Courtesy Matt WronkoskiBut when it’s good, and it usually is, there is something wonderful and irreplaceable about pickup basketball. But I still play pickup ball whenever I can, and recently I’ve been thinking about what it means for America in 2024. In a time when we’re divided by race and class and age, pickup ball cuts across those lines. Maybe this country would be a better place if it worked a little more like a pickup game. And a different basketball playerI was once an angry young man on the basketball court.

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Persons: I’d, Thomas Lake, Matt Wronkoski, “ Ginobili, ”, you’d, Ruthie, Ruthie didn’t, Jimmy Dean, Corey, I’m, Corey wasn’t, Eric, John, We’d Organizations: CNN, rec, America, Spokane Hoopfest Locations: Jacksonville , Florida, America, St, Johns, Springfield , Massachusetts, Jacksonville