Court of the Crimson King
(images via: Musings From the Far Easy and Rocky Mountain News)
Though the McDonald’s branch is gone, the basketball court lives on in Beijing, China’s Forbidden City. Even odder, the court boasts an astroturf surface that at least must muffle the sounds of bouncing basketballs in this normally serene (though tourist-choked) area. Word has it the “Emperor’s Court” was built to provide a recreational outlet for red guards on their breaks… er, not those Red Guards.
(image via: Tritonal Pony)
The so-called “creative deconstruction in living colour” above, the work of Tritonal Pony, deliciously plays up the imperial vermillion hue of the Forbidden City’s many ancient buildings while providing an appealing contrast with the bilious green rust-proofing paint on the basketball net’s metal support. Care to try for a last-second buzzer beater, Last Emperor?
Magic Johnson Kingdom
(images via: Disney Every Day and Invisible Themepark)
There’s more inside the Matterhorn at Disneyland than an irritable-looking yeti… try a basketball half-court! A pervasive legend posits that back in 1958 when Disney applied to Anaheim authorities for a building permit, the matter of height restrictions came up. Disney got around the regulation by constructing the half-court inside the mountain and calling the whole thing an arena. The tale is undoubtedly untrue but hey, stranger things have happened.
The REAL Lakers
(images via: Senyorita and hwatson78)
If you thought the USS Carl Vinson had the market cornered on floating basketball games, think again… and think Cambodia. This somewhat smaller floating basketball court can be found in the Chong Khneas floating village near Siem Reap on Cambodia’s largest lake, the Tonle Sap. Chain link fence walls keep errant passes from being snapped up by the local crocodiles.
(image via: Christine Zenino)
There must have been a sale on blue paint sometime in Chong Khneas’ past but we digress: the town’s children could care less. As for the inevitable rocking that ensues when a bunch of kids run and chase basketballs around, they’re probably used to it having spent the bulk of each day at a floating elementary school.
