The 2 Nephites

It was a LONG and chilly night. Long because only 1 game had each Ward field a 5 player team all from their own Ward. Chilly on regards to the general shooting percentages on the night. Apparently, some fellows took advantage of the 2 week Queen Creek school Spring Break for a family retreat following last week's Trek. Other than the 1st game of the night, we did manage to get 5 on 5 games throughout the night by patching together hangers on from prior or following games.

There was a lot of slick ballhandling on the night, so next week I'll have the ball scrubed and treated so it isn't quite so slick and doesn't slip out of peoples hands so easily when catching passes.

We might not have had any "real" games on the night but at least Mitt Romney had a BIG WIN night in the Illinois Republican party!! That was a great relief, too. The last time a Mormon was a presidential candidate in Illinois he was shot and the Saints chased from Nauvoo across the Mississippi River to Utah!

6:00 PM Ranch VS Nauvoo Station – I sensed we were off to an inauspicious start when Nauvoo Station had a full team and Ranch was a complete NO SHOW. Dang it, too! You may recall a prior game report mentioning 1 of the 3 Nephites playing for Nauvoo Station with the "Reservation" style of run, run and run more brand of basketball!? Tonight we had 2 of the 3 Nephites show up for the Nauvoo Station and I was looking forward to a fun game. But, alas, it was not to be with noone from Ranch in attendance.

Also not in attendance were any of the eligible young Sistern from Nauvoo Station. Guess the boys forgot to make sure their game was announced in the Relief Society Meeting. May explain why so many of the Nauvoo Station Fellers are at or rapidly approaching that age where they are considered to be a "menace to society"……

The boys played 4 on 4 and scored 1 point for a regular basket and 2 points for a 3 point range shot. After 35 minutes of playing the final score was 7 - 8. Yep, them hapless boys can't score a bucket OR a date!!

6:40 PM Cortina 2nd Ward VS Cambria – slightly less in auspicious start for this game with 3 gents from Cortina 2nd and 4 from Cambria at game time. So, some of the Nauvoo Station boys staying to play, including the 2 Nephites. Folks got run ragged trying to keep up with them! Turned out their names are Corbin & Jobehn.

The nonmember that played for Cortina 2nd last week did not make it to this week. Seems he took a shot to the chin last week that required 6 stitches. That's Church Brawl and "call your own fouls" for ya!! So much for that "missionary" effort!

Returning to the hardwood for Cortina 2nd was their gregarious Captain, Kyle McCluskey. I don't know if Kyle played Full Back or Running Back in high school. Must have been Full Back as that position does not require as much fleet of foot or quickness as Running Back does. Kyle LOVES to drive the lane and does it like a Fullback, too! He claims to have scored 20 points in their game but that might have been attempts? His wife's admonition before he left home was, "Go! You need the exercise. Just don't come back hurt!” He didn't get hurt. Can't say the same thing for fellows that were trying to defend his drives to the hoop……

7:20 PM Ironwood Crossing VS Remington Heights – PIZZA TIME!! One wife/mom ushered her young brood up the stage, plant them down and plopped open a large pepperoni pizza! Even offered me a slice! But I already had my Chipotle Steak Bowl Pre-Game meal and was still full. Thanks anyway.

Fortunately for young 11-year-old call Kobe Mott of Ironwood he was not needed to fill the 5th spot on the team roster tonight. Too bad for Kobe and too bad for the team as their scoring dropped off without his razor-sharp jump shooting!

Lots of kids on the stage by this point so I opened up a bunch of chairs and laid them on their sides to form a barrier in front of the stage so no kids would roll over the edge like almost happened last week. It worked, too!

Both teams played with vim & vigor. I noticed a few of the fellows had trouble tripping over the lines painted on the floor. The thickness of the paint must have been catching their shoes as they moved around.

8 PM Cortina 1st VS Crismon – Gonna have to start calling them 0'Cortina 1st Ward owing to the Irish green shirts they showed up in. I thought maybe they'd visited a pub before the game, got confused and thought they were Notre Dame fans instead of BYU…

Cortina 1st is anchored by Shaquille Brooks in the middle. What a great guy! He always has such a smile on his face when he says, "You mean that's a foul, too??!!”

Crismon broke out a super batch of team enthusiasm early, wildly cheering every 3-point shot attempt. But as a few were actually dropping in the chant for "Shoot It!!" quickly changed to "Pass it!!" I think I did see them attempt a "Wave" celebration along the sidelines after a 3-point shot finally dropped.

Young Strebeck (to distinguish him from his dad, the "Old" Strebeck) is a Fireman's. I thought the famous "Fireman's Carry" was a rescue move Fireman used to carry injured people out of harm’s way. Yeah Strebeck has his own version of a Rireman's carry. It's when he jumps on the back of the player in front of him to get rebounds.

I'm also a bit worried about the Crismon team’s machismo as 1 of their players showed up wearing a PINK T-shirt to play.…

Crismon’s Jared Wright has been working on his "No Look Pass". So far, it's more "No Look" then "Pass" but he'll get it working one of these nights I'm sure.

8:40 PM Ironwood VS Rittenhouse – I know we played this game but I can't remember a thing about it except Matt painter evidently lost a $60 AZ Diamondbacks pull over that he left at the gym a few games ago. I'm sure whoever's wearing it now appreciates mats generosity…

9:20 PM Desert Mountain VS Vineyard - I'm quite impressed to see Vineyard all in matching white jerseys until I realized they were the jerseys I bring each week in case players forgot to bring their own white shirt.

Desert Mountain fielded 4 players and 1 bleeder. He is a Young Men's Leader that had come out on the losing end of a "Dodge Ball "game played by the Desert Mountain Young Men earlier in the evening and had a gash over his eye.

At half time Desert Mountain wanted to switch balls. They didn't shoot any better with the replacement ball.

Rules Book Stuff (since we are supposedly calling our own fouls) –

Who calls the Foul? – I don't care who calls it! Defense on themselves or Offense against that defense. Somebody just PLEASE call your fouls. I saw a Cortina 1st Ward player go flying across the court and no foul was called. He sat there for a moment and mutter to his self, "Guess that wasn't a foul after all!”

By contrast, the players for 1 ward were mumbling something about not being able to breathe on an opponent without having a foul called. Man up. Be honest about it – BOTH ways!

Block VS Charge – hardest call to make in sports…… What are the keys?

1. If the Offense Player (“A") has the ball, he must expect to be guarded. The Defensive player (“B") can't get as close as he can WITHOUT CAUSING with CONTACT with "A".
2. IF "A" is running with the ball "B" does NOT have to allow any time or distance in setting up his defense of position. That DOES mean player "A" could be running down the court, looking backwards to catch a pass and immediately upon catching the pass collide with "B", who had established a legal guarding position, and the foul would be on "A".
3. Typically, if "A" contacts "B" on the torso (waste, chest or shoulders) "B" it is a charging foul.
4. If the contact is on "B"'s knee or hip it usually is a blocking foul on "B".

Hold or jump ball –"B" reaches in and legally puts his hand on the ball preventing "A" from passing or shooting. "A" then yanks the ball away from "B" whose hand ends up grabbing "A's" arm and "A" wants a foul called on "B". NOPE. When "A" yanked the ball away he caused "B's" hand to end up on "A's" arm. Should have been called a "jump ball" when "B” stopped "A's" ball movement or let the play go UNLESS there was excessive contact by either player.

Excessively swinging elbows – A player can grab a rebound and rotate back and forth on a foot to guard the ball from an opponent reaching in and grabbing the ball. But if his elbows move away from his body so that an opponent opponent might be whacked in the chin – EVEN IF THERE IS NO CONTACT– the Referee can call "A" for "excessive swinging of the elbows". It is a violation just like traveling and the ball is awarded to the opponent. Doesn't seem fair since there was no contact? The objective is to stop players from swinging their elbows around like weapons to unfairly prevent an opponent from playing the ball AND to prevent injury from the swinging elbows – like the non-member that ended up with stitches from last week!

Double Foul – called when two players foul each other at the same time. Most often while rebounding 1 guy is pushing and the other is pushing back OR both lock arms and hold each other back.

Multiple Foul – 2 defenders (usually) foul the same opponent at the same time. Does not happen much except in Church Brawl where it happens on almost every play.

Calendaring – for those who are planning their vacations around basketball team games…… There will NOT be any games May 14th–18 as the floor is being refinished that week.

See ya on the court!!

Vic Pear

Stake Men's Sports Rabble Rouser (Not a hard job to do!)