New York City’s public high school athletics governing body should do more of the types of events that played out Sunday at Cardozo High School in Queens.

All five boroughs were represented at a five-game, day-long basketball event dubbed by the PSAL as the “A Division Showcase.”

After eating lunch at the new Dumpling Galaxy in Flushing, I took the Q27 bus out to Bayside to see a game or two at a gym that’s gained repute over the years because of Cardozo‘s legendary head coach Ron Naclerio.

Admission was free. While trying to find a bathroom on the way in, I wandered the halls of the giant school and let my mind drift a bit to my own days of navigating the high school life.

Naclerio played the happy host in the gym as the day wore on. He mingled with players and fans and made sure the participating teams got a little hospitality. Naclerio’s won 700 games at Cardozo since 1981 and can be seen routinely at city hoops contests other than his own.

The game I was interested in seeing pitted Harry Van Arsdale versus Evander Childs Campus. Brooklyn vs. the Bronx. Van Arsdale’s sophomore point guard Mitchell Mercado hit a big three late to puncture a Childs rally and seal his team’s win. Mercado played tenacious defense despite a size disadvantage and was fun to watch.

Both coaches in this game appeared to be excellent teachers of the game based on each team’s disciplined style of play. Nate Thornhill of Van Arsdale (pictured above) wore a snazzy sweater that said “Brooklyn Parle Francais.” His success at Van Arsdale is nicely documented in a story written a few years ago by Evan MacDonald.

Childs coach David Fonfa was demonstrative throughout and kept his team in the locker room for an extended period after the loss – presumably to gain more time for instruction. As his team exited the closed-door post-game session, Fonfa exchanged the traditional adult handshake with each player.

I was very encouraged to see a gym with a bunch of public school kids and their supporters enjoying a day of NYC high school hoops. The PSAL has a great opportunity to stage these kinds of events yet has shown signs of retreat in recent years. The showcase idea should be continued. Kudos to the PSAL’s Danny Harris and Coach Naclerio for putting on a great day.

-With the big snowstorm coming tonight, the pulse of the city is elevating noticeably. As I ran a few errands in the neighborhood Sunday night, the streets were packed with panicky people acting as if locusts were coming. The grocery stores were mobbed and cash dispensers at my bank were out of money. There were zero bananas left at my favorite little produce market. I regretfully agreed a few weeks ago to work an extra shift at the airport on Monday night when I should have been just watching the flakes come down outside my apartment window. Now I have to figure out how the return home is gonna go down. And I feel physically shitty all of a sudden with no appetite and weird body aches. But with just 8.6 inches of snow recorded at LaGuardia season-to-date, we were due for some catch up. This is it. I don’t really like walking in it but NYC’s weather is almost never as bad as what it’s made out to be.