kids I mean Gen Z. Social media plays a big role in all of this. I had a TikTok go viral recently and the comments are full of people saying they're coming for the first time.
Gone are the days when supporters could get out of work at 5PM, go home, change, and get to the park around 6:30–7PM and still find a seat. That entrance line starts forming around 5PM. As Isaiah Brown, Dyckman VP told me recently, "These kids are familiar with standing-in-line culture."
This isn't to discourage anyone from coming — just stating the current climate and what to expect when you attend a Dyckman basketball game in 2026.
See you all tonight — we have a HS showcase followed by one Men's College/Pro game.
All games can will be streamed on our YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔
As always, thank you for tapping into the Dyckman Dispatch! 🗞️
-Miguel signing out, Peace ✌️