More memories

I hope everyone enjoyed the first round of hoops memories. Here's some more.

Rituals - This isn’t exactly a basketball memory, but it stems directly from basketball. Superstition and habit created the traditions of the Beast Dive, Beast Fuzz, Cup-on-Car and the same Subway sandwiches for the pre-game meal. I’m not even going to try to explain all these, but those of us who lived it (Adam and Derek), knew it was not good…but GREAT times. Can someone tell me why a stranger pointing at the roof of your car is so freakin’ funny? No, you can’t. But I know that it is funny. I also know that when I eat a 12-inch turkey and roast beef with banana peppers, jalapeño peppers, tomatoes and southwest sauce on hearty Italian bread, the River Pilots are 19-0.

Brawlin’ - I was probably seven or eight years old, but even then, I would go to River basketball games. I idolized those guys. Players like Mike Snively, Adam Jones, Chris Wisvari, Brian Collins, Tommy Ash, Eric Fox. I know Neil remembers watching these guys, too. I thought those guys were amazing. I actually remember watching Adam’s group a lot (Adam is my cousin). But the one game that I remember vividly was against Magnolia (of course). Me and Derek were sitting on the bottom bleacher down where my Grandpa Romick always sits at games. I remember seeing Wizzy walking out toward midcourt before a free throw and turning around just in time to get slugged by a Magnolia player. Right in the mouth. Both benches cleared, fans were going onto the court to get into the scrum. My mom ran down the bleachers, grabbed me and Derek (we were only seven and six years old) and dragged us away from the action. I’m not sure if this is part of my imagination or if it actually happened, but I’m pretty sure that while everyone was running into the fray, Brian Collins walked over to the bench, sat down and started drinking from his water bottle. During the fight! Maybe that was the start of my dislike of Magnolia.

OHHHH! - All I can say about this is that I literally fell off my couch. The Buckeyes of last year really captured me during their run to the championship game. And Ron Lewis’ 3-pointer against Xaiver just about made me pass out. That shot and Oden coming from the weak side to block the possible game-winning shot by Tennessee topped off a memorable run through March.

Dethroning the King - Remember all the high school hype surrounding LeBron James? I couldn’t stand him back then. So arrogant. Remember, we were practically the same age and I had seen him play every year since he was a freshman at the state tournament. His junior year, Roger Bacon comes rolling into the title game, having lost to St. V’s by 40 earlier in the year. First play of the game, Beckham Wyrick, this scrappy white kid, puts a forearm into LeBron’s chest and sends him flying. That set the tone. In six years at the state tourney, Roger Bacon put on one of the best team performances I’d seen. At the start of the second half, they ran a set play that set a back pick on LeBron and tossed an alley oop to Wyrick who flushed two handed on LeBron’s head. Frank Phillips, who went on to star at Division II Findlay, finished it off with a two-hand jam of his own. A huge upset and one I won’t ever forget.

Hallowed Hardwood - Back in March of 2006, I went to N.C. with the Ship basketball team. On our day off, me, Jason and one of our work studies went on a tour of the tobacco road campuses. I walked on the Dean Dome floor. Touched the wood on which Michael Jordan, James Worthy and yes, Eric Montross played. We also snuck onto the floor of Cameron Indoor Stadium. What an amazing place. It was closed up and the lights were off, but we snuck down the stairwell onto the playing surface. I have the pics to prove it. That goodness for a great flash.

Grumpy - My sophomore year at River, we were really stinking it up against someone. I don’t know who. But at halftime, Coach Romick storms in, walks into the coaches office and shuts the door. Five minutes later he gets up, opens the door and says, “When you guys want to be coached, let me know.” He then goes back into his office and sits there for the rest of halftime. Classic.

The Man, the Legend - Notice I left “myth” out of the tag line. That’s because Chuck Bihn was no myth. That dude was a 6-5 farm boy with game from a tiny little school called Fort Recovery that might have had 70 boys in the whole school. They reached the state tourney finals against a really solid Worthington Christian and Bihn put up 30 some points, close to 20 boards and five or more blocks. He played the final three minutes of the fourth and nearly all three overtimes with four fouls, carry the team on his back. But with just a minute left in the game, he finally fouls out (amazing considering he played in the post). The kid TRYING to guard him goes sprinting down the floor, screaming with happiness. The little school that could, just couldn’t quite do it without Bihn. But to me, he’ll always be the man.

Chrome Spinners, Baby! - Entering my last year at West Lib, we had hired a new men’s b-ball coach after winning all of four games the year before. The whole team was made up of freshmen. But somehow they won 18 games during the regular season. Then, in the tourney, they got hot and won two games to get to the semis at Charleston where they knocked off nationally ranked Salem in an epic, while starting three freshmen and two sophomores. It was an improbable run that West Lib b-ball had never seen before, prompting me, as the play-by-play man to say that after the game, “the clock hasn’t struck midnight and that West Liberty carriage hasn’t turned into a pumpkin yet!” To which Jay Cronin, my color commentator replied, “And that carriage has got chrome spinners on it, baby!”

Chuck Davis - No catchy tag line for Chuck. He was too good for a cliché. I was fortunate enough to be in Ship while he was playing. He was the greatest player in Ship history hands down. I have so many classic memories watching him play. He scored 28 on Penn State to beat them in the Bryce Jordan Center and hit game-winners countless times in what was the most successful two-year stretch in Ship history. He even made a half-courter to win the game at Clarion in 2007, but the refs waved it off. On the radio, I dubbed the greatest shot that never happened. The guy was unbelievable how he continually rose to the occasion to hit big shot after big shot. He was a great person too. I already miss watching him play.

Ship vs. IUP…2006 - Ship and IUP are bitter rivals and tangled three times during our magical run to the PSAC West title in 2005-06. Both games in the regular season were heated and went into overtime. The playoff game, the first ever played at Shippensburg, in front of a packed house, was a classic too, not being decided until the final minute. Ship won all three games that year, but that trio of games was some of the most fun I’ve had watching basketball.

The Dream Team - I don’t remember what year it was off the top of my head, but the team comprised of me, Chris Isaly, Justin Isaly, Jason Trembly, John Miller, Denny Boger and several others became the only team in Powhatan Summer League history to run the table during the regular season and then win the tournament title. Move over Bird, Magic and Michael!

Raging River - All I have to say is…Sectional finals…Fort Frye…Chris Isaly…Game winner…comeback from 18 down…fans storm the court. I got the assist on Chris’ shot and I must have blacked out because I have no memory of this except for watching it on film. I do, however, remember sprinting down the floor at games end and the first person to get to me was Derek, who must have broke the land speed record to get that far out onto the floor that quickly after the buzzer.

Pitching a Shutout - My senior year game at Monroe Central was a real emotional one for me. My dad had just resigned and going out to Skyvue, you knew it was going to be a fist fight. It certainly was. It went to overtime, but in overtime, we shut them out. Really, we allowed NO POINTS for an entire overtime period. That’s impressive. We were in real foul trouble throughout (typical of an MC game) and I remember sitting in the locker room, just dead exhausted because I never left the game and because for the first time in my career my dad wasn’t on the sideline. Coach Curtis came over and just put his hand on my shoulder. Didn’t say anything, but it I could just tell the old fella was proud of me. That meant a lot.

Throwing it down! - I never knew I could dunk a basketball until I actually did it. It was after baseball practice in the gym and Coach Romick and Dave Wright were sitting there and said, “Hey, I bet you can dunk.” I told them no way. Coach got me a ball, and what do you know. On the first try, I threw it down. I was more surprised than they were. Just goes to show that white men can jump…a little.

Candy and Cuss Words - True, we were rivals in junior high, but Chris Isaly is in a ridiculous amount of my favorite basketball memories. We always had great chemistry on the floor and it seemed like every time we needed a big shot, it was him making it and me passing it to him. But when we were sophomores, we didn’t play much on varsity. We just kind of sat at the end of our bench. Well, we got a bright idea to start smuggling candy to the bench to give us a snack while we were riding the pine. Chris would usually hide a roll of Spree or something down his socks. Sure enough, though, me and Chris start snacking and Romick comes flying down our way, grabs Chris and puts him in the game…with candy in his socks! Another great moment with Chris that same year was at Conotton Valley. Coach had a rule that year that cussing in practice or a game would result in having to run a suicide. We really stunk it up in the first half and half time, Coach was lettin’ em fly. I look over at Chris and there he is, paying close attention and counting with his fingers. I had no idea what he was doing. But the next day in practice, he tells coach he was keeping track of his expletives in the locker room. Needless to say, Coach was running a few suicides the next couple of practices.

Sophomore Spark - Again, that sophomore year was full of great memories. I always loved playing against Paden City. I grew up watching the Wildcats, my dad was a coach there at one point, I was a ball boy there when I was just five or six years old and my mom had taught there for years. Most of the coaches and fans had known me since I was a little kid. Against PC at home, we weren’t playing well (typical of that season) and were on the verge of losing control of the game. Coach grabs me and Chris in a rage, throws us in (without telling us who to go in for) and is telling us to shoot it every chance we get. For some reason, I get stuck running point against a 1-3 chaser. But I make a steal, hit Chris on the wing who nails a three. Next trip down, I hit Chris and he hits another three. Then I hit a jumper from 15 feet, and Chris closes out the quarter with an NBA-range three to give us the lead. We didn’t play the rest of the game, but we made a huge impression and gave the team a spark. We ended up winning the game.

Look Out! - I think it was our seventh grade year and we were playing on the infamous stage at Powhatan. There’s a lose ball heading towards the edge of the stage. Jeremy Lude jumps for it, Josh Conner bumps him just enough, and Jeremy goes flying off the stage. Fortunately, he was OK. But that’s the first and last time I’d ever seen that happen. Speaking of Jeremy, our senior year at Shenedoah, he went for another lose ball and dislocated both of his hips. He walked funny for months. I can still hear him scream when he dove for the ball. To his credit, he never quit going after lose balls.

So that's it, folks. A few of my favorite basketball memories.