The conditions were anything but favorable, but organizers of the 19th Buffalo Gus Macker three-on-three tournament were able to award championships Sunday. Included among the winners were two teams in the top men's division.
The Darling Paint team of Charlie Comerford, Nick Parisi, Karl Rainey and Fran Snyder won for the second straight year, with Rainey and Snyder replacing Jason Rowe and Damone Brown from last year's team.
In the other top men's bracket, the Jamestown-area Gerald's Barber Shop team of Maceo Wofford, Justin Smith, Dusty Carlson and Josh Schauman went undefeated to win.
Unlike in2008, this year's winning teams didn't play for an "unofficial" title. Given the amount of rain Sunday morning and the conditions on the sportcourt (Miller said it was like playing on an ice-skating rink), there weren't too many verbal complaints from players after the games. The issue, however, seems to come up again and again: should the two top men's winners play each other? From my perspective, they should. Teams pay a good amount of money to play, and want to know who is the best. Not to mention fans would like to see it, too. If it takes having referees and organizers stick around for another 30 minutes while a single winner-take-all game is played, that doesn't seem like too much to ask.
On the women's side, the UB Retired team of former Buffalo Bulls women's basketball players Heather Turner, Stephanie Bennett, Allison Bennett and Brooke Meunier defeated the Rovers team of Eva Cunningham, Jen Feher, Maria Atti and Nikki Hendrix.
If you were there this weekend, feel free to share your take on the Macker in the comments section below.
---Jay Skurski
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Basketball | Gus Macker | Sports