Back in the early 2000s, I played basketball in a church league in Noblesville. My team was comprised of old friends and people that I had gone to church with for a few years. Some were IU grads, some Purdue, Butler and a few guys that played D3 basketball.
We were an OK team; middle of the pack in this church league. Most of the good teams had one or two players that could score at will...we had a lot of inconsistent guys, but we were grinders.
One game, we played one of the better teams in the league- they were very tall for the league and very skilled. I didn't know anyone on the team, except for one guy who had played for IU just three years before playing in this church league.
Match-ups were a problem for us in this game; I'm 5'4" and was guarding guys taller than six feet for most of the contest. A few of our better players, both in the 6'4" range had the unenviable task of having to guard an ex-Big 10 PF from IU. They did a good job and we hung around most of the game- keeping the score respectable.
But toward the end, it got uglier; their size and skill wore us down. On a fast break, their big man was one-on-one against our guy who played for a very small school. They were up by around 12-14 points...and the ex-Bobby Knight recruit thought it was time to show us up; so he dunked on the guy guarding him and yelled at him after.
Big tough guy.
A years before, he was getting his ass kicked by Brad Miller at Mackey...but I believe he thought that night was his time to shine, I guess.
I wasn't as impressed with that 6'10" guy dunking as he was...and his histrionics made an impression. Even the IU grads who I played with thought he acted like a jerk, and one got into his face a bit a moment later.
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Fast forward to 2013- a friend told me about people taking rec league ball too seriously, and I thought of this story...so I told it, but used this guy's name.
As I was finishing the story, I looked to the right and he was right next to me...good times.
"Who is Robbie Eggers?"
ReplyDeleteI KNOW NOTHING!
ReplyDeleteAre you pals with Hurley, Fitz? If so, you cheated.
Nope, don't know Hurley. Was between Eggers and Mandeville and the former was a better match on the height description.
ReplyDeleteSo do I win a "Choo Choo, Muthas" sticker?
BTW, great story. I was expecting your team to pull the upset as I read it, but this was a more entertaining ending.
Well done then...and sure, you win a sticker.
ReplyDeleteEither DM your info to our twitter account, or e-mail it to our e-mail address (on the side of the page).
Choo Choo.
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