I've always tried to be a No-Excuses Guy, so all I can say about the fact that I have been remiss in not keeping up to date on this blog is that I'm truly sorry. I have been overwhelmed with my normal, everyday stuff (writing, coaching, tutoring) and my new project which takes a huge bite out of my day. I'm a member of the Screen Writers Guild, the union for people who write for movies and/or TV. (I've never written for the movies, just TV.) Fortunately, we're on strike; otherwise, I would be down to three or four hours' sleep instead of five. (Just after I finished writing this, I learned that the actors' union has joined the strike. Hollywood is shut down.)
We're nearing the end of the regular season and it's been absolutely incredible. As we head into the final two weeks of the regular season, out of the more than 100 teams in the League, only two (Basketball Junkies and Skoden) are still undefeated. And only two teams have yet to win a game. (I may have them play each other in the final game.) Whenever there is a really close game on the court where I am reffing, I always say, "Whoever scheduled this game is a freakin' genius!" The scheduling is not easy, especially during the summer. Some of the teams I haven't seen and then, sometimes, a team will show up with only half of their roster due to vacations and such. So, a game that I think will be an even contest ends up being a blowout. Last Sunday, 18 of the 47 games were decided by five points or less. That's pretty good.
As mentioned above, we had 47 games with ZERO FORFEITS. Many of you have no idea how amazing that is. Summer is always the shakiest season with people going out of town and such. And now being in the post-pandemic era, people want to GO! Let's keep it up.
The playoff schedule will be as follows:
July 30 Part of the First Round (Due to the number of teams in the League, we will need two weeks to complete the first round.)
August 6 - The rest of the first round
August 13 - Semifinals
August 27 - Championship games (The venue redoes the floors in the middle of August. They will start the process on Monday, August 14. However, due to the high humidity in August, we're never sure how long it will take for the floors to "cure" and be ready to be played on. They'll probably be ready on the 20th, but we can't be sure. Therefore, we will have the championships on the 27th.)
As I have mentioned in the past, numbers haunt me, but this is downright bizarre. A couple weeks ago (July 2nd) on Court 1, we had three consecutive games end in identical 64-60 scores. The odds of two consecutive games ending in identical scores is astronomical. Three is almost incalculable.
THIS IS IMPORTANT: Ten-year-old Xavier Goodman is a big fan of the Tucson Basketball League. He has been watching his father, David, play for years. (David is now the captain of the Solar Bears.) Xavier is also battling liver cancer, something that no one should have to do, least of all a 10-year-old. As I write this, he is starting a three-day cycle of chemotherapy. Please send your best wishes and prayers his way. We all want him to be a player in the Tucson Basketball League someday.