A couple longtime members of the League told me that I should stop obsessing over the number of close games on any given Sunday. Both guys have been around for quite a few years and they have had their share of just about everything. They've won championships and gone out in the first round of the playoffs. They've won by 30 and lost by 30. They won and lost on last-second buzzer-beaters and they both said that some of their most memorable games were those in which the outcome was still in doubt with about five minutes to go and then one team went on a run to win by eight or 10 points. Almost all of the games were enjoyable, some more than others. What's most important, they both said, was the vibe of the League--a friendly, safe place to go play ball for an hour.

So, I looked at yesterday's results and was relatively pleased. We had one blowout, a 31-point thrashing, but, overall, the average margin of victory was eight points. Without that one blowout, it was seven points. But, as I have mentioned in the past, I should never start looking at numbers because they talk to me in strange mathematical languages. We had 26 games yesterday (because of that youth tournament eating up all of the courts until 3:00). Six of the 26 games (nearly one-fourth) ended with exactly 10-point margins. Four others ended with four-point margins. And we had games end with margins of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 points, but no 6. None landed on the average of eight and there was no 9, but then all of those 10s. And then there were two 12s and two 13s. I'm not sure what to make of it, but it's got to be something.

--One of the highlights of the day was scrappy Skoden coming within one second of handing the Basketball Junkies their third(!) loss of the season. It was a pressure-packed game with neither team holding more than a five-point margin in the second half. With 10 seconds left in the game and his team down one, Ruben Silvas, who played D-II basketball at Alaska-Fairbanks, hit a big three to put Skoden up by two. The Junkies missed a three, but the rebound bounced off into the corner where it was retrieved and passed to Chaz Mack under the basket. Mack released the ball just before the buzzer and his layup tied the game and sent it onto overtime. In the extra period, the Junkies hit a few free throws and held on for a 66-62 win. Great game!

--The Southern Arizona Military Basketball squad that handed the Junkies one of their aforementioned losses last week suffered their first setback of the season, a somewhat-surprising 60-45 drubbing at the hands of the Tucson Gooners.

--Our only one-point game of the day saw the Peloteros edge Souly Boys, 63-62.

--The Avengers staged a late rally to squeeze past APEX, 57-55, in the last game of the night on Court 4.

--Wicked built an early lead and then had to hold on for a 69-67 win over the Tucson Cyclones.

Finally, the standing are now posted. They include yesterday's results. A couple things that stand out: We're right at the midpoint of the regular season and out of the dozens and dozens of teams that we have in the League, only eight are still unbeaten at this point. And, only 10 teams remain winless at this point. My goal, every season, is to end the regular season with every team having at least one win and one loss.