Basketball, game-day food and the rooms where we watch
Courtside reading for game nights
Basketball you can follow from a bar stool, game-day cooking that holds up for a crowd, beer worth the second round and the culture of watching sports together.
For fans who care about the fourth quarter and the food on the table in equal measure.
We are a small crew of writers who have cooked on pub lines, poured beer through playoff runs and charted more games than we can count. Here we write about the things that make a game night good: reading the action on a screen, wings that stay crisp, nachos that survive a long timeout, the right beer for a three-hour broadcast and the rooms where strangers end up high-fiving.
Recipes are cooked before they are written. Basketball pieces are watched, rewound and argued over. New articles land in the Playbook most weeks.
The best mini basketball hoop for a bedroom door, an office or a basement, how to hang one without marking the paint and house rules for H-O-R-S-E.
12 minKeep reading
Crisp baked chicken wings from a home oven: the baking powder trick, a rack over a sheet pan, 400 or 425°F, and fixes for soggy or sticking wings.
10 minKeep reading
The best silent basketball for a condo, a hallway or a playoff night: which size to get, what foam gives up and how quiet quiet really is.
11 minKeep reading
Point guard to centre, the one through the five: what each basketball position does, how to spot them on TV and why the lines keep blurring.
10 minKeep reading
How non-alcoholic beer is made, which styles taste closest to the real thing, and how to host a long game where nobody feels left out.
9 minKeep reading
The shortest three on the floor sits in a strip about three feet wide. How that geometry reshaped offences, rosters and the way defences think.
9 minKeep reading
The fan's calendarTip-off in October, March brackets, June finals and the long summer of trades: a year of games worth watching together.
Where to watchSightlines, sound, seats and the small clues that tell you a room will actually put your game on the big screen.
GalleryTaps, booths, walls of screens and the basement setups that rival them, in pictures and the notes that go with them.
Alpha Grillers Instant-Read Thermometer
A pocket instant-read probe that answers in a couple of seconds and comes calibrated.
Price on Amazon, checked Oct 18, 2026, 3:55 PM ET: $14.97
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SKLZ Pro Mini Hoop
The over-the-door mini hoop most people end up with: a clear backboard and a spring-action steel rim that takes a dunk.
Price on Amazon, checked Oct 18, 2026, 3:53 PM ET: $34.99
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Crock-Pot 7-Quart Slow Cooker
A big manual slow cooker with low, high and warm: the simplest way to hold chili or pulled pork through a long game.
Price on Amazon, checked Oct 18, 2026, 3:53 PM ET: $35.99
Check price on AmazonProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change.
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