Saw a fellow I did not recognize on stage watching the games. I asked which team he was rooting for. "None of them. I'm waiting for a meeting to start and I'm not sure which is the more painful. A boring meeting or watching this game."
As has become the norm, several Ward's had trouble fielding full teams. Only one Ward had a good excuse- I think it was Desert Mountain- who said several of their players were farmers and were out in their fields "a hayin". Now, I've heard the term, "Make hay while the sun shines'' but I never knew they still made hay in the dark!! But I guess they do.
6:00 Cortina 1st VS Ironwood- Apparently both teams were still basking in the afterglow of Romney's Tri-State Presidential Primary election on Tuesday as BOTH teams were NO SHOWS. Good thing these games don't count for anything in the Post Season Tournament qualifying. Otherwise how would I pick a game winner when not a single person showed up!! A Spectator who was an avid Church & City League Softball & Basketball player back in the 80's & 90's, asked me, "What's wrong with these guys today being "NO SHOWS". We never did that!! I wish you folks would stick to asking me questions I know the answers to! My best guess is that back in the "Old Days" there were no Gameboys, x-boxes or Twitter to distract the Brethren?
6:40 Crismon VS Cortina 3rd- Fortunately I never have to worry about having full teams for these wards!! It was even Mutual Nite for Crismon & they still managed to field a full team. The schedule does rotate game nites so no single Ward take the brunt of having to forego games each week due to YM/YW or Scout Activities. Crismon even had some spectators saying they'd come down to watch some good basketball. Wrong place for that......A spectator sitting on the stage asked me why we weren't calling "3 seconds in the lane". Well, there are several reasons:
- They are calling their won fouls & violation. No one wants to be accused of being a pansy by calling a 3 Seconds Violation on the opponent.
- I'm not sure if these guys can even count to 3 while intently focused on their game effort.
- With the physical conditioning of some of the Brethren, it takes them 3 seconds just to cross the lane.
- Why ruin the scrum under the basket on shots & rebounds- it creates great entertainment value- almost like watching The Hunger Games.
But just so folks know what to expect when we get to the Post Season Tournament and we bring in experienced Referees...... here's the rules interpretation & philosophy Referees adhere to:
- If a player is in the key 3 seconds & begins to move out of the key, let it go
- If a player dribble into the key & remains for 3 seconds & then starts a shot attempt to dribbles back out, let it go.
- If a player is in the key 3 seconds & the recovers a loose ball or received a pass and initiates a shot attempt, let it go.
- 3 Seconds is NOT in effect while rebounding is going on as there is no Team Possession of the ball.
- There is no 3 seconds violation against the Defense. ( You'd be surprised how many times people are yelling "Call 3 Seconds you idiot Referee" on Defense during High School Games. It may be idiocy to enjoy being a Referee, but who's the real idiot, begging for a 3 second violation call against Defense.)
I'm guessing young Strebeck has found some shoes made with Flubber. I'm quite sure he hasn't elevated as much as he did tonight since the last time he was in the bucket of a ladder truck snatching a cat from a tree limb!
7:40 Nauvoo Station VS Rittenhouse- This was Rittenhouse's Brent Fuhriman's final game with our Stake as he leaves Friday for the Mission Field.
Not only did we have 5 on 5, Rittenhouse even had a Substitute. It was clear from their pre-game conversations they did not know what to do with an extra player.
Pre-game the Nauvoo Station feller were whine, whine, whine 'cause I'd said in my last report they hadn't won a game all season. They claim to have won 2 games. So, OK, I'm now giving them credit for winning 2 games that don't count for anything and have set the record straight, such as it is.
It was a spirited if not high scoring game. With nearly 3 minutes elapsed time and NO SCORE, Bro Wright, who was performing the Score Keep duties, threatened to keep track of missed shots in lieu of made baskets. With finally Kyle, from Nauvoo Station dropped in an impressive 3 point shot (at least it would have been impressive if any of the Nauvoo Station Sisteren had managed to attend. Nauvoo Station did jump out to an impressive 7-1 lead. By half time they had forged that lead into a 21-15 deficit.
Nauvoo Station has an outstanding ball player & prime physical specimen athlete, Tyler Pear. In fact, he's so good and such a handsome fellow I'm surprised the Nauvoo Station Relief Society isn't charging admission to see this guy play in person. (It's rumored his mom & dad might be persuaded to pay some marriage eligible Sisteren to come watch him play to get him married off, but I can't confirm that.) Anyway, Tyler initiated one of his patented drives to the hoop & collided with a defender. BOTH players crumplef to the ground. NO FOUL WAS CALLED....... Both players looked at me to make a call. Hey, I'm sitting on the stand as a Spectator now. The consensus opinion of the Brethren of the Hardwood's said you'd rather call yer own fouls than wear the striped shirts & hang whistles around your necks. That's what'cha get when youse calls your own fouls......
Had a situation where the ball was lodge between the rim & the backboard ("lodged" is Referee lingo for the ball got stuck.) No one could jump high enough to knock it loose until Chris Jones adjusted the Nitro level in his new Nike Super Swisher Shoes up a few notches until he could finally jump high enough to knock it loose. Turns out those new shoes are a better investment than he persuaded his wife them to be when he got caught trying to sneak them into his house from the store!
This game even counts as a Missionary effort. Seems that fellow I thought was one of the 3 Nephites hasn't been baptized yet.
Oh, yeah, Nauvoo Station Ward finally eeked out a 43 -38 loss, so they've still won only 2 games all season.
8:00 Cortina 2nd VS Desert Mountain- Both teams were short handed & had to recruit fellas from the prior games. Many were willing. Since Tyler Pear does live in the Cortina 2nd Ward boundaries, they claimed him as a player. Gave him extra time to work on his sweet jumper & drives to the hoop.
Ron Daniels, Cortina 2nd Ward's Senior Citizen player asked if we had any "Special Rules" for guys over 60. Yes, Ron, We do. If you play in this league at 60+ you not only qualify for Medicare, you're gonna need it the next morning. That's your "Special Rule."
A highlight of this game was a high leaping steal by Kyle McCluskey of a down court pass, the drive to the basket & acrobatic Lay Up to score. (Well, some parts of that statement may be true. Other parts of it may have been fabricated. You make the call!).
Darryl Hasson of Cortina 2nd Ward came out of a self imposed "Semi Retirement" to play. I think most of the guys in our league are Semi Retired as basketball players but just don't realize it yet! Darryl still has dead aim on the rim with his jump shots. He just doesn't have quite enough jump left in his shots to get the ball over the rim.
James Hansen (Cortina 2nd) has been wearing a knee brace trying to recover from a badly torn up knee last season. Pre-game he announced, "Me knee feels pretty good, so I'm not gonna wear my knee brace tonight! After twisting it late in the game & barely able to hobble off the court I think he'll wear the brace next week again!
Corinta 2nd is still stinging from my suggestion that their claim to victory last week was under embellished and was a rout of the other team, so the brought their own Score Keeper, the intrepid 7th grade Cortina Tigers Girl's Basketball team player, Beetle Bailey McCluskey. I overheard her dad admonish her to keep track of all his "Stats" during the game- baskets made, rebounds, assists, etc.
I'm glad Cortina 2nd did bring her as there can be NO DISPUTE that Desert Mountain led 28-12 at half time. However, according to Beetle Bailey's score tally, the final score was 34 and Cortina 2nd 35 for a spectacular Defensive Shut Down in the 2nd half. This time Desert Mountain, who were, "keeping score in our heads" dispute the Beetle's score. In the absence of a written score for Desert Mountain (and knowing they all think they shoot like Kobe Bryant in their heads which therefore throws considerable doubt on the veracity of any score kept in their heads) I declare Cortina 2nd the victor in a 1 pint rout!
This game had 2 teenagers don striped shirts & loop whistles around their necks to Referee!! They even blew the whistles a couple times, which is better then the "call your own fouls" ratio in some games.
After the game Beetle's dad sauntered over & asked her, "What were my game Stats?" She gave him a puzzled look, checking the score sheet and said, "You didn't have any!"
8:40 Ironwood Crossing VS Vineyard- Ironwood Crossing was short handed, so those 2 teens Referees got to play in the game. One of them, Chris, is from a family that was just recently baptized, too! As we were at Center Court ready to administer the Jump Ball to start the game, Chris suddenly says, "wanna see me touch the rim!?" and takes off running at the basket, making a mighty leaping effort. It's Rush Limbaugh, I think, who coined the adage, "Words mean things". Well, Chris has a somewhat different interpretation of the "rim" constitutes than the rest of us. He touched one of the orange braces about 6 inches BELOW the actual rim. He was mightily perplexed when everyone just burst out laughing but finally came to understand that touching the rim means the ring at the top. He decided to give it another attempt but met with the same result. One day I'm sure he will be able to touch the rim. Today wasn't his day.
9:40 Remington Heights VS Ranch- Remington Heights had a full contingent +2. Ranch had to forage thru the hallways to scrounge up extra players. Enough were found to get the game going. When I looked out and saw an 11 year old had put on a referee Shirt and was walking up the side of the court holding the whistle in his hand, poised to call a foul I figured anything else I could note about this game was just going down hill and decided to check the doors & lock the place up to get ready to head for home!
Queen Creek North Stake Men's B-Ball Report
April 4 2012
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