Hoop-ful Morning and an Event-ful Afternoon

What more is there to ask than to sessions of our beloved game? That made this a very special weekend - two sessions of basketball; one of the sessions in the morning at the usual morning setting at the Chaparral, and the other a special event sponsored by Mike Fox at the YMCA in Fullerton. Both events were well attended. I know only from the pictures, but it appears as if there were approximately 12 to 15 persons at the Chaparral. Thankfully, Robert attended the event and took pictures.

I also see that Eric, Steve, Ben, Larry, Luis, Danny and Scott made it out to the outdoor games. Tom, Junior and his father also made it to the Chaparral. There are others I see in the pictures for whom I don’t have a name. But, I'm sure that you can fill in those names and match them to the faces, and that I will later learn the names for those new faces. But we welcome them all here to the WB.

I was surprised to see that there were a few that attended both of the events. Okay, well maybe that was just one person from all that I could tell, perhaps also the youngest person at either event too. There should be a special award for that, but at least for now I will give this acknowledgement here. To my amazement, Junior Ramirez attended both events. I don’t know about his play in the morning, but his play in Fullerton was pretty amazing. But I will get to that later.

The weather came through for those attending that morning session. The sun made a late appearance Saturday morning and spared the gamers a bit from over-heating. The temperature was reasonable, and the rise of the temps was gradual and kind. I was very aware of the temperature because I was out in the yard working during the morning. I had to repair my fence. I deeply appreciated the climate. I couldn't have asked for better. I’m sure my buddies at the Chaparral in the morning felt the same.

Fullerton is my old home town. I lived there in the early 90’s and loved it there. It was a special time then, and in many ways a transitional period for the City’s demographics. I am sad to hear about recent developments with the police department there. My only hope is that everything works out to the satisfaction of the citizens there. However, when I heard that the special event sponsored by Mike was going have was to be in Fullerton I was immediately in for it. Alright, it was also influenced by the fact that the facility is right next door to the Emergency Room at St. Jude’s Hospital. What can I say; I’ve been struggling lately…

Despite my term living in Fullerton, I got turned around finding the gym. It is a little bit off the beaten trail. What’s worse though is the fact that I have been there before. Of course that was over 15 years ago when I was last there. However, I called the facility and they gave the directions that lead me directly there. The “Event” was well attended too. And, apparently folks had no problem finding the facility. There were about 12 to 14 people there for the event. But not all were players (Junior’s Mom was there – Hi - apparently Dad had a job emergency and couldn’t attend). Fortunately, Mike brought refreshments, jerseys and prizes. He gathered and explained the point system for the games. A winner would be determined through a point system that soon reminded me of my college days and the times in my Differential Calculus class. Talk about deer in the headlights; thank God there was no traffic around. Of course, his system was not that bad, pretty straight-forward and easy to determine.

The points obtained by an individual were based on the performance of the team on which they were playing. The individual would gain either positive or negative points based on the difference between the points by which the team either lost or won the game. So positive “delta” points if you win and negative “delta” points if you lose. At the end of the day your points are added up and the winner is the person with the most points.

You can probably determine by the pictures who attended the Event. But I’ll tell you anyway, ‘cause I’m just that kinda guy….. Of course Mike was there and a friend of his family named John. Then there was his neighbor Matt, (who we haven’t seen in a while at Chaparral), James, Shane, Tony (with his scoring machine) and his brother; Junior, Eric and son Nick, and there may be a person or two whose name I did not get.

It was a great event. We all had a great time and everyone got plenty of playing time. Shane got every rebound; and, Junior and James made every shot. Okay, I am over stating it a bit, but that’s how it felt. That’s why I was shocked to see that Junior had played earlier in the day. He was a virtual scoring robot. I was just about to test to see that he indeed had a pulse and was not running on diesel fuel. Shane is always an amazing rebounder, no difference today. It was anywhere in the building Sane got it. Fortunately, I got to play on the same team with Shane and James. As a result, I did manage to get on a few winning teams. However, Shane was on a winning team the most out of all of us. Therefore, he won the day based on his accumulation of points.

I don’t recall the other winners at 2 and 3 – all I know is that I was tied at fifth place with a bunch of other guys. There were plenty of prizes anyway. And I went away with a handful. Many, many thanks to Mike Fox for sponsoring the event!!

On a separate note, our good friend Shane was recently promoted by his employer. As a result, we may be seeing less of him. He will eventually relocate to Nevada. Fortunately, it will take a while before he is completely moved. And the new job position will continue to bring him back to Southern California periodically. So, hopefully, we will continue to see him on occasion. Congratulations Shane!!

Eric takes a 3-point shot. Scoring was by 2 and 3 pointers during the event.

I hope that all of you have a great week! I will see you next week, but I will be in Fullerton again. What can I say? I like playing in air conditioning....

Take care everyone!!!!!