For decades -- there is no record we know of for when the games started -- local basketball aficiandos have met every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the gym at the YMCA to play hoops.
It is almost certainly the longest-running, ongoing pick-up basketball game in Batavia.
Joe Perzia, the longest-tenured regular player, has been hitting the court at the Y since the early 1990s.
Mike Roth, in his 70s, is the oldest active member, but on any given morning, there can be players in their young 20s trying to block out or drive on guys twice or even three times their age, and the matchups aren't always as uneven as they might sound.
The games are always spirited and intense but always friendly.
Players start showing up on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 6 a.m., with games usually starting by 6:30 a.m. In that time, they might fit in as many as three games before players start heading off to work.
On Monday, the current group of regulars played their last games at the old Y. On Jan. 2 (which is actually a Tuesday, in a slight break with tradition), they will play their first games at the new Healthy Living Center.
To commemorate the last games in the old gym, in the manner of a celebration after a big championship win, the players cut down the nets in the old gym.
Submitted photos.
