ABL Game 4

It's the 4th game of the season and we're on the verge of wrapping up our division. After so many years of watching ABL basketball, the real formula for winning a game is talent (40%) + attendance (20%) + number of players taller than 5'10" (10%) + work schedule (10%) + luck (10%) + fun (10%) - jerks (x%). Talent includes your star players' stamina. If you see them outside with Marlboro Lights prior to the game you're basically screwed. Attendance is a big factor because teams usually falter in the end because they're tired and they don't have decent subs. Height is might and that's a given. We don't care if you don't know how to shoot a basketball but as lone as you have the span to reach the board, you're useful. Work schedule is tough because we've seen people miss games due to overtime or weird work shifts. Luck is also a big factor (and this includes the refs... wait I'm still checking the rule book if it's ok to criticize refs in blogs.). Fun is the the most underestimated factor. The teams that have fun play loose. Playing loose lets you concentrate on the basics and the team that keeps it simple wins. The last is the jerk factor. These are guys who take the game too seriously (when they start wearing headbands and sleeve warmers ala Iverson, you're dead) or are black holes (pass them the ball and you never see it again). In the end, these games are supposed to be fun.

So why does our team keep on winning? We have decent talent, attendance is perfect (we always dress at least 10-12 players a game), we have a tall skilled guy who can block a jumpshot with his forehead if he wanted to, we don't give a crap about work schedule, we think we have average luck, we always have fun (when was the last time you saw a team jump up and down while laughing after winning a non bearing game?) and we don't have a single jerk on the team.

Going back to the game, I started at power forward because we needed to have a smaller, faster team on the floor to blitz the opponent. We also wanted to have the star players come off the bench so they can play the rest of the first half and still have enough energy to finish the game. Also, the star players were late and we were only five available so they HAD to start me.

By the way, before the game there was a 50 peso bill on the floor of the men’s room in the basketball court near our office. We were changing into our basketball uniforms when JV found the bill and no one claimed it. We decided to give it to whoever scores the first basket in the game.

First play of the game, a teammate took a jump shot that went wide. I got the offensive rebound (Arn with a rebound?!?) against their two tall guys and saw JV wide open for a corner jumper. Did I pass? Hell no! This was fifty bucks! I turned around and shot a weird overhead double handed hook shot right in front of the two tall defenders! They didn’t really cover me since they looked surprise that I was dumb enough to shoot it in front of them. I never saw the shot leave my hand but I saw it hit the board and lazily fall into the hoop. 2-0. For 2 minutes, I was the leading scorer for the team! Wait, I hogged the ball to earn 50 bucks, what a jerk!

When the stars were ready, they subbed me out and I never played in the game again which was fine for me since my leg flared up really bad after running back and forth with little warm-ups. This was a fun game with us winning on a wild ending. There were definitely lots of scary moments but we held on. I miss Jaye watching me from the stands though. =(

(By the way, I’m not posting any articles on our 5th game because we won by default. Other than the fact that that was our first game in San Carlos Seminary and the bathroom was no lights was one of the scariest places I’d ever peed in, there was nothing interesting. I don't agree with the rule that a team must forfeit the game if they dress less than 5 players. If they're less than 5, the committee must bring out a cardboard cutout of a player and declare that THAT will be their teammate.)