Okay, So Maybe I Shouldn't Have...

September 19th, 2024

If, after this Sunday, you have not paid in full OR you don't have your jerseys or matching T-shirts OR you haven't submitted your roster, you will not be on any future schedules until you have rectified the situation(s). We're not going to chase you. If you want to play, you're going to have to chase us.

I was sitting there, behind the scorer's table, and I should have been minding my business. But, you know...

Rogue Sharks held a tenuous one-point lead on Rainbow Drillers with seven seconds on the clock. The ball was thrown in to Ryan Yazzie, who dribbled baseline and executed a slick reverse layup to give the Drillers the lead and, apparently, the win. However, as often happens in situations like that, the other team screamed for a timeout when the ball went in and nobody was entirely sure of how much time was left. They appealed to me and I (quite cavalierly) said, "Aw, just put two seconds on the clock." It was probably a little bit too much, but hey, play D for two seconds, y'know?

The Sharks got the ball at halfcourt and threw it in toward the corner. It got tipped slightly by a defender (when the clock should have started). The Shark player caught the tipped ball, and completely falling out of bounds in the deep corner, threw the ball at the basket and it hit dead bottom. It was one of the most-amazing things I've seen in 37 years of running the League. The Sharks went nuts and, quite naturally, the Drillers were livid with me. I understand both reactions. But, it's early in the season and it's not like they're going to miss the playoffs.

Also, I didn't see who hit the shot. It was either Daniel Black or Nate Germano. Either way, it was badass.

Two quick things:

--Last week, as I was leaving, I turned onto Curtis, following two other vehicles leaving the venue. There was a red light at La Cholla, so all three of us got in the left-turn lane. After the light had been red for about 20 seconds, the first truck just pulled out, ran the light, and turned left onto La Cholla. A few seconds later, the second vehicle did the same thing! The drivers might have been fans, they might have been players. If they were players and I knew who they were, they would be out of the League forever. I don't want anybody that stupid and dangerous on the court with normal human beings.

--In the late game, some guy got all pissy about a call. He kept running his mouth at David, who is a gentle giant who could probably snap most guys like a twig. But our refs aren't confrontational. We'll ask you to calm down. If that doesn't work, we'll have you take a seat until you're ready to come back in and play. That didn't work and the guy kept it up. When he uttered the magic words about the parking lot, David (rightly) called the game. Please know that it's a team's responsibility to shut a guy like that up. And the whole team will suffer if you don't.