Besides the technical foul given for a blatant two handed shove in my back and the double technical foul for some pushing, shoving, & ball tossing involving Divino, there was nothing technical about beating our long time league foe, Technically Foul, for the fifth consecutive time.Sofa King Awesome stepped onto the court with one of their shortest squads to date, missing two of our centers, Russ “On Vacation” Ringelstein and Robb “Zee Lawyer” Loef. But that wouldn’t stop 4 guards, a forward, and one center from getting the job done. Don “Big Man On Campus” Janocha, and Josh “Afro’s Add Height” Homer stepped up big time this game to fill in height gaps and our shorter quicker members put on the burners to cut off passes and force turnovers. We confused the other team and basically took their hulking middle man out of the game. When point guard, Ray “Raindrops” Ko, was guarding their big man around the 3-point line he inquired about the big man’s positioning on the court. See Transcript below:
Ray Ko: what are you doing out here?
Big Man: I don’t know.
After a slow first 5 minutes, Sofa King Awesome found their rhythm riding the momentum of Ray’s three point seminar. By half time we had a commanding lead. But as do many great teams do, we fall into certain patterns; unfortunately for us our pattern is giving up leads. After another slow start, forced shots and some sloppy turnovers got Technically Foul back in the game. They cut it to within six, but that’s when we re-grouped and got back in a rhythm, and regained an 11 point lead that the true HIGHLIGHTS began….
- Josh “Please, I Make these in my sleep” Homer with a HUGE three pointerwhich changed the momentum of the game.
- Eddie “The Pickpocket” Larios creeping in the shadows of the poorly lit gym, causing turnovers and sending one great pass after another to create fast breaks.
- Don “Tree Trunks” Janocha snatching a huge offensive rebound over their big man, and then following it up with a reverse lay in from behind the boards…stomping both feet like a gorilla killing a t-rex.
- Divino “Who you calling crazy esé, don’t you know I’m loco” Paran mixing it up and receiving a technical foul for throwing the ball at someone, going coast to coast with a finger roll, and being steady under pressure at the free throw line.
- Max “The Animal Steele” Linsky all over the place with steals, rebounds, and illuminating socks.
- Ray “Where’s My Asian Competition” Ko hitting 4 consecutive 3 point-bombs from downtown in the first half.
- And finally Adrien “The Diver” Bellezza, like a true Italian athlete really selling every hit he took to get the foul, like my cousins in the homeland:
After a great run, all of our combined highlights might have gone to waste because during the last minute of play, and a nine point lead, we did not put the game to bed, but instead gave up four turnovers, which cut our lead to one. If it wasn’t for the clutch free throws of Divino as they fouled us to stop the clock, the game might have had an ever ugly ending then giving up those 8 points and still winning. Breath easy boys.
- Soy Capitán
Final Score: Good Guys 44, Bad Guys 41
We are now 2-2, with four games to go. We are still in the run for the playoffs. Lets keep playing the way we have been, but when we smell blood, lets go in for the kill, not sit back and watch them as we wait for them to bleed to death.
Next Game: Thursday, 7:00PM vs Bullets. Robert Simon (RS) 5th Street and Avenue B. Gym is in the basement. If 5th street entrance is locked, use the entrance on 6th street.
