The Original March Madness

March 20, 1897 the first five-man basketball team intercollegiate game was held at New Haven. Yale beat Penn 32-10. According to ivyleaguesports.com Yale’s basketball legacy is alive and well in the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.  Tony Lavelli is one of the all-time greats in Yale Basketball history. A 6-3 forward from Somerville, Mass., Lavelli scored 1,964 points in his four seasons, including 671 as a senior, leading Yale to the NCAA Tournament. He was named the National Player of the Year in 1949 and graduated as the fourth-highest scorer ever in major college basketball histoy. He was a four-time All-America selection and a first-round draft choice of the Boston Celtics. March madness has wandered a little from its Ivy League roots.  It traveled westward in New Haven to Southern Connecticut State University.  The women’s team recently won the 2007 Division II National Championship.

Architects and engineers unite

The erector set, a toy invented by a A. C. Gilbert in 1911, is still going strong today. You can still get a Ferris Wheel set that is based on A. C. Gilberts original design on the website Fat Brain Toys.  A. C. Gilbert’s manufactured the erector set until its demise as a company in 1967.  The toy is now distributed by NIKKO America; a company also known for their radio controlled cars and trucks.

Funky and fabulous

Hope you have your wellies on. According to the New Haven Register, last weekend’s Nor’easter pounded the East with almost eight inches of rain and high winds. This caused basements to flood and rivers to overflow. Who knew that New Haven’s L. Candee & Co.’s (the first boots and shoes to be made out of vulcanized rubber in 1843) would morph into the fashionably chic wellie.  Now you can be funky and fabulous while slogging through the flood waters.

Another kind of ice

Ice Cube, rapper, director, film star.  He’s known for speaking his mind and taking on issues of racism in America. While his name is ice cold, his career is hot, hot, hot.  I love spy thrillers. I recently saw him in XXX: State of the Union with Samuel L. Jackson and Willem Dafoe and fell in love.  This rainy weather means trips to the video store for his other movies.  Salt, no butter on the popcorn please!

The ice man cometh…

If you wanted to keep food cold prior to 1848, you had to hope that you still had ice cut from nearby lakes during the previous winter. Shipping perishable foods to other countries during the warm months was extremely difficult, if not impossible. Alexander Catlin Twining’s artificial ice-making machine made ice available year-round. Crown Street in New Haven is grateful for ol’ Alex’s invention. A number of clubs and bars line this street, making it easy for New Havenites to indulge in whatever they fancy. I fancy a Martini. Extra olives please!

Thank goodness for the corkscrew

The corkscrew was invented in New Haven in the late 1800s.  Thank goodness.  As  I slog home every night after a hard day at work I pass the newly opened shop “The Wine Thief” on Crown Street in New Haven. I stare longingly at the shiny bottles of wine and wonder if you can imbibe while covering a stemmed goblet in a brown paper bag and keep your yuppie cred…?

The big bang theory

New Haven, one of the first planned cities in the U.S., experienced a little urban planning earlier this year. On the edge of the original nine squares of the City, the architectually famous, New Haven Coliseum met its maker on January 20, 2007. Photographer Bill O’Brien shared this descriptive photo with The United Illuminating Company.