Getting the BALLSTICK Rolling

On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 12:12 PM, Anthony Hopkins wrote:

Sabin! My homie!! What has been up? I all of a sudden got a craving for something PCTI related and with Danny turning into a rich man's Wes, I figured I would holla at PCTI ex-villian. How is life? More importantly, how is hoops? I miss those games. 

*Warning, this may or may not wind up on the blog*

On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 1:37 PM, Jeff Sabin wrote:

HA. You know, I've really been missing PCTI chatter. I remember the offseason between PCTI II and III that we had non-stop chatter, posts, insults, etc...and I loved it. The silence this offseason has been less than exciting.

I've been hooping twice a week at my pickup game with DK and Smo, and Danny and I just joined a league against pretty nice competition, so we are trying to knock some rust off. After I bought my plane ticket to Denver and realized how out of shape I was, I got back into the gym a few weeks ago to get back in some sort of condition.

Up until about a few weeks ago, my main basketball activities were playing fantasy hoops and coaching my 4th grade son's team. My goal for PCTI 5 is to not embarrass myself, and I think I'm now on track to achieve my objective.

How's the Hopkins clan? Work?

On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 2:20 PM, Anthony Hopkins wrote:

Yeah it is crazy how much it has died off. It was rare if we went a week without something. The only time you have embarrassed yourself was when you turned into the resident villain, but looking back, that was one of the monumental things in PCTI. It really did fire our team up a lot. The only bad thing is now people are afraid to say anything bad because they don't want it to backfire like that. 

That being said, we need to get things going on the blog again. We need people to step up. It doesn't have to be incredibly creative or funny, just post anything.

As for me and my wife, things are good. School is cranked up for both of us. Work completely sucks and am currently looking other places, even though I am expecting to stay until I get done w school in another 15 months. I will tell you that I am hooping more consistently now than I have since I left Dallas. I am pretty pumped for PCTI because I think I'll play MUCH better than last year.

How do you feel about your team with 3 months til tip?

On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 5:02 PM, Jeff Sabin wrote:

Really pumped about my team. I think Abe, Joe, and Beas give us enough offense to be competitive and Joe, Beas, Don, and Bruise will give us enough defense as well. I like that several guys on the team are in great condition as well since we all know how grueling PCTI can be.

I thought I was having a pretty decent tourney last season until Games 6 & 7 started and my legs abandoned me. Just goes to show that you can train for PCTI, but she is a vengeful bitch that does what she wants to you.

I also thought the draft ended up with two pretty solid teams. I give Abe a slight advantage since he usually begins with an advantage over the other captain. But you guys have good players who can hurt us, and we have good players as well. So it will be fun to mix it up and see what happens. One thing I've done for this PCTI is run more and lift somewhat less. Nothing matters in PCTI except legs and lungs. Everything else is mostly irrelevant. How do you like your team? Anybody training or playing a lot?

On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 5:39 PM, Anthony Hopkins wrote:

I like your team as whale. I think as a defensive unit we have the advantage, but stopping Abe, Joe, and you along w keeping your bigs off the glass will give us issues. I think for us it depends on what we get from Pitto defensively, Eskildsen overall, and then the contribution from the typical low scorers (me, Smo, DK). I expect it to be fairly even. It will be interesting to see which team is in better shape. 

As for my team, I think we will play well together. I have played with Ben a handful of times in the past few months and he is looking better than the past couple. We have had some tough training we've been doing to help overall PCTI performance, which I'll post more on later. Everyone else I have no idea. I think I'm going to try and be super annoying on Abe and/or Joe for stretches. 

I will tell ya, I am a little worried about our team's mental stability. Brian and DK are good. I have meltdowns. Ben has a poor record of mentally checking out. BMac and Smo (and definitely me) lack confidence at times (unless Smo is driving a van of 15 dudes, then he's the most confident guy I know #nohomo). Then we have the guy nicknamed the Brat (who is the only one to have meltdowns) and Pitto who if the ref calls a couple bad calls he might never recover. Having said all that, I think we will be fine and not let that bring us down.

Give me the scouting report on Smo/DK.

Also, who are you most pumped about playing with?

On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 8:59 AM, Jeff Sabin wrote:

Ha. I hadn't thought about meltdown potential. Sounds like a solid blog post idea.

DK looks solid. He has been in the weightroom and his handle and shot look good. He and I had our first league game last week and he played well. He may not give you a ton of points, but he makes so many good basketball plays throughout the course of a game that go unnoticed. He has been playing well in our pickup game as well. Smo has been spotty in his attendance of my pickup game. The times he has attended though, he has looked somewhat nervous and unconfident in his game. He will always be a good teammate and I really like playing with him, but at times he thinks too much instead of just playing. But I also understand that he has been lifting a little bit and playing in another league, so I'm sure that is positive for him and for your team. As a dude though, I'm not sure it gets any better than Smo. Big fan.

Really enjoyed playing with Joe last year and look forward to it again this year. He plays his ass off and always cares. Beas is another guy I'm looking forward to playing with. Same deal, plays his ass off and cares. Also really enjoy playing with Spotlight. Always makes good plays and has great positive energy. I'm mixed on Don and Bruise though. Have always had a lot of respect for Abe, but have never played with him before, so we'll see how we mesh. Overall, I really like our team and hopefully we can find chemistry early.

What about you? Who do you like/dislike playing with on your team?

*edited by request*

On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 11:02 AM, Anthony Hopkins wrote:

DK will always be a valuable asset in PCTI because he will do anything you need from him and helps chemistry on any team. He makes few mistakes which is something everyone in PCTI could improve on. With me, DK, Esk, and Smo all on the same team we might have some 3 min possessions where we swing the ball 6 or 7 times and I botch a layup. Can you feel the excitement!! 

  

Well unlike you I'll give you a good answer instead of the political "I love everyone" answer you gave.

I'll tell ya I am most looking forward to playing w BC. Maybe it's both of us acting like children multiple times over the games or we are both stunningly good looking, but I feel like we have great on floor chemistry. I think we will have some fun. 

Dislike playing w Smo. I am not excited about seeing him as we used to text a good amount and hangout fairly often. Then he moved to Dallas and POOF, that bitch was gone and I have not talked to him since. I've texted him, but have gotten nothing. If I didn't follow him on twitter (my handle is @ahop31 so make sure you follow me) I would be wondering if he was still alive. Oh, and he just picked up another foul.

I tell ya I am not looking forward to becoming enemies on the court w my QP bros. It will probably be the most difficult thing I've ever faced in my life. I will be back to normal off the court, but I am going to have to think of them as assholes on the court. Is there anything you are not looking forward to? What are your goals for this year? We will wrap this up after this email.

On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 8:16 AM, Jeff Sabin wrote:

Mostly not looking forward to day 3. My legs and lungs have a history of abandoning me on day 3 and I always feel like I let my team down because of it. Probably because I am an old fart.

I used to have goals during the first couple of PCTIs. I thought about how many points, boards, assists I needed to average to have a successful tournament. But since PCTI III when we got the shitcan kicked out of us, I don't think about that stuff any more. The only stat that is personally important to me is FG%. My goal is to shoot 50% at each tournament and I've been close to that number in the past three tourneys, so if I could do that in V, I'd feel pretty good. But it's a difficult thing to do with so many games to be played.

What about your goals?

On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 10:09 AM, Anthony Hopkins wrote:

My goal is simple, to win. I know in order to help my team win I try and do certain things: bring energy, D up and keep my man off the board, don't make stupid turnovers, and don't act like a child. As you can tell I have failed doing these quite often. The thing that I love about PCTI is that the games are so intense, but once we leave the court, everyone tries to have a good time. I'm so fucking pumped, I think this could be the best one yet. Can you believe we are on year 5 already? I feel like the WNBA and that some people probably thought this would happen once or twice, but look at us now. I'll give a big SUCK IT  to all the doubters. I hope everyone gets their PCTI blog juices and we start getting pumped for this. 

Any last words before I get this up to the blog?

On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 10:25 AM, Jeff Sabin wrote:

Yes. Ben Wilson is going to be the only winless dude in this thing in 3 months. You can put that in 3" bold headlines.

Also, do me a favor and omit my comments about *redacted to protect the identity and safety of certain individuals*. Thanks brother, looking forward to seeing you and playing against you.

PCTI Uni Stix Version 2.0

As we roll into PCTI's 5th anniversary, I had a random Sunday afternoon instinct it was time to give PCTI some Ric Flair, changing the colour on the jersey's, and purchasing new one's.  I'll be completely honest, the emblem is a little smaller than I would have liked (it's a basketball on fire) but the jersey's are incredibly high quality, and should last us a long time.  Instead of going reversible (which have a shorter shelf life), I decided to go with the below.  

I'm sure half the league unit will be annoyed I did this without discussing with anyone, not to mention none of you like me, but since we already have confirmed we need new uniforms (mine no longer has numbers), and that we have proven we can't make any decisions as a group, I just decided to roll with it.  They match Rice, so if you play your cards right, Skillz can hook some matching shorts and shooting shirt units.  

Cost will be $160 all in.  I now assume everyone wants to kill me.  Let's break it down to a more simpler format:

• 7 year shelf life.
• Cost/Year-$23.

We are 22 weeks out of PCTI.  That means you will need to stash away an extra $7/week.  How do you do that?  One less beer at a bar, two less Starbucks mocha's, one less Chipotle meal... You get the picture.

I can't help it.  I like quality.  

Breaking News: PCTI on brink of collapse, members in open revolt

Breaking News: PCTI on brink of collapse, members in open revolt

After having established the most beloved and revered basketball tournament of his generation, Commissioner Dan Fruit has been unable to finalize the 5^th installment of PCTI. Although the first four PCTI events had their own set of challenges and difficulties, they pale in comparison with the seemingly insurmountable task of selecting a weekend to hold the popular tournament this year. "This has been the most challenging PCTI offseason ever" affirmed the Godfather. "My BORED has abandoned me and every PCTI member is presenting me with problems, but none with solutions. I mean, what am I, a consultant? Fix your own damn problems, people."

Standing in the way of date completion are the following life events: pregnancy, weddings, higher education, career advancement, family obligations, prior commitments, and for some unknown reason, a fishing trip. Several weeks ago, the event seemed to gained steam as a date was set for late May. However, one of PCTI’s legacy members, BC, threw a wicked curve to the rest of the group by stating that was Ron Burgundy week and that he could not abandon his job during that weekend. He explained by saying "Do I feel bad? Yeah, kinda. Should I have read my email and checked my calendar a little closer? Probably. But am I too goddamned important to PCTI to allow it to go on without me? You bet your ass! Look, I’m the Brat and I’ve got Dan’s ear and I’m gonna be at that tournament even if it causes everybody else to rearrange their lives. And if you can’t get down with that, then don’t come to my wedding! No seriously, come to my wedding as long as you bring a gift. Except Skillz, I still hate that guy."

Some PCTI participants were financially damaged by the recent cancellation. Wes Butter, one of the tournament’s least active participants, stated "Once the announcement was made, I immediately booked my flight, hotel, and rental car which set me back a few coins. But after that, I turned off my email, text, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, blog, phone, and pager so I could focus on my job and the mountains. Next thing I know, the tournament is canceled and I’m out $750? Who’s gonna reimburse me for that? I mean, should I have followed any of the 200 emails that followed the initial announcement? Maybe. But that’s not the way I do things! I like to check in once a quarter for my information. Hang on… I’ll call you back, there’s an In-n-Out Burger coming up."

Not all PCTI participants have been adversely impacted by the cancellation though. Incomprehensibly, some members were unaware of the announcement and subsequent aborting of the event. When asked what he thought of the inability to confirm PCTI V, Bryan Skills said "Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I’m a part of that. Now when do we do that again? Sorry, I’ve just been really busy coaching real basketball players to have to worry about the quasi-pickup players in PCTI. In fact, I’ve got to go. There’s a 6’6" kid from Nashville I’m recruiting. He’s not very good at basketball because I haven’t coached him yet. He probably wouldn’t even get drafted into PCTI, but he can pass his A.C.T. and I like smart players."

Where does this leave the 16 players and one cameraman who love the event and look forward to it each season? In a word, nowhere. Most are hopeful that the event will still happen this summer, but some are losing confidence. Last word goes to PCTI’s most popular character Joseph Thomason who recently said "Did you guys know they just legalized pot in Colorado? Two words for you brah…..road trip!"

 

Sabin 

PCTI FASTBREAK!!!!

PCTIV Off-Season Rivalry Watch

Disorganization and dissension are two of the buzz words within the PCTI organization as year 5 gets closer and closer.  Between the power struggle of the Bored, the lack of leadership displayed from the "commish," and scheduling conflicts across the board, many have said this off season is proving to be PCTI's toughest since existence.

The one bright spot of this is that disorganization and dissension leads to angry members, and angry members leads to rivalries.  As such, allow me to call out a few of the top as we move closer to PCTIV, which still at this point has no legitimate tip off time.

1. Dani vs. PCTI: 

I'm not sure any one person has been targeted more in an off season than Danie has over his lack of leadership and vision laid out for PCTIV.  Outside of the usual shots from his bratty friend The Brat, Danie has taken hits from Beas, Bruise, Spot, Hops, McKinney, Sabin, Ben, and Donley the last few weeks, none of which has seemed to cut him deep enough to change his habits.  At some point, one has to wonder if the ongoing power struggle with the BORED is wearing on him, or if he secretly enjoys watching his once beloved PCTI fall apart due to his lack of availability, with the ultimate idea that he can come in and save the day.   

2. The Brat vs. Nature:

The Brat has showed over the years that no one is off limits if he feels someone receives credit they don't deserve.  Enter PCTI's golden boy (who's popularity alone had him upset) who received ATT votes in his first year for his performance in one game for a team that got swept, than followed it up with MVP votes after posting a 6 and 6 stat line.  As such, The Brat has waged war and has shown no signs of backing off anytime soon.  Something to watch: The Nature Boy is notorious for not responding to criticism, but secretly developing a distaste for a person that can't be reversed.  I expect the gloves to come off when the two square off if PCTI5 ever happens.

3. The Actor vs. Everyone but McKinney:

I'm not sure I've ever seen one person's reputation steadily decline in a more impressive fashion than The Actor's has.  Whether it's by choice of his own, or his peers growing tired of trying to figure out if he's in or out of character, everyone is over it.  He's doing a hell of a job at turning people against him.  After year 1, The Actor walked out with only Pitto against him.  As of last year, I can't confirm any fans of his acting outside of one Bryan McKinney, who should be crowned for not only his loyalty, but the fact that he consistently laughs at any of his jokes.  To top it off, he continued the ongoing calf joke as the reason he couldn't get together for a PCTI hoop session.  

4. Anthony Hopkins vs. Tri-Pod:

In what was one of the most shrewd front office moves I can remember, Abe Stephens snatched up his three members of the (formerly) Quad Pod in the draft, making it obvious he was ready to trim the fat of his group and turn the QP into what a group who claims to be known for quality partying and good looks should be... A group with only members that are good at partying and are good looking.  With no more A. Hops, they now have that.  The question will be if Hops will recognize that and leverage it into a dominant defensive PCTI5 performance, or he will play dumb and try to tag along with this group of pretty boys.

5. The Don vs. Jeff Sabin:

This one came out of nowhere and hit the PCTI email chain like a ton of bricks. No one is quite sure how this former bromance turned rivalry will shake out, but I imagine it will intensify after Sabin delivering a crushing burn to Donley, one that left him speechless for the first time I can remember.  

PCTIV Dates Announced, Wall Street Reacts

In what has been one of the most tumultuous quarters in company history, the PCTI Bored of Directors have finally announced May 22-25 as the official time for PCTIV, in Denver, CO.

The late announcement and overly volatile off season can be attributed to a few things.. PCTI CEO Fruit Man Dan has been in an ongoing proxy battle with activist hedge fund manager Anthony Hopkins and his company, Quad Pod Investments.  Hopkins, like his mentor Carl Icahn, is known for his behind the scenes efforts in rallying high profile employees in an effort to overthrow the leadership group to be able to extract value that his company believes is not being tapped.

Additionally, the PCTI Bored has been in an ongoing fight to avoid a Union from forming.  Joe Thompson's efforts to convince fellow employees they aren't being treated properly and don't have the voice he believes they deserve is starting to gain steam.

PCTI Holdings (symbol: PCTI) is up 10% in pre-market trading with the news an agreement has been made. Goldman Sach's has upgraded the company to "Buy" status, citing PCTI's market share and lack of competition as reasons the company is a good play long term.  

Found Some!