On Monday night, another church league basketball season began at the Central Baptist Church of Bearden. I am captaining a team in the slow break league. The rules for slow league basketball are the same as regulation basketball except that the ball must be dribbled across half court and back court pressure is limited only to the end of halves. Yes, we are getting old.
Despite my status as the team captain, I am not playing. I am only the designated devoter. My team consists of eight players: JTH, SH, JAH, JTL, JDM, SRM, PCR, and MPW. I am calling the team the Mohawks in deference to JTH and PCR’s hairstyles. Actually, no one is quite sure what to call PCR’s current hairstyle.
We arrived early to view the night’s opening game. It was the first game played on the new gym floor. There was also a new scoreboard with a highly annoying new buzzer. The game went into overtime when Darrell Dance (DED, aka “The Highlander” - he does not age) hit a three-point basket at the buzzer to send the game into overtime tied at 50. DED also sunk the game winning free throws to preserve a 58-56 victory for GLO's team. Former UT basketball player Kirk Naler (DKN) returned to the league in this game. Despite his presence, Brandon was the game's leading scorer, hitting for 29 points in a losing effort for MDR’s squad. Unfortunately, that would be more points than our team scored on opening night.
We lost 32-28 to a team captained by KLD. We played JTH’s team from last season and they heckled the “traitor” throughout the game. We scored only eleven points in the first half, but were trailing by just four. Our opponents missed six consecutive free throws to give us countless opportunities but the basket was closed for us on this night.
JTH took the loss especially hard, bloodying his knuckles on a chair after a crucial turnover. A loss of this magnitude cannot be blamed on any one player, referee, or in my case coach. I will note that at one point in the second half, we had ten fouls against us while our opponents only had one.
There are four teams in the league. The championship game is on October 27th, the date of PCR’s wedding. We have a 50% chance of being in that game and we may need it rescheduled as PCR has already refused to reschedule his out-of-state wedding. I love the guy, but where are his priorities? Actually, after this game, if we finish in the Final Four, I will consider the season a success.
Despite being younger and more athletic than most of our opponents, our team figures to struggle as unlike other teams in the league, we have not played together for years. But enough excuses...
We did have great fan support. Five women merits a great crowd in this league. I finally got to meet Amanda #3. If you would like to come out and see us, here is our schedule:
September 8: 7:30 pm vs. Deitch (KLD)
September 15: 6:30 pm vs. Ownby (GLO)
September 22: 6:30 pm vs. Roberts (MDR)
September 29: 7:30 pm vs. KLO
October 6: 6:30 vs. GLO
October 13: 6:30 pm vs. MDR
Tournament Games: October 20, 23, 27
After the game JTH, JDM and I met at Applebees. KL and MPW later joined us. They were quite late. KL was test driving a car. JTL bought a new car and KL is contemplating buying his old 1994 model. KL spent most of the night on the phone trying to change her schedule at Best Buy so that she could play in a softball game the following night. While this might ordinarily be perceived as rude, taking recreation sports far too seriously seemed appropriate on this night.
Besides, she was wearing a W.C. Vinson Ministries t-shirt so I could not get too upset.
On Monday night, I did receive a phone call from my mother. She naturally called during the game. She has a gift. She seemed to be having a great time at the Elderhostel in Rhode Island. No word on my dad...
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