We had a great day last Sunday. Thirty-four games, no forfeits, returning Winter season champions got their championship shirts, and the day ended with a four-overtime barnburner between Buzz Boys and Z Fighters. The League overtime policy is two minutes with the clock running for the first 90 seconds and then stopping on the whistle in the last 30 seconds. That's the way it's always done in the playoffs and is usually done in the regular season. But, there are a few exceptions (again, only in the regular season). If it's one of those morning games where we have to be off the courts by noon, the refs can shorten the second (and any subsequent) overtime period(s) to one minute with the clock stopped in the last 30 seconds.
However, since it is my League and I suffer/benefit from extreme ADHD, I have used some creative methods over the years. One time, we got to the fourth overtime of a game and I just had the 10 players who were on the court at the end of the third OT each shoot a one-and-one (like a soccer shootout--which is basically the only cool thing about soccer). It was hilarious; each team had the potential to score 10 points. The score of that final OT period was 2-1.
We had some really good games on Sunday. Now that everybody has played at least one game, we can start doing a better job of matching up the teams and cutting down (and perhaps eliminating) blowouts. My dream scenario has always been to have a day where every game ends with a single-digit margin.
On Sunday:
--The last two games of the night on Court 1 both ended with scores of 65-62 (Tucson Warriors over Sikhos and Lobos over Storm).
--Maze Runners withstood a furious comeback effort from Omega and held on for a 77-76 win.
--Bricklayers Anonymous squeaked by Young Bucks, 46-45, and AZ Knights held off The Heat, 62-59.
--And in a matchup of two teams that had each won a championship in the Winter League and therefore hadn't played in a few weeks, Good Guys beat Side Loaders, 30-25, in, shall we say, a defensive struggle.
Oh yeah, my son turned me on to a song that I'm really enjoying right now. Not exactly my kind of music (you can trace my lineage from Marvin Gaye to Prince to Bruno Mars). But this thing is great. It's called "Way Too Many Players Named Jalen in the NBA."
