In Eckleburg's Eyes - 11/11/2008

After two postponements, my basketball team finally played in their championship game at my church on Monday night.

On Monday afternoon, I visited the new Best Buy (#1382) in Turkey Creek (located at 11941 Parkside Drive). I was asked to drive KL to work and stayed to inspect the new franchise. If you go to the store, take the Campbell Station exit off of the interstate as the building is located at the west end of the shopping district. The store is in the midst of a “soft opening” before officially opening its doors on Friday (November 14th). It is much smaller model which is to be expected as few stores in the company are as large as Knoxville’s original location. The new employees were especially eager. A girl named Elizabeth asked for any feedback I might have. My pearl of wisdom was that I thought it was illogical that the stores DVD’s are arranged from Z-A instead of A-Z. This was duly noted.

Unfortunately, KL’s working prevented her from seeing a great championship game.

At 6:30, my team battled GLO’s squad in the finals of the men’s slow break league. Due to the two postponements, we had not played since October 23rd - in 17 days! By league rules, the ball can only be passed over half court and defenses can only utilize a full court press in the last minute of the first half and the final two minutes of the game. My team entered the final period of “straight basketball” (the terminology never ceases to amuse me) with a 45-41 advantage, having maintained our 30-25 lead at halftime. (Note: MPW won the opening tip over DKN just after this shot was taken.)

As usual, we struggled against the pressure defense in the game’s waning moments. DKN hit an uncontested three-pointer with 1:18 left to cut our lead to 46-45. After we connected on a free throw, out of a timeout, GLO’s team lined up under the basket and lobbed a pass into the 6'8" DKN. He then tipped the ball in with 24 seconds to put his team on top 48-47. That would be the final score. JDM shot a three-pointer at the buzzer and despite being contacted by two defenders no foul was called. (Admittedly, he was attempting to draw the foul.) We lost by a point. It was a feeling we were used as all six of our losses came by six points or less.

JTH, ALK, JDM, MPW and I stayed to watch the championship of the fast break league that followed our own. It pitted a team captained by LS, which does not attend our church against a team captained by KAS. The former team is predominantly African-American while the latter is Caucasian. LS’s team brought a small army of fans and the gym was segregated right down the middle. I realize that no racism was going on, but this situation bothered me. So after KAS gave a great devotional at halftime, I sat with the African-American contingency. I knew many of the players on the team and went to high school with LS’s sister MTP who is also the wife of player GDP. I enjoyed getting to know some them and who they came to support. In fact, two babies were present and one woman instructed one of the children to cheer for her daddy. Without thinking and in my sweetest baby friendly voice, I asked “Who’s your daddy?” Chan Vinson: Master Reconciliator!

Thankfully, no one was offended and I made some new friends. For the record, the children were GDP’s and MTP’s.

The script of the second game was the same as the first. The younger, more athletic team caved into the more basketball savvy team in the final minutes. KAS’s team won the game 47-45. I was very pleased that the slow break game was higher scoring than the fast break game. This did not inspire us to switch leagues next season.

After the game, JTH, ALK, MPW, and I joined GAB, JB, and JBT at Applebees as the group had met to eat and watch Monday Night Football. At some point we decided to wad all paper products up into tiny pieces and throw them across the booth at each other’s glasses. Regarding this image, JB observed (as only he could) “That joint is piled up.”

We did not attempt to conceal this from the waitress. The things a regular can get away with... AFH was our waitress. She noted that it was a slow day as only four people had asked her height. If an amazon serves you at Applebees, I will save you the trouble. She is 6'3".

Finally, we learned that the mystery woman from JBT’s mother’s funeral (seen in this photo) is his second cousin Margie. He did not really know her either. See the November 4th edition of “In Eckleburg’s Eyes” for the story.