Gus Macker is here. The hoops are up and neatly arranged, and East Main Street is now closed off until early Sunday evening. The 3-on-3 tournament, now in its 11th year, comes the same time every year on the second weekend of July. This year in particular, the timing could not have been any better.

Norwich, as a community, is still righting itself from the loss of its leader, Robert Raphael, who passed away a few weeks ago. And Norwich, along with the surrounding area, is slowly returning to the normalcy after the 2006’s devastating flood.

And as everyone is well aware, Mother Nature has acted miserly through the first few weeks of summer time in doling out the sunshine; however, local forecasts call for two days of fair weather – weather that should allow action to go off without a hitch.

Speaking of going off without a hitch, the primary organizers of this tournament and lead organization – the Norwich YMCA – does such a great job each year ensuring a smooth-running ship, that it almost seems like a given – something we all take for granted. But there is so much more than meets the eye.