As PCTI Draws Near, Off-Season Silence Speaks Volumes

Fifty-three weeks have passed since PCTI III, but the event known as the Easter Massacre still resounds league wide, even as PCTI IV is less than two weeks away.

Posts, podcasts and emails have been few and far between this off-season. A fact that puzzles league analysts whose data shows enthusiasm among players and fans at an all-time high.

"Nobody wants to be this year's Sabin," said Anthony Hopkins, a veteran guard who like many of his comrades has intentionally and atypically kept a low profile this off-season.

Sabin, the out spoken captain of team Legs Feed The Kitten, took the brute of the backlash following four consecutive lopsided losses. But it seems a fear of providing bulletin board material is only part of the explanation for the quiet off-season.

"A lot of guys got embarrassed last year, something we weren't sure could happen when we first came up with the concept of a basketball weekend," said charter member Brent Carney. "Even for guys like me who were on the winning team, we saw what could happen if we're not prepared to compete. Before we thought there was so much equality that nobody could stand out in a negative way. Now we know that's not true. While it may have hurt those guys [on TLFK] more than us, we all got the message. Fear is a great motivator, and what happened last year brought it to our league.

I remember that Sunday morning," Carney said of the tournament's final day in 2012, when for the first time, games were cancelled. "Nobody wants to be responsible for that again."

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Michael Beasley stands beneath the snowy mountain peaks of the Sierra Nevada and thinks he can sense something in the spring wind. "I'm telling you, mahn, there's a lot of confidence floating around out there, bro."

Even from afar, the second year guard has kept tabs on his teammates and a few of his opponents this off-season. Many have told him the same thing. Yes, they are playing regularly. Yes, they are excited for PCTI IV. After that, getting details out of anybody is a challenge.

Beasley rubs his beard and squints his eyes in to a deep, almost meditative gaze.

"Redemption, fear, I don't know what it is, mahn. Those are some heavy forces to just be spinning around, messing with your chi, your inner sanctum, you know? You just reach up and grab them out of the galaxy and it's like, oh there you are powerful object of god and man. It's just like we're all connected, you know? Connected but separately connected in ways.

"Look, I'll get real with you. Everybody has something to prove. To each other, yes but more so right here," Beasley says as he taps his chest, "right here, Brohamid Ali, right here."

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The sense league wide is that while nobody wants to entice the other team, most players are more concerned with themselves. Several unnamed players admitted that they were keeping quiet in an effort to focus on their own preparation.

Michael Orr's explanation is more tangible.

"There ain't shit left to say," the third year forward said.

"Think about it, playboy. What happened in III that changed anyone's reputation? We're saying the same shit  about the same dudes that we were saying before III as we are after III. What can we take from four blowouts? Not shit my man, not shit.

"Come close, player," Orr says as he leans in and lowers his voice. "I'll tell you the truth. Maybe there's all sorts of new shit to say. Truth is, nobody knows. Know why? Nobody's watched those DVD's. No chance, player. Nobody wants to watch that again. Certainly not us, and not them either."

"You realize how much ched we lost on that weekend? We paid for refs, score keepers and a gym that we never used on Sunday. Now add on to that that we played such beat ass basketball that the discs are useless. Think about this, player, apparently there's a highlight reel from last year. But only a few guys have seen it. And you know why you don't hear more guys bitching about that? Because nobody wants to see it. Everybody just wants to move on. That's why nobody's saying shit. If you won or if you lost, everybody just wants to move on. And how are you gonna talk about PCTI if you don't mention last year? Can't be done, my boy, can't be done."

A highlight reel DVD was given to Danny Krow at no extra charge, photographer Brian Hite confirmed. Hite was under the impression that Krow would distribute copies to the rest of the league either online or through the mail.

Krow released a statement through publicist Danny Hastaba,  admitting having a copy of the highlight DVD but deflected any controversy. The statement read in part: "A PCTI highlight reel, isn't that an oxymoron?"

When pressed to prove that he knew the meaning of the word oxymoron, Krow erroneously answered, "I think that's one of the vitamin supplements my mom mails to me." Hastaba was fired as a result.

"Can you imagine how mad Danie would get if he didn't have his own copy of that DVD within four days, let alone a whole year....shit..."Orr said.

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Monday night the eyes of the nation will focus on Atlanta for the National Championship game between Louisville and Michigan.

All but two of the sixteen players in PCTI also said they had plans to watch.

One exception is Krow, who will not watch for reasons that remain unclear. He has not watched a college basketball or football game all year.

The other is Donley, who will be aboard a plane bound for Texas. The first leg of a trip that will take him to Scottsdale, site of PCTI IV.

"This is it, it's here. This is the real basketball not that garbage college game, no offense Skillz," he said Monday night when reached by phone at the airport.

Donley's departure marks the beginning of PCTI. But don't expect it to be trumpeted about on the league's official website. Mum is the word and the silence will likely continue for another week.

"Why say anything, bro? Like Confucius says, silence is the true friend that never betrays. And I know about true friends. Shout out to the Quad Pod," Beasley said.

All the players seem to understand the importance of an exciting offseason for a league that only is in season four days a year. But it seems that will have to wait until order is restored on the floor.

"We just need to have good competitive games. Once that happens everyone will be able to take the focus off proving themselves all over again and focus it back on to what's important, making fun of a lot of really average basketball," Hopkins said.