We're three weeks into the Fall 2022 season and, for the most part, we're rolling. Thirty-six games a day, a schedule we will be able to stick with through the end of October. (When November comes, so, too, do the club volleyball teams, so we won't have as many available courts.) But until then, it's full speed ahead. It's not quite as good as I had hoped, but neither is it as bad as I had feared.

Just a few notes:

--Ageless Harold Stevenson of Frosty Hesson poured in 11 three-pointers in a game against The Heat last week. According to our extensive records, that the fifth-highest number of threes hit in a game in the 34-year history of the Tucson Basketball League. In case you're interested, here are the four people above Harold. Pima College men's basketball coach Brian Peabody once hit 13 threes. I (Tom) hit 17 threes in a game back in the late 1990s. Kent Senzee, longtime player on The Hawgs (and featured on last season's championship shirts) hit 20 threes in a game. And Jon Brogan, also of The Hawgs, hit a ridiculous 28 threes in a game. I reffed that game and it was as if the other team had been hypnotized, tranquilized, and demonized. They didn't even try to stop him, but he still had to make the shots.

Anyway, congratulations to Harold.

--We have taken extra care to start this season off right, but there have still been a few blips. I had one of my scorekeepers contact every team to make sure that they wanted to play this season. Nevertheless, we had four teams just flat-out not show up. They didn't call, they didn't text, they didn't email. They just didn't show up. In the old days, I would have called to see what the deal was. It was usually something like "Oh, we went to Vegas and didn't get back in time." This time, I didn't even call. We have too many teams that want to play to worry about the ones who don't.

One of the things that people don't understand is that forfeits are incredibly expensive. If one team doesn't show up, I still have to pay the refs, the scorekeeper, and the the venue for the court rental. THEN, I give the team that did show up another game to make up for the missed opportunity. It's ridiculous. So, you four teams that didn't show up for your game in one of the first three weeks, you're done for this season. You're welcome to come back next season, but you will have to pay in full, in advance, before you step on the court. Rob even thinks that they should have to cover the costs of the forfeits. We might have to consider that.

--We will have a couple special games this week. The long-awaited match-up between the champions of the top two divisions in the recently completed season will finally take place. The Basketball Junkies will take on Splash Pad at 11:00 on Rob's Court. It should be a wild one. Then, some of my scorekeepers (who are all Varsity basketball players in high school) will take on one of our men's teams. (I haven't decided which one yet.) The girls' team will feature several of my players from Amphi along with Makayla, who plays for Marana, and Navine, the reigning Class 5A State Player of the Year, who works for the venue and plays for Flowing Wells. It should be fun.