A sure thing

By MARIE LACHAT

Just because we forged ahead with the Holiday House Tour despite the untimely stormy winter weather, which was a bit uncooperative for our liking, you probably think this column is about Saturday’s tour.

Or maybe you’d think so because many hundreds of people came to Chestnut Hill by car, by trolley, by bus, by foot to see extraordinary homes dressed in designer holiday fashions accessorized with a winter wonderland. 

Or maybe you’d think so because our volunteers braved Buffalo conditions to man their posts, and florists and designers carted their wares from trucks and vans through sleety winds and icy surfaces while our generous homeowners still allowed the crowds of slushy Martha Stewart aspirants into their exquisite one-of-a-kind buffed, tinted, glazed and Pledged private homes.

Well it’s not!

As tenacious as our Holiday House Tour volunteers are, this sure thing, or the show must go on, refers to a group whose record for attendance, despite rain, sleet, hail or heat far exceeds any other record in Chestnut Hill. A group of manly men who will shovel, plow, sweep, mop, exterminate, pick up and deliver in order to ensure that their event (if you could call it that) goes on. 

Slams! Jams! Old guys playing hoops in Chestnut Hill. As scheduled, despite the snowstorm, a record number of players who shall remain nameless and who pride themselves on having an unblemished weekly record for decades, braved the Arctic conditions to take their place in undisclosed location on day and time not to be publicized. 

As I hear it from an inside source, horse sense and common sense fly out the window as these professionals, craftsman and wise elders go one-on-one on the court. No zone in this game. The players can be a bit too slow.

Bearing in mind that “old guys” in basketball can be quite young, I know for a fact that some of these gents are as old as the late, very late, fifties and plan to be playing in their sixties.

The aforementioned winter wonderland game is not the only game of hoops in town for gracefully aging gents. Several pick-up games where these legends in their own minds are actually welcome (Stay out young guys!) can be found in Chestnut Hill throughout the week.

As luck and easy access would have it, McNally’s and Campbell’s provide a perfect forum for replay of the prowess, past and present, of these legends. That and a beer add up to a perfect night.

So even though I listen faintly to the feats, or lack of, as told by my personal basketball legend, I love to hear who played, how he knows them, how long he’s known them. I love that eventually the old guys relent and let the next generation learn to play “old guys” basketball, for this is real community.

So the next time you see upwards of a thousand people walking around, heads spinning with the delights of this exceptional neighborhood, remember that behind our beautiful tree-lined streets and architectural gems there are real people creating real community in the most real and diverse ways.

Marie Lachat is the community manager of the Chestnut Hill Community Association