In the American playgrounds the hoops have been removed

"Hope without hoops" could easily be the title of a collection of poems about basketball, yet it represents the best label to date for the situation in the United States of America. The mayor of New York - one of the most dangerous outbreaks in the USA - Bill de Blasio followed the facts with words, removing more than 1,700 hoops in the main playgrounds of the city.

From Rucker Park to the McCarren of Brooklyn, passing through the Tompkins Square Park and the St. James Park of the Bronx: for the "street players" there is no longer any way to take refuge on the pitch with your friends. Of course, the choice of the Italian-American mayor is dictated by security measures to prevent the possibility of contagion of the coronavirus. The choice of the fields to which the essential part should be subtracted was made following the reports of the NYC Parks Department, which reported to the top what the parks were and the corresponding pitches in which the order of "social distancing" was not respected. Thanks to the intervention of the New York Police, the irons of the baskets were removed. De Blasio's idea is very simple:

"What is no longer good is any type of basketball game between people who do not live under one roof. Admittedly, it is a contact sport where people play very close and this can create a serious danger"

If on the one hand the decision to avoid any form of contact is more than understandable, on the other the results of the tactical move by the mayor of NYC had rather mixed results: in more than one field there were people who continued to play even without rims! However paradoxical it may be, this makes us understand the social and cultural utility of the pitch.

After the NYC news, other states are also tired of taking the same precautions, with the cities of Baltimore, Memphis, Charlotte, Philadelphia, many cities in Florida and Los Angeles, considered second only to the Big Apple in terms of playground beauty and culture. The images that come from Venice Beach are bleak and almost creepy.

In the case of the City of Angels, the ban also extends to skate parks. To prevent skaters from coming into contact with each other, in Long Beach half pipes, rails and ramps were filled with soil. Here, too, the authorities stressed that the first goal has always been to encourage people to go out, to do outdoor sports, but added that "now is the time to stay safe".

A slightly different and very particular case comes from Windy City. In Chicago, the same concept applies to New York: where there is contact, we avoid this from being created. The Chicago Police Department, however, did not remove the rings of the baskets, but limited itself to placing two pieces of wood on them so as not to allow people to play freely.

There are really many testimonials that can be collected through social media in these hours, where a clear and important decision is obviously dividing the citizens of every city in America. There are those who find it a wise gesture, a forced choice that can avoid very dangerous contagion situations. There are those who, however, want to continue living the daily life of the neighborhood and would not want any kind of limitation.