Night Basketball Keeping in the neighborhood

    At night, when it is cool, Santo Domingo neighborhood people, in the Colonial District, congregate in front of the local mini market and watch sports on a big screen television. This group of grown men and women, on the closest corner to the the LaPuerta Roja Guesthouse, are watching an American basketball game on television this midweek evening. Some men are on their cell phones, others are talking about something other than the game in progress, the rest of the congregation are watching equally grown men in under- shorts running up and down a hardwood court, tossing a ball into a basket, and getting paid millions. Anything that gets people out of their house and visiting their neighbors can’t be all bad. Sports and competition run deep within all cultures. We all like to be entertained and mildly challenged but when things get too serious or too hard, many take their ball and go home to bed.. Spectator sports have long been one of the world’s biggest enjoyments. Sitting out at night under the stars watching a big screen television on a working night, and not spending a dime, is beginning to make a lot of sense.