May 22 - New Competition; Saving Deer Run Courts
Okay, so we found out some QUITE intriguing news recently. Since school is letting out soon, there was going to be a lot more basketball being played soon. That's not the news.
A few days before the end of school, Phenom, Zack Attack, Birdie, Like Mike, Scarecrow and I were heading toward the Nashville Elementary Courts, when we saw a crazy sight: A large black piece of plywood with the words "NEP: Home to Team Bullet Train" spray-painted in white and red, with basketballs and such as well. Also, all around it, the signatures of nicknames of the players were on it. Some familiar names: Punisher, Paul Wall, Nasty Nate AKA Boomerang; as well as some unfamiliar ones (some seeming to be comparing themselves to NBA players): White Shaq, inVincable, Double-D, Z-Mac, and what appeared to be Kong.
So we walked over and checked to see what all this was about, and there were some papers next to it. One of them read, and I quote:
"We, the Brown County Bombers, hereby claim the Nashville Elementary Playground basketball courts as our own and are, from here on out, our home court. Anyone that wants to try to dispute this must face our team in a real 'regulation' game. Any questions can be handed over to Logan 'The Punisher' Snider or Zeb "Z-Mac" McHale.
Sincerely,
The Bullet Trains."
Maybe you're thinking, "What the hell?" Well, yeah, that's what we thought, too. They were damn near stealing our courts away from us. So we got in Zack Attack's car and drove out to a new court that was hardly used, because it was so broken down. It was at Artist's Drive, a little neighborhood full of yuppie bitches. But deep inside, there were some decent basketball courts. And guess what? Once we got out there, there was a bunch of the young, local, yuppie bastards playing their form of "streetball". It was Mitch "The Bitch" Wininger, Jesse Perkins, and a bunch of other little kids without testicles or talent. Around sixth grade-ish. Even if we wanted to claim that spot, we wouldn't have any trouble.
So we did what we had to do: We drove as fast as possible to Deer Run. and we saw a bunch of ballers lookin' around as if they were going to claim the place. Luckily, we pulled in exactly at the right time.
"Bitches, what the fuck?" Zack Attack screamed, holding a basketball at his side. We were all already in our outfits, and we were all pissed.
"C'mon man, we're just about to claim this spot," the person who appeared to be the leader said. There were about six of them, and I knew a couple. One was Casey "Stomp" Herrin, large and better than the "stereotypical buff guy". He was about 5'10", had huge Governator-like muscles, and always slammed the ground like a wrestler whenever he was playing perimeter defense. The other was Jeremy "J-Beck AKA Triple-X" Beckham. He recently overdosed on a bunch of different pills, and was addicted to them, so he used basketball to help fix his addiction. He's a starter on the high school junior varsity team, just like Phenom, and is about the same caliber as Phenom. They are both two of the best all-star players in the town.
Also on the team were people like Rich "Richie Rich" Hoffsetter, who was supposed to be rolling with us, and Miles "Kid Kobe" Lane, who was another great all-star who was supposed to be on our team, but had lost the 3-on-3 try-out game.
"This is Swingspike territory, now," J-Beck said. And then, as if it was already a sealed deal, he simply turned around and started shooting hoops.
"OH HO HO," I screamed, approaching the court, "I don't freakin' think so, man. We arrived at the same time, I feel we should settle this like two real crews fighting for one real court. We're going to play for it." J-Beck looked almost scared that they would have to face us. Birdie walked up.
"One game to twenty-one," he said, defending his home court with heart, "Win by two, winners get the court and one player from the other team." I looked at him in shock.
"Wait a minute, man," I said quietly to him, approaching him quickly, "They have Richie Rich, Kid Kobe, and Triple-X. They beat us, they're definitely gonna take Phenom."
"Then I guess we won't be losing, then, will we?" Birdie said, grinning and taking the ball from my hands. How was I supposed to say no, now? Just refuse to claim our court? Let's get started.
The Revolution:
MaTrix
Phenom
Zack Attack
Birdie
Scarecrow
Like Mike (SUB)
Swingspike:
Richie Rich AKA R2
Kid Kobe
J-Beck AKA Triple-X
Superman
Baby Beast
Stomp (didn't play due to some pre-game ankle problems)
Okay, biggest game of the season, and the court and our star player are on the line. There were only four or five people there, and two others served as refs, while another kept score. The jump ball was between Phenom and 6-1 Jeff "Baby Beast" Kelso. Beast meaning Ben "The Beast" Wallace, because their games were almost identical: defensive rebound = pass to another player; offensive rebound = power dunk on ANYONE; passed in the paint = SEE "OFFENSIVE REBOUND". He was the most powerful player around, and I, being the tiny blocker I am, have only blocked him twice since I've known him. It also helped that he had at least a two-foot vertical, which is about what I have, but helps him more seeing as how he's freakin' huge.
So Phenom grabbed the jump ball, because BB was somewhat uncoordinated with his hands. He was one of Dubz's and Zack Attack's closest friends, but seeing as how they are the only two on TR that like him, I refused to let him on the team because of his bad attitude, asshole-ness, and drug addiction. Phenom brought it up the court and passed it to me at the perimeter. Richie Rich, having played on my team for awhile, tried to play D on me, but I managed to cross him up just enough to get by him. I drove into the paint and seemingly went for a dunk, but instead, I slammed the ball and my hand hard off the backboard. At that, Scarecrow brought his long, lanky self up to the rim, grabbed the ball off the oop, and slammed it down, right on top of Triple-X. Everyone cheered for him, and he and I pointed at each other in association.
The following play, Kid Kobe brought it up, and brought meaning to his name. He came up the right baseline, did a fast between-the-legs crossover past Zack Attack, drove it in, and jumped from outside the lane, pulling his legs up, and bringing his arm way back, before swinging his arm back forward, and dunking strongly right on top of Birdie. He had jumped to attempt the block, but instead was hit hard and thrown to the ground, while KK hung from the rim with one arm, and looked around in astonishment.
A few plays later, though, Birdie tried to get him back. He had the ball at three-point range, and had KK guarding him. In one fast motion, though, Birdie spun, holding the ball right over KK, and came back around to see KK with his back to him. Birdie threw it hard off KK's back, who spun back around and came after him, but he threw the ball between Kid Kobe's legs, and ducked underneath his arms. On the other side, Birdie retrieved the ball, which was being chased down by Superman. But Birdie grabbed it off the ground, jumped immediately after grabbing it, right into Superman, who was still accelerating after the inexistent ball. Birdie, as soon as he got into the air, popped the ball to the rim, and I came running from the free-throw line, jumped a few steps inside, grabbed it, and finished it, leaning almost completely horizontal. Specifically because my body was being supported by Baby Beast's shoulders, where they had came in contact with and landed after I had jumped.
So, somehow, there was a scoring problem, and we couldn't keep track of all the points that had been scored, so we called it 19-19, jump ball for possession. They won the jump ball, this time with Superman, their own personal highflyer. Richie Rich got the ball and started to bring it up. Upon doing so, he jumped to shoot a three-point shot over Like Mike, who had subbed in for Scarecrow, then passed immediately down to Superman, who was still driving inside. He grabbed the dime, and as soon as he did so, he took two steps and went to dunk it gently, to get the final point, and win. Well, seeing as how I really didn't want to lose Phenom, rights to Deer Run, and this game, I saw him approaching the paint, and came SPRINTING (and I don't sprint) after him, and jumped right as he did. Once he got to the top of his jump and was about to dunk it, I slammed the ball against the backboard, causing the ball to reflect off, right into the hands of none other than Like Mike. He came running up the court, and Phenom got on his hands and knees right as he did, leaving the paint open. LM got to Phenom, jumped off his back, did a 360, and slammed it off the glass. Right behind him came Zack Attack, who, instead of finishing with his signature, two-handed power Attack, jumped beyond Phenom, did a crazy full-windmill, and slammed it hard, causing the escalating crowd to go crazy.
Okay, so it's 20-19, and Swingspike has two fantastic three-point shooters, who each had a nice handle, and damn near the best dimes around. So they had a nice chance. R2 brought the ball up and handed it off to J-Beck, who held onto it for a few seconds, before spinning quickly around Like Mike, and entering the paint. He handed it off to Baby Beast, who, for a first, instead of dunking it right off the bat, handed it back to Triple-X after he was further into the paint. Then, immediately after receiving the ball, he jumped toward the goal, and elevated with the ball in his right hand. Unfortunately for him, Phenom was entering the paint as well, and for a different reason than Triple-X. In an ultimate all-star showdown, Phenom jumped up, chest-to-chest, face-to-face with his balling arch-rival and almost-twin, J-Beck AKA Triple-X. It was probably the best poster that could ever be made, was of those seeming five minutes of slow-motion where Triple-X tomahawked it toward the goal, only to be swiftly blocked and slammed hard to the ground by Phenom, which sent the ball hurtling downcourt, into the hands of I, Matrix. So, with Zack Attack, J-Beck, and Baby Beast on the far end of the court, stalled, and not moving, and with Birdie, Phenom, Richie Rich, and Kid Kobe approaching the goal quicker than the others, I decided to do what I do best: Dunk.
I got just outside the lane, jumped off two legs, and did a two-handed reverse-360 double-pump slam (sounds like a lot, but it's really simple), and was about to dunk it when Superman got the ultimate payback. As I was finishing my spin, he came up and slammed it out of my hands, and it bounced hard off the back of the rim. Right as the game looked as though it hung in the balance of which tall player or which high jumper would get the rebound for the other team, pass up to the two uncontested players up court, and win with a last-second three-point shot.... Phenom approached.
He jumps high. I mean REALLY HIGH for a kid his height and race. In dunk contests before, he's jumped COMPLETELY over me, and I didn't even feel a thing. Had my head up and everything, and saw him soar completely over me and dunk it. Now that's ups. Well, he came running up, saw the ball in the air, jumped from way back (probably two steps inside free-throw line, at most), and grabbed the ball in mid-air. Oh, yes, but that's not the end. He could have waited that hour and a half for his hang time to wear off, land, then jump again and lay down some simple lay-up or a dunk. But instead, he decided to show off a dunk I did for recreation. He did it for game-winning-ness. With the ball clasped tightly in his right hand, he soared the great distance, and slammed the ball down, with his elbow in the rim. He hung there a few seconds before screaming at the top of his lungs "FEEL THE REVOLUTION, BABY!!" He dropped back down, and everyone from our team ran up to him and started screaming and w00ting and such.
Then, with the black plywood board that Swingspike had brought for themselves, and the lime green spray paint Zack Attack always kept in his car (for some reason), we let Phenom do the honors of writing, in graffiti:
Which was quickly followed by him writing his street signature. We all finished with ours and then, directly under "The Revolution", we put "DEER RUN HOME COURT". Yeah, we earned our name that day, and got Kid Kobe onto our team, finally. Even though we managed to lose him in the try-outs, we finally got him, one way or another. We finally earned our court, and earned the name of the best crew in BC, so far.
A few days before the end of school, Phenom, Zack Attack, Birdie, Like Mike, Scarecrow and I were heading toward the Nashville Elementary Courts, when we saw a crazy sight: A large black piece of plywood with the words "NEP: Home to Team Bullet Train" spray-painted in white and red, with basketballs and such as well. Also, all around it, the signatures of nicknames of the players were on it. Some familiar names: Punisher, Paul Wall, Nasty Nate AKA Boomerang; as well as some unfamiliar ones (some seeming to be comparing themselves to NBA players): White Shaq, inVincable, Double-D, Z-Mac, and what appeared to be Kong.
So we walked over and checked to see what all this was about, and there were some papers next to it. One of them read, and I quote:
"We, the Brown County Bombers, hereby claim the Nashville Elementary Playground basketball courts as our own and are, from here on out, our home court. Anyone that wants to try to dispute this must face our team in a real 'regulation' game. Any questions can be handed over to Logan 'The Punisher' Snider or Zeb "Z-Mac" McHale.
Sincerely,
The Bullet Trains."
Maybe you're thinking, "What the hell?" Well, yeah, that's what we thought, too. They were damn near stealing our courts away from us. So we got in Zack Attack's car and drove out to a new court that was hardly used, because it was so broken down. It was at Artist's Drive, a little neighborhood full of yuppie bitches. But deep inside, there were some decent basketball courts. And guess what? Once we got out there, there was a bunch of the young, local, yuppie bastards playing their form of "streetball". It was Mitch "The Bitch" Wininger, Jesse Perkins, and a bunch of other little kids without testicles or talent. Around sixth grade-ish. Even if we wanted to claim that spot, we wouldn't have any trouble.
So we did what we had to do: We drove as fast as possible to Deer Run. and we saw a bunch of ballers lookin' around as if they were going to claim the place. Luckily, we pulled in exactly at the right time.
"Bitches, what the fuck?" Zack Attack screamed, holding a basketball at his side. We were all already in our outfits, and we were all pissed.
"C'mon man, we're just about to claim this spot," the person who appeared to be the leader said. There were about six of them, and I knew a couple. One was Casey "Stomp" Herrin, large and better than the "stereotypical buff guy". He was about 5'10", had huge Governator-like muscles, and always slammed the ground like a wrestler whenever he was playing perimeter defense. The other was Jeremy "J-Beck AKA Triple-X" Beckham. He recently overdosed on a bunch of different pills, and was addicted to them, so he used basketball to help fix his addiction. He's a starter on the high school junior varsity team, just like Phenom, and is about the same caliber as Phenom. They are both two of the best all-star players in the town.
Also on the team were people like Rich "Richie Rich" Hoffsetter, who was supposed to be rolling with us, and Miles "Kid Kobe" Lane, who was another great all-star who was supposed to be on our team, but had lost the 3-on-3 try-out game.
"This is Swingspike territory, now," J-Beck said. And then, as if it was already a sealed deal, he simply turned around and started shooting hoops.
"OH HO HO," I screamed, approaching the court, "I don't freakin' think so, man. We arrived at the same time, I feel we should settle this like two real crews fighting for one real court. We're going to play for it." J-Beck looked almost scared that they would have to face us. Birdie walked up.
"One game to twenty-one," he said, defending his home court with heart, "Win by two, winners get the court and one player from the other team." I looked at him in shock.
"Wait a minute, man," I said quietly to him, approaching him quickly, "They have Richie Rich, Kid Kobe, and Triple-X. They beat us, they're definitely gonna take Phenom."
"Then I guess we won't be losing, then, will we?" Birdie said, grinning and taking the ball from my hands. How was I supposed to say no, now? Just refuse to claim our court? Let's get started.
The Revolution:
MaTrix
Phenom
Zack Attack
Birdie
Scarecrow
Like Mike (SUB)
Swingspike:
Richie Rich AKA R2
Kid Kobe
J-Beck AKA Triple-X
Superman
Baby Beast
Stomp (didn't play due to some pre-game ankle problems)
Okay, biggest game of the season, and the court and our star player are on the line. There were only four or five people there, and two others served as refs, while another kept score. The jump ball was between Phenom and 6-1 Jeff "Baby Beast" Kelso. Beast meaning Ben "The Beast" Wallace, because their games were almost identical: defensive rebound = pass to another player; offensive rebound = power dunk on ANYONE; passed in the paint = SEE "OFFENSIVE REBOUND". He was the most powerful player around, and I, being the tiny blocker I am, have only blocked him twice since I've known him. It also helped that he had at least a two-foot vertical, which is about what I have, but helps him more seeing as how he's freakin' huge.
So Phenom grabbed the jump ball, because BB was somewhat uncoordinated with his hands. He was one of Dubz's and Zack Attack's closest friends, but seeing as how they are the only two on TR that like him, I refused to let him on the team because of his bad attitude, asshole-ness, and drug addiction. Phenom brought it up the court and passed it to me at the perimeter. Richie Rich, having played on my team for awhile, tried to play D on me, but I managed to cross him up just enough to get by him. I drove into the paint and seemingly went for a dunk, but instead, I slammed the ball and my hand hard off the backboard. At that, Scarecrow brought his long, lanky self up to the rim, grabbed the ball off the oop, and slammed it down, right on top of Triple-X. Everyone cheered for him, and he and I pointed at each other in association.
The following play, Kid Kobe brought it up, and brought meaning to his name. He came up the right baseline, did a fast between-the-legs crossover past Zack Attack, drove it in, and jumped from outside the lane, pulling his legs up, and bringing his arm way back, before swinging his arm back forward, and dunking strongly right on top of Birdie. He had jumped to attempt the block, but instead was hit hard and thrown to the ground, while KK hung from the rim with one arm, and looked around in astonishment.
A few plays later, though, Birdie tried to get him back. He had the ball at three-point range, and had KK guarding him. In one fast motion, though, Birdie spun, holding the ball right over KK, and came back around to see KK with his back to him. Birdie threw it hard off KK's back, who spun back around and came after him, but he threw the ball between Kid Kobe's legs, and ducked underneath his arms. On the other side, Birdie retrieved the ball, which was being chased down by Superman. But Birdie grabbed it off the ground, jumped immediately after grabbing it, right into Superman, who was still accelerating after the inexistent ball. Birdie, as soon as he got into the air, popped the ball to the rim, and I came running from the free-throw line, jumped a few steps inside, grabbed it, and finished it, leaning almost completely horizontal. Specifically because my body was being supported by Baby Beast's shoulders, where they had came in contact with and landed after I had jumped.
So, somehow, there was a scoring problem, and we couldn't keep track of all the points that had been scored, so we called it 19-19, jump ball for possession. They won the jump ball, this time with Superman, their own personal highflyer. Richie Rich got the ball and started to bring it up. Upon doing so, he jumped to shoot a three-point shot over Like Mike, who had subbed in for Scarecrow, then passed immediately down to Superman, who was still driving inside. He grabbed the dime, and as soon as he did so, he took two steps and went to dunk it gently, to get the final point, and win. Well, seeing as how I really didn't want to lose Phenom, rights to Deer Run, and this game, I saw him approaching the paint, and came SPRINTING (and I don't sprint) after him, and jumped right as he did. Once he got to the top of his jump and was about to dunk it, I slammed the ball against the backboard, causing the ball to reflect off, right into the hands of none other than Like Mike. He came running up the court, and Phenom got on his hands and knees right as he did, leaving the paint open. LM got to Phenom, jumped off his back, did a 360, and slammed it off the glass. Right behind him came Zack Attack, who, instead of finishing with his signature, two-handed power Attack, jumped beyond Phenom, did a crazy full-windmill, and slammed it hard, causing the escalating crowd to go crazy.
Okay, so it's 20-19, and Swingspike has two fantastic three-point shooters, who each had a nice handle, and damn near the best dimes around. So they had a nice chance. R2 brought the ball up and handed it off to J-Beck, who held onto it for a few seconds, before spinning quickly around Like Mike, and entering the paint. He handed it off to Baby Beast, who, for a first, instead of dunking it right off the bat, handed it back to Triple-X after he was further into the paint. Then, immediately after receiving the ball, he jumped toward the goal, and elevated with the ball in his right hand. Unfortunately for him, Phenom was entering the paint as well, and for a different reason than Triple-X. In an ultimate all-star showdown, Phenom jumped up, chest-to-chest, face-to-face with his balling arch-rival and almost-twin, J-Beck AKA Triple-X. It was probably the best poster that could ever be made, was of those seeming five minutes of slow-motion where Triple-X tomahawked it toward the goal, only to be swiftly blocked and slammed hard to the ground by Phenom, which sent the ball hurtling downcourt, into the hands of I, Matrix. So, with Zack Attack, J-Beck, and Baby Beast on the far end of the court, stalled, and not moving, and with Birdie, Phenom, Richie Rich, and Kid Kobe approaching the goal quicker than the others, I decided to do what I do best: Dunk.
I got just outside the lane, jumped off two legs, and did a two-handed reverse-360 double-pump slam (sounds like a lot, but it's really simple), and was about to dunk it when Superman got the ultimate payback. As I was finishing my spin, he came up and slammed it out of my hands, and it bounced hard off the back of the rim. Right as the game looked as though it hung in the balance of which tall player or which high jumper would get the rebound for the other team, pass up to the two uncontested players up court, and win with a last-second three-point shot.... Phenom approached.
He jumps high. I mean REALLY HIGH for a kid his height and race. In dunk contests before, he's jumped COMPLETELY over me, and I didn't even feel a thing. Had my head up and everything, and saw him soar completely over me and dunk it. Now that's ups. Well, he came running up, saw the ball in the air, jumped from way back (probably two steps inside free-throw line, at most), and grabbed the ball in mid-air. Oh, yes, but that's not the end. He could have waited that hour and a half for his hang time to wear off, land, then jump again and lay down some simple lay-up or a dunk. But instead, he decided to show off a dunk I did for recreation. He did it for game-winning-ness. With the ball clasped tightly in his right hand, he soared the great distance, and slammed the ball down, with his elbow in the rim. He hung there a few seconds before screaming at the top of his lungs "FEEL THE REVOLUTION, BABY!!" He dropped back down, and everyone from our team ran up to him and started screaming and w00ting and such.
Then, with the black plywood board that Swingspike had brought for themselves, and the lime green spray paint Zack Attack always kept in his car (for some reason), we let Phenom do the honors of writing, in graffiti:
THE REVOLUTION
Which was quickly followed by him writing his street signature. We all finished with ours and then, directly under "The Revolution", we put "DEER RUN HOME COURT". Yeah, we earned our name that day, and got Kid Kobe onto our team, finally. Even though we managed to lose him in the try-outs, we finally got him, one way or another. We finally earned our court, and earned the name of the best crew in BC, so far.
posted by .maTrix at
10:07 PM
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