We survived our FIRST nite of Men's B-Ball......and no one got hurt! I'm sure there were more than a few fellows with stiff and sore muscles the next day, tho!
Thank you for your participation! We had plenty of players show up every game--- except for Rittehouse Ward which only managed 4 for the 9:20 PM game.
And it was a fast paced nite playing SIX games! We almost fell behind schedule at the first game when someone called on Ladd Smith to offer the opening prayer......He's got a lot to be thankful for! We DO want to be reverent, but you've only got 40 minutes to play......so we need "Speed Prayers" like my kids offer at breakfast on school days when they're running late, not Stake Conference with a visiting General Authority sort of prayer.
The Sisteren with children apparently had some inkling of what to expect from their hubbies skill level and took to the stage area to offer as much protection from flying bodies & errant shots or passes as possible. Wise choice! There was lots of stuff flying around!
We saw an interesting variety of activity displayed by the Brethren. Many demonstrated exceptional abilities to attempt shots from positions, angles and contorted postures never before witnessed (or contemplated.) Perhaps, the most remarkable shot of the nite was the graying Yancey Littler of Crismon Ward who, while shuffling across the key, shoveled the ball somewhere behind him at around knee level, (I'm NOT saying he lost his dribble or fumbled the ball- I'm just telling you what I saw, and managed to wing a Kareem Abdul Jabbar hook shot from somewhere behind his right ear and banked it in!! I should only have counted for 1 point since he had no clue what he was doing and was such a half baked attempt...... but the Official Scorer gave him 2 full points. His teammates mostly have him a bunch of guff for the effort!
Give Yancey enough time & he'll claim to have won a "Most shots made in a minute" competition at Queen Creek High when he was a student there and received free tickets to a Suns game & some Suns stuff. I Didn't think the Suns had been organized yet way back when Yancey was in High School.....
Bro Shupe of the Rittenhouse War made a similar wacky, white eyed, Hail Mary shot. I asked him if he knew what he was aiming at. He replied, "Of course! Don't you remember, I'm Super Shupe!" It's gonna be a LONG season I can tell already!
A comment about scoring...... you'll remember a prior report stated EACH team was to provide a Scorer & a Referee. We had a bit of a dispute about the final score in one game. As you might expect, it was the team that did NOT provide a Score that disputed the end of the game score...... They lost 51-48 . With just a couple minutes to go they were down 48-43 and felt they'd outscored the other team in the last few minutes. If you don't provide a Scorekeeper don't fuss about the score! If you ask a Deacon to be your Scorekeeper don't even bother to ask me to check the score. If you ask a wife who has kids with her to keep score just be very glad she bothered to mark any score down at all, keep quiet regardless of the score and give her a BIG THANK YOU! And don't forget, these games aren't "Official Games" which don't count for anything anyway. EVERY team will play in our tournament, These games are just to get you into some resemblance of playing condition and help you remember where the basket hangs and how to dribble more than your food & beverages.
A player asked if we were going to keep track of INDIVIDUAL scores......ONLY if your Team Scorekeeper keeps track. Otherwise keep track of your own score in your own head. Then add 10 points to that like you usually do when you recount your splendid exploits to others.
In addition to a variety of activity, on display was an interesting variety of apparel. I'm most concerned about those guys that showed up with shoes that matched their shorts or shirt colors. Perhaps just a bit too much of a fashion sense operating here...... Fortunately only 1 intrepid fellow showed up in U of A logoed apparel.
A few brethren clearly have serious hops. (For you Sisteren. that means they can really jump high- like a frog or cricket can really hop.) One fellow from Cortina 3rd Ward was still up in the air, I think when I shut off the lights. Most other Brethren demonstrated a vertical leap in the 3"-6" range. The leaps were not as impressive as the landings.
I was asked how many players are required to start a game. Knowing Rittenhouse can only scrape up 4 players, let's say a team must have at least 4 players to start a game and not be considered forfeit. (I'm not sure how you forfeit games that don't count, but play along with me here anyway......). Unless Brent Slade shows up all by himself that is. He has enough real game that he can play One on FIVE and beat most teams I saw last nite. So, unless your team is Brent Slade, you need 4 players to be an "Official, 'It don't count for beans' game."
And THANK YOU to those daring brethren that ventured forth to don the Black & White Referee Shirts & hung a whiste around their necks to Referee!!! Now that you've done that I think you may realize the game looks A LOT DIFFERENT when you're on the floor and YOU are the one that's supposed to call the fouls & violations, doesn't it?
As you might imagine we had a few comments about the officiating that took place as well as the decision to have players referee their own games & teammates.
Look folks, there is not a "right" answer to the Referee situation.
If we let the Defense "Call their Own Fouls," there are players who insist they've never committed a foul in their lives- even when the other player is lying in his own blood on the floor! "I never touched him!" is a common refrain. Usually followed by flapping of arms & hopping up & down like a spoiled sissy.
If the Offense "Calls their Own Fouls," we have brethren so concerned about not offending anyone that they won;t call a foul when it's their own blood pool spreading across the floor.
Blood on the floor slows down the game, so I think we need guys in Black & White to attempt to limit the mayhem.
We either Referee our own games, OR we assign Wards to provide Referee at either of the prior to or following their games. I tried that in other Stakes and it don't work!
Fortunately, recently married Jay Rosenhan & former Nauvoo Station member, his non-member friends Jason, and some yougin's from the Nauvoo Station Ward recently moved to Arizona, all volunteered to Referee several of the games, which let the Brethren playing those games off the hook!
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