In the very first season of the Tucson Basketball League (Summer of 1988), we had eight teams. Two of them didn't pay in full until the third or fourth game of the season. And so it has gone for 34 years. Do you know how many time I have heard the phrase "You know we're good for it?" I don't know, either, but it's a lot.

Things haven't changed much over the decades. Most teams are quite responsible, while other are populated by excuse machines. I've promised to crack down in the past, but I've never really followed through. We still go several weeks into each season before every team has fulfilled its responsibility. It used to be annoying when we had eight teams (or 16 or 20). It's a full-blown nightmare with the number of teams that we have now. I don't even want to say how many we have now. It's like the Voldemort of numbers, the number that cannot be spoken.

So, here's what we're going to do now. We still have a relatively short number of courts available this week. Club volleyball is just about over and then we're going to have a ton of court-hours available. It will be like last summer, where (almost) every team will play every week for weeks at a time. A veritable basketball orgy!! But here's who's going to play this week:

--The new teams that didn't get a chance to start on May 1st;

--The championship teams from the Winter 2022 season;

--And a few teams that met their financial responsibility on May 1st.

Here's who won't be playing this week:

--A team that called a half-hour before game time on May 1st to say that they would rather start on the 15th. 

--A team that showed up with no money, swore that they didn't know that they were supposed to pay, and then promised to VenMo it later that night. Still waiting.

--Three teams that got to play a game on May 1st, didn't pay a penny, and are now dropping out because "we can't get guys to step up."

Also not playing this week are teams that signed up at the end of last season, but didn't respond when one of my scorekeepers texted them, asking for confirmation. Some of you may have just missed that text (or didn't recognize the phone number). If you still want to play, just let me know. I just found out that due to lingering supply-chain issues, the championship shirts for the Winter 2022 season won't be ready until the middle of next week. So, the 12 Division champions from last season--The Hawgs, Hickory, Skoden, Black Mambas, Tucson Tigers, The Fam, That One Team, Mustangs, The Regulators, Outlawz, Scrap Attack, and Dad Bods--will start next week.

The rest of you now have another week to get things together. When that aforementioned flurry of non-stop basketball starts in a couple weeks, I will have neither the time nor the temperament to be chasing after people. Please handle your business. Thanks.