All in all, I’d say the first Xconomy H-O-R-S-E basketball tournament, held last Friday afternoon, was an unqualified success. Not for my Xconomy team (Xconomy I), which flamed out in the first round—some guy with the initials GH couldn’t buy a bucket—but rather for the couple dozen folks who showed up from the local startup and innovation community. They represented Dogpatch Labs, MITER, MIT, and various companies and organizations around Kendall Square.
I didn’t get everyone’s last name (and in some cases I might have the first name wrong), but thanks to all the teams who participated: Matt and Julia (We Thought We Were Old Until We Got Here), Laura and Paul (Plummelo), Sergio and Erdin (MITER), Mitch and John (Animal Cracker), Harry and Peter (Evil Doctor Loss), Shobin and Colin (Uncreative), Pedro and Raj (Praj), Richard and Larry (Rarry), Nate and Wes (Neuroscientists), Nir and Matt (Redemption), and Mara and Erin (Xconomy II).
The Final Four were Neuroscientists (who knocked my team out), Redemption, Rarry, and Phoenix. Those of you paying super-close attention will notice that Phoenix was not one of the teams previously listed above. That’s because they were a late entrant, composed of Chris Pirie (another representative of MITER) and our very own Bob Buderi, Xconomy’s CEO, who got himself a real partner when it counted.
(* Bob was my original partner on Xconomy I. After Chris showed up, we drew names to set up a new team because of the way the bracket worked out. After several attempts to recruit other players, Bob took the open slot as Chris’s partner. Some would argue that any achievements by Phoenix must be accompanied by an asterisk. Let’s move on.)
The riveting final pitted Rarry against—you guessed it—Phoenix. A battle of old friends. Of colleagues. Of former colleagues. It came down to the final shot, as we knew it would. I can’t remember exactly what happened (I was eating ice cream), but in the end, Phoenix (*) won the title.
Let’s do it again sometime soon. In the meantime, here are some photos from that afternoon, snapped by the Xconomy crew (click on them for larger versions):
Chris Pirie’s arrival:
No dunking allowed:
The official tournament bracket:
More photos on the next page, including the winner of the “most innovative shot” award…
