Growing up playing sports, one of the lessons I first
learned was to never give up. Sounds corny doesn't it? Seriously though. No matter what the situation was, you always had
a shot at victory. I remember playing Pop Warner football games believing that
we would we recover a fumbled kneel down attempt and win the game on the last
play. Clearly, Greg Shiano and I share the same never give up principles.
However, I have only felt completely hopeless in one specific sporting event in
my entire life. And that was the annual rec basketball game against Red Bank.
I remember my first encounter with the Red Bank rec
basketball team. I was in 5th grade, and had just finished a great
season of pop warner as the Bucs Mighty Mite quarterback, finishing the season
with an impressive two completions, amassing just under 11 yards passing.
Needless to say, I was not only the driving force behind my team’s success, but
I had earned respect from my teammates as well.
Foolishly, I thought this camaraderie and companionship would
transfer onto the basketball court, yielding an exciting basketball ball for
both my Little Silver team and the opposing Red Bank team. The final score of
the game was 86-14 in favor of Red Bank. I banked a three. No big deal. It just
wasn’t our day. As I faced Red Bank year after year, I would soon discover it
would never be our day.
Young 5th and 6th graders from Little
Silver have marked this day on their calendars, fearing its arrival year after
year. Well, tonight I got the opportunity to relive the nightmare that was
playing Red Bank; however, this time I was participating as a basketball coach,
not a player. I figured after years of failure as a player, success would come
find me as a coach. Although my position in the game was different, the outcome
was still the same: complete and utter devastation.
It was over before it started.
Like all games against the superior Red Bank team, our game
started with a jump ball fast break layup, immediately putting the Little
Silver Badgers down by two points, three seconds into the game. As a coach I
expected this, almost admired it, as these 5th and 6th
graders from Red Bank possessed basketball skills I have never achieved as an eighteen-year-old
high school senior. To my surprise, the Badgers answered with an 8-foot jumper,
tying the score at two. After a tough first quarter, Red Bank led 6-4. I was
shocked. I was amazed. I was proud of my team. I was also preparing for the
onslaught of Red Bank put back layups that would dominate the second quarter.
It is at this point where I would like to address the
referee situation that is ruining Rec Basketball in all leagues around the
world. Not only do these guys call defensive three second on 12 year old, but
they also do not even acknowledge the one call that saves shorter players, the
over the back call. At one point, one man-child was literally leap-frogging my
smaller, helpless guards for rebounds. I am not saying that the refs lost us
the game, but they certainly killed any chance we had of keeping the game
within 20 points.
It would be an understatement to say Red Bank had more than
three offensive rebounds per-possession in the second quarter. No, they were
not the best shooting team. But you can’t teach size. And when I mean size, I
mean a 5’10” twelve year old that looked like Charles Barkley out there. This
kid had a double-double in the second quarter alone.
Every Red Bank possession had a similar structure. Missed
jump shot…offensive rebound by Barkley…pop pass to the outside….jump shot…offensive
rebound by Barkley…put back layup by Barkley. This resumed for ten minutes, and
the Badgers quickly found themselves down by 18.
Half Time.
I believe I am the Jeff Van Gundy of rec basketball. We
don’t have the tallest team, but we play tough with a tenacious half court trap
defense. Our innovative 1-2-2 zone had led our team to a three game winning
streak, saving our season. Now, I don’t know how Van Gundy felt when he faced
the 72 win 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls in the Conference Finals, but I think felt
the same during half time. No half time speech would motivate my team or make
them believe we had a shot of winning. Defeat was guaranteed. We accepted it.
The third quarter began with a quick layup by mini Barkley.
With that basket, the most awkward rule in sports history was put into effect:
the 20-point mercy rule where the winning team cannot play defense outside the
paint. After the mercy rule was put into
effect, my team would dribble down the court, chuck up an uncontested three, miss
the three miserably, and watch as Red Bank scored on an easy transition
alley-oop layup. I found myself clapping for them. I never saw Magic Johnson
and the 80s Lakers, but it must have looked like this.
Finally, the fourth quarter rolled around. And it is here
that one of the most unusual events in rec history occurred. As the quarter began,
I saw the gym door open. Into the gym walked this little kid with dreads. What
I thought was a little brother of one of Red Bank players, turned out to be
their secret weapon. You would think that the Red Bank coach just hid this kid
in the hallway, and then brought him out in the fourth quarter to finish
demoralized teams. He took the court, and took over the game. He dribbled
around everyone on our team at least three different times, before penetrating
the lane like a hot knife through butter for the easy layup. Down by 25, I as
counting down the minutes until we were put out of our misery.
As the clock struck two minutes, my team just began taking
threes anytime they touched the ball. With about a minute and a half left,
little Owen dribbled the ball up to the three point line, and heaved the ball
into the air like a shot-put. Miraculously, the ball went in, and Owen
celebrated like we had just won the Finals.
And then I hear, “NO BASKET, TRAVEL”
Of course, the one three pointer this kid makes all season,
is called off. Granted, he did take 4 steps to set up the shot, but that’s what
rec basketball is all about. I never forgot my first three pointer I banked in
against Red Bank, and Owen’s memory is now tainted forever. What a damn shame. The game finally ends, and my team leaves the
instant the clock strikes triple zeroes. They were well ready to leave before
then, anyway. A kid who was on the bench in the fourth quarter had already put
his jacket on with three minutes to play, in great anticipation for this
nightmare to end.
I left the gym taking absolutely no positives from the game.
It’s hard to accept that all other teams are merely a steppingstone on Red
Bank’s stampede to another championship. But some things in life will never
change.
-Will Noglows
Follow Will @WilliamNoglows
Follow the Ice Bath team @IceBathReport
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