Post From The Past

I decided to take a trip down memory lane and post one of my favorites, originally posted in February 2013 titled "At Our Age, Basketball is a Drug." 

It starts for most of us at a young age. Easily written off as "recreational." That is, for those who took it no further. That wasn't us.

We begin to grow up and our self view takes form. It is among the first things we are able to crystalize about our being. It's not something we do, after all. It's who we are.

As we get older, a few things become clear. First, we're not among the precious small percentage that will use this as a means to gather tremendous amounts of wealth. Second, many of those who we initially identify with will lose the desire with time. For them the increasing complexities of adult life are a perfect distraction or excuse, or - and who can fault them for this? - justification to give it up. That's not us. We will keep going until our bodies physically can't take it anymore and we will probably demand that nature prove it more than once.

So we remain in the subculture. There's a  rhythm created by the sounds, words and patterns that make it easier to identify with strangers who are in than with people we've known our entire lives who are out. If it's inauthentic, it doesn't feel like it.

And then there was college. This is where it was available around the clock and without consequence. Our bodies were peeking physically. We had no idea how good we had it.

Things quickly change. Some return home and find that the same places and same people are now very different. We will have to scrounge. If we settle somewhere new we will go in search of it before we ever think to fill our cabinets with groceries. It's not found online or spelled out in a travel guide. There are certain people to ask. For us, those people are easy to pick out.

 If all else fails, the desperate and brave will head to the inner city. On the other hand, sometimes old, white guys are just as useful. Surprisingly, it's often available at churches and synagogues.

 By now we seldom experience the joy it once gave us. It has become a mechanism. It gets us through the week. Lets us check out. Stress evaporates. Sometimes we even sneak off and do it alone early in the morning or very late at night. An act that is both deeply therapeutic and self loathing.

 Each day after is worse than the last day after and one day after we know it will make it difficult to get out of bed. We hope it's not soon. After all, If we could live without it, we would already be doing it.

Six Things That Shaped PCTI: #3

To kick off PCTI IIIIII, I've decided to take a look back at the 6 moment that shaped PCTI into what it is today.

6. Dismissal of the PWSNBN. (PCTI IIIII)

5. Arrival of Smo, Chase, and Donley. (PCTI II)

4. Sabin Turns Heel. (PCTI III)

3. Cramp Game (PCTI I)

In the 1997 comedy classic, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, there is a scene where an evil henchman is “stuck” in dire straits. Austin hijacks an asphalt roller and starts driving it towards Dr. Evil’s main lair. Initially, two of Dr. Evil’s henchmen try to halt him. After two seconds and the asphalt roller slowly moving towards the henchmen, one moves out of the way, while the other freaks out and screams, “STOP!”  The henchman knowing what is coming towards him, has plenty of time to move out of the way. The viewer can ascertain that the henchman needs to move out of the way, or he dies a terrible and preventable death. However, he continues to scream and eventually meets his demise.

The Cramp Game was a result of collective ignorance in putting on a basketball weekend. PCTI scheduled two Friday night games, followed by two Saturday morning games, a Saturday night game (originally game 6 was scheduled for Saturday night), and two games on Sunday. The fourth game in the grueling 14-hour Friday/Saturday stretch proved to be too much for the majority of PCTI. Additionally, the humidity inside (and outside) the gym combined with the fact that we played in a converted barn (translation: no insulation), spelled disaster for all of PCTI.

The game was a grind and terribly played on both sides. Much like the henchman wanted Austin to stop the slow asphalt roller that would result in his death, everyone in PCTI wanted to stop the slow cramps that we saw coming. By the end of the game, no one went full speed and everyone tried to protect themselves from the ominous blue tile that turned into a de facto ice skating rink. It seemed after Ben Wilson cramped up for the 30^th time that everyone wanted to “STOP!”

The Inglorious Ballers proved to have 1-2 more crampless players, which allowed them to secure the win. The only memories from this game come from everybody cramping sans a few players and everyone ice-skating on the blue layer just off the edge of the court behind the baskets. From recollection, it seemed both sides were hoping one team would take the initiative and just win it from the start of the 2^nd half yet nobody wanted to win.

Why is this important? It turned a weekend into a long weekend. It forced PCTI to become a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday excursion. We expected growing pains in the inaugural year. This game made PCTI space out games to prevent this from happening again. Since this game, two games have been played during the day on Friday (now Thursday) and gave PCTI players ample time to recover.

Most importantly, it helped usher in the social aspect of the weekend. The first PCTI had a few guys going out to booze for a bit mostly on Saturday night. Everyone was tired and/or worried about cramping for the next day. With the games spaced out and everyone recovering properly, PCTI II had everyone going out more and making this a great weekend all-around.

VidCast: Roommate draft captaincy drawing, draft recap

Six Things That Shaped PCTI: #4

To kick off PCTI IIIIII I’ve decided to take a look back at the 6 moments that have shaped/changed PCTI into what it is today.

6. The Dismissal of the player who shall not be named (PWSNBN). (PCTI IIIII)

5. Expansion I: The Arrival of Smo, Donley, and Chase. (PCTI II)

4. Sabin turns Heel. (PCTI III)

The most shocking event in wrestling history happened at WCW’s Bash at the Beach in 1996. Weeks prior to the event, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, known as the Outsiders, “invaded” WCW, proclaiming they were establishing a New World Order. They challenged WCW (who accepted) to a 3-on-3 match at Bash at the Beach. WCW sent in Randy Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger to face the Outsiders and their 3^rd mystery man.

The match at the BATB started to go the way of the Outsiders. After several improprieties committed by the Outsiders that sent Lex Luger home early, injuring Sting, and cheap-shotting Randy Savage, red & yellow Hulk Hogan walked out of the tunnel to a chorus of cheers. To the delight of the crowd, Hulk climbed into the ring, the Outsiders retreated outside the ring, and it appeared that Hulk would help the good guys prevail.

With Randy Savage lying on the mat, Hogan did the unthinkable: he took a step to the turnbuckle and launched himself forward for the atomic leg drop. The shocked crowd couldn’t process what happened. Did they really see what they thought they saw? It was confirmed when the Outsiders climbed back into the ring. Hogan and the Outsiders shared some high fives and Hogan dropped another atomic leg drop on a knocked out Savage. It was official: Hogan turned heel to the shock of many.

Fast forward to 2011. Jeff Sabin, coming off a defensive MVP accolade in PCTI II, assumes one of the captaincies for PCTI III. Jeff, a religious, family man and all-around nice guy, channels his inner Hollywood Hogan and decides to shed his wholesome image to become the ultimate villain in PCTI. Sabin’s turn shocked PCTI to the core (hyperbole!).

Jeff took to the blog to call out the opposing team in PCTI III, dubbing them “Breaking Bad.” In fairness to Jeff, Breaking Bad’s team chemistry on paper should have been combustible. However, Jeff’s repeated jabs towards several players on Breaking Bad (most notably yours truly) led to him unseating the PWSNBN as the most hated player in PCTI, while rallying Breaking Bad together.

Relentless and antagonizing in his blog posts, his attempt to create friction between Breaking Bad backfired. Breaking Bad arrived in Dallas for PCTI III mad and hungry (READ: MADHUNGRY, DAWG) to shut him up. Two days and four games later, Breaking Bad had done just that and recorded the first ever sweep in PCTI history.

Why is Sabin turning heel important? It affected the blog and our light-natured trash talk. In 2011, the blog had 94 posts and peaked in 2012 (mostly pre-PCTI III) with 248 posts. In 2013, it went down to 96, and in 2014, the posts hit only 37. Podcasts became a thing of the past, as well.

Sabin’s frequent posts and trash talk deterred most of PCTI in engaging in blog talk post-PCTI III for fear of opposing teams or individuals using it for bulletin board material. Today, every post has some good-natured ribbing but gone are the days of taking cheap shots at the other team. After PCTI III, Sabin cooled off on posting to try and repair his image behind the scenes.

Sabin was never the same. Outside of basketball, he showed up to PCTI IV looking disinterested in the entire weekend in Scottsdale. It appeared he wanted to be somewhere else. He managed to repair his image but the damage had been done. Sabin suffered an “injury” prior to PCTI V and didn’t go to Denver. His final straw came before PCTI VI was confirmed. He effectively announced that he was not going to be able to play in PCTI VI due to work obligations, which had not stopped him from playing in previous PCTIs. Saybin announced his retirement a few weeks later.

In retrospect, although he’s retired, he made PCTI III fun and made the basketball feel real. I know Breaking Bad played with a chip on their shoulder and wanted to prove him wrong. I have no doubts that Team Legs Feed the Kittens wanted to back-up their captain. It created a great soap opera that my hometown of Hollywood, CA would be envious.

PCTI IIIIII Draft

Read 'em and weep folks.  LET'S DO THIS.

PCTI IIIIII Draft

See you dummies in Portland.

Six Things That Shaped PCTI: #5

To kick off PCTI IIIIII I’ve decided to take a look back at the 6 moments that have shaped PCTI into what it is today.

6. The Dismissal of the player who shall not be named (PWSNBN). (PCTI IIIII) 

5. Expansion I: The Arrival of Smo, Donley, and Chase. (PCTI II)

The first expansion pack in PCTI came in a bundle for PCTI II. After careful consideration and deliberation (not really), PCTI welcomed Chase “Beer Man” Hardin and Michael “Smo” Orr to bring the team rosters up from 7 to 8 players total. Both were welcomed with open arms and celebrated for their respective skillsets.

Furthermore, it brought PCTI to 16 people and provided “depth” for each respective squads. After suffering through AJ Krow (scorekeeper, PCTI I) suiting up for Team 1 in PCTI I and the infamous “Cramp Game,” it made sense for PCTI to add two additional players.

Chase Hardin was supposed to be the greatest PCTI player ever. However, he showed up out-of-shape, smoking cigarettes on the way to the games, and looked disinterested in having fun all weekend. Additionally, he brought his girlfriend, who smiled zero times all weekend, and catered to her every need during every timeout. For his sake and the sake of PCTI, he shortly retired after PCTI II concluded. I'm pretty sure I had a 4 and a half minute conversation with him a Buffalo Wild Wings (sponsored post) that was cut short for him to call his girl. This was the first questionable move the Bored of Directors made in PCTI history.

Michael "Smo" Orr came in with swag and was a breath of fresh air that PCTI needed. Off the court, he blended in well with everyone and always had a one-liner served up for any situation to keep everyone laughing and happy. On the court, he was a consummate teammate, sharing the ball effortlessly with his teammates and protecting the rim to the tune of 9 blocks (PCTI Record shared with BC) in his debut. He was an all-around homerun for PCTI as an original addition to the first expansion of PCTI.

Fresh off a solid performance at PCTI I, many thought Dawson Huff would grow into a dependable, PCTI caliber big man for years to come. Unfortunately, a leg injury lead him to sitting out PCTI II and working the clock for all of PCTI II, which is the worst thing any person can do in all of sports. As a result, PCTI went back to the well to find a replacement.

Scott Donley declined an invitation to PCTI I due to a wedding obligation. As fate would have it, he received another chance when Dawson went down and quickly accepted a 3-day PCTI contract to replace Dawson for PCTI II. Similar to Smo, Donley was a hit on and off the court. Off the court, he goofed around and made fast friends with everyone in PCTI. On the court, he played a physical brand of basketball that PCTI had not seen from an inside/out threat. He also managed to clash with PCTI colors by wearing a NIKE (sponsored post) red dri-fit undershirt beneath his black and white uniform. Although he left his team out to dry (read: he left early) on Sunday while his team protected a 3-1 series lead, his impact was made in PCTI. Due to his performance, Scott’s 3-day contract turned into a lifetime contract.

This first expansion gave PCTI more legs (pun intended) while collectively elevating its play. Batting .667 in bringing in new players is a good number especially when 2 of 3 made it a point to ingratiate themselves amongst the PCTI brethren. PCTI managed to lose two players (Huff and Chase) but added two good ones as a result of the first expansion. Most importantly, PCTI added two players who wanted to drink and "party" throughout the weekend further elevating PCTI's status as an all-around great weekend.

Six Things that Shaped PCTI. #6

In honor of our 6th anniversary, I compiled a list of the 6 events that shaped PCTI into what it is today.

6. The Dismissal of the PWSNBN (The Player Who Shall Not Be Named). (PCTI V)

Pretty straight forward.

(Editor's note: The rest of the stories will actually have more information/history behind them).