A Bob Ettinger column: The write stuff...

BOB ETTINGER
Star Beacon

July 04, 2009 11:56 pm

— ASHTABULA — In the course of a single day, just about anything can happen. A day that starts out about as bad as possible, can end spectacularly.
Saturday, I had the privilege of participating in the 2009 Westside Shootout as a player.
As experiences go, it started out to be one of those days I just wished I hadn’t bothered. By the end, I was especially proud to have had the guts to try it as my Chick’s Bar teammates and I finished as the tournament runners-up to the guys from Snap Fitness.
However, as the day began I was wondering what on earth I was thinking when I said I’d become a basketball player for a day.
I’ve chronicled my basketball prowess on the pages before. I’ll sum that up in one sentence — I was a wrestler after I got cut from the seventh-grade basketball team.
So as tournament director Mike Osborne gave the order every kid in gym class hates to hear — “Everybody line up on the wall” — before the captains drafted teams for the tourney, I had a pair of thoughts. I hoped I wasn’t picked last and I hoped I was picked for a team.
By the end of the draft, 10 teams each had five players on board. Four others and I went undrafted. We were given a choice to play as a team or not play at all. Lucky for me, Osborne kept his word and found a team for me.
And boy, did I pity Damien Hunt as he was the captain that elected to allow me to play with his team, consisting of Hunt, Omar Pollard, Marcus Rooks, Mark Hester and Chris Colter. I was to be the sixth man.
Hunt had no idea what kind of player I was, he was just doing an honorable thing. By the end of our 15-4 loss to Mr. Wash in the opening round, my teammates had a good understanding as did the rest of the fans surrounding the West Avenue court.
Since we were being beaten so badly by Adrian Mathers and his teammates, I didn’t get into the game until the waning moments. I entered the action as we were trailing, 13-3.
Ryan Anderson immediately noticed he has a serious advantage in the low post and called for the ball. Lucky for me, his teammates had other ideas. After a bucket from Hester on the end, Anderson made a point of telling Mathers the exact kind of mismatch he had in his favor.
So everybody cleared out of the blocks, or so it seemed, leaving me Anderson, who was calling for the ball. After what seemed like hours — I really just wanted the pain to end quickly — the ball came our way. Anderson caught the pass, executed a nice turnaround baseline jumper over my outstretched arms, which really did nothing because he jumped over them, for the basket and a 14-4 lead.
And the worst was yet to come.
After a teammate missed a jumper and the ball headed in the opposite direction, I turned to chase and made a bigger fool of myself than I ever have — and let me tell you, it’s something I do often.
My mind, working at warp speed, told my body to turn and run as fast as it could. My legs, conditioned for basketball by sitting behind a desk and a computer screen, reacted at roughly the pace a snail might take.
So I stumbled up the sideline to about midcourt, where my momentum finally took me head over teakettle. After a complete barrel roll, I ended up on my feet, to the polite laughter from the peanut gallery. The East German judge deducted points for the landing.
Mr. Wash scored and put an end to my misery.
My teammates and the other competitors, to their credit, never mentioned the incident. Which I’ll be forever grateful for.
In other first-round action, Huntington Insurance beat Edge O Town, Steve’s Car Care downed Cox, Snap Fitness dusted Brad’s and Outdoor Army/Navy defeated Martell Cleaners.
The second game, our first in the losers’ bracket, went much better on several levels. The most important being that my teammates and I won a 15-4 decision over Brad’s to avoid being eliminated.
It was the beginning of a long slog through the losers’ bracket.
About midway through the first half, with my our team leading, 6-3, Pollard hurt an ankle and came to the sideline, signaling me.
My immediate thought was , “Oh, no! Not again!” But I trotted out to my position and was greeted by Hunt and Rooks, who told me not to worry, to just do what I do.
“Do what I do? Right,” I thought. “How does telling a story help me out here?”
So I did what I do best. I started piling on the baloney — I did the best impression I could of the basketball players I watch so closely all winter.
It worked, for the most part. The guys from Brad’s decided the best defense against me was a loose one. After all, how could a guy tripping all over himself hurt them?
Hunt picked up on it, and on one trip up the floor, zipped a pass to me standing on the left wing and instructed that I shoot as soon as the ball left his hands.
My reaction, thank God, was not panic. I’ve shot a basketball before. So I caught it and let it fly.
Air ball.
But my teammates surprised me once again. Instead of telling me to pass next time, they told me to keep shooting, to keep playing the game.
I found a certain flow, even grabbed a defensive rebound at one point, and managed to not hurt the team. And no barrel rolls on the stat sheet.
In the winners’ bracket, Steve’s Car Care, Snap Fitness and Mr. Wash advanced and in the loser’s bracket, Martell Cleaners, Outdoor Army/Navy also advanced.
With Pollard not able to answer the starting bell because of his ankle, I was forced to start our third game and play nearly every minute, I was a little shocked we were able to pull out another win. This time, a 15-13 victory over Cox. I picked up my only foul of the tournament in this game.
Gary Chapman was driving on a transition layup and I was forced to rotate over and try to stop the penetration. Of course, in theory, I know how to do this. In practice, my feet weren’t quick enough, they wouldn’t stop moving at the right time and my hands were all over Chapman’s forearm, face and maybe a little of the ball.
Osborne, acting as an official for the tournament, couldn’t keep from laughing as he updated the scorer’s table on the foul, which would’ve a third-degree felony on the street.
During this game, my teammates gave me the lesson of how important a good vertical leap is while rebounding. As I went up for a long rebound, a teammate, Hunt, I think, leaped and grabbed the ball at least four feet above my head — after I, too, had leaped.
I couldn’t jump that high with a trampoline.
Steve’s Car Care and Snap Fitness advanced to the winners’ bracket final.
Martell Cleaners advanced to play us. We won 15-11 to advance to the losers’ bracket final where we would meet Steve’s Car Care.
I even contributed to the win with a two-point bucket (3-point equivalent) from the wing to give us a 10-5 lead. I was certainly pleased to help the team — finally. And they were pleased as well. After the ball fell through the cylinder, each of them turned and shouted encouragement. I truly felt like part of the team in that moment.
And my teammates were the reason for that. They encouraged me when I was down and not pulling my weight. Even better, they congratulated me when I didn’t let them down.
Snap Fitness advanced to the championship round with a win over Steve’s Car Care.
I sat out the battle with Steve’s Car Care — the pace and intensity were a little much for Shootout novice — but my teammates pulled off yet another win, 14-12, setting up a showdown in the finals with Snap Fitness, led by 2008-09 Star Beacon Ashtabula County Player of the Year Ace Jones. Jones was supported by Brandon Harris, Kevin McCaleb, Kieran Jones and Matt Munson.
The guys from Chick’s Bar, despite my best efforts to sabotage them, battled all the way back from a 15-4 opening-round loss to play for the championship. And, in my first — and probably only — appearance in the Westside Shootout, I was a member of one of the teams to play for the title.
I started the game, but the pace soon became one better suited for a true basketball player, and I gave way to Pollard.
We managed to take a 9-5 lead at one point, but Jones was too much. He scored Snap Fitness’ first 13 points before McCaleb and Munson each tallied a basket in a 15-11 win that gave Snap Fitness the title.
Hester took home the Most Valuable Player hardware.
However, each one of the guys that welcomed me to the tournament and even cheered me on, as Jones and Anderson had done at different points, deserved a piece of it in my book. And my teammates were at the forefront.
It was certainly an experience I’ll always remember — and know to try and never repeat.

Ettinger is a sports writer for the Star Beacon. Reach him at bettinger@starbeacon.com.

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