Friday, October 25, 2013

October 25th, 2013: St. John's Tip off

Is it November yet?


Good evening! College basketball is more or less underway with Midnight Madness or reasonable fascimiles thereof. I'm in the upper deck at Carnesecca Arena, shaking my head every so often at the brilliant planning of the athletic department. I hate having to argue and pray for tickets.

There is currently an alumni game going on, which mostly consists of guys trying to recapture their old athleticism. I don't recognize most of the guys, though they managed to get Felipe Lopez back. The ladies are represented by Sky Lindsay (whose extensions are probably bigger than our freshman point guard) and Mercedes Dukes (who appears to have gotten married at some point- she was announced as Mercedes Lewis). Alumni games are much more fun when you pretend to care, y'all. Also, Mercedes has four points, which I think is her single-game career high. (Dukes, I love you, but we loved you for being a firestarting defensive spark off the bench, who kept everyone fired up.)

"An influential contributor"- yes, the sure sign that you could find sweet Fanny Adams to say about Dukes statistically. But it's true. She was, if not the heart of the 2006 team, at least one of the ventricles of it.

The dancing girls (and boy) are out. I don't know if I like the black tops, but the team looks good so far. Band could use a little practice, but I don't know if they're at full strength.

Son, did you just steal the ball from your own teammate? SMH.

There is a dude who is wearing a Phoenix Coyotes jersey and I don't know why.

Sky Lindsay on Rob Thomas is not a good plan, IDGAF if it's an exhibition game.

Oh, hey, Lopez. Nice move, I think Nadirah did it against LaSalle that one time.

Dumbass pass, son, but nice job by Sky to snag the steal.

Yes, I write game notes of mild dismay even for exhibition games where no one on the court cares about defense. Just me tonight- our dashing reporter is being held for ransom by Pirates.

Oh, don't tell me we got stuck with an eating contest too... fortunately, this is speed, not quantity. Seton Hall brought in Kobayashi. Does having part of it fall out factor into who finishes first? Ahahah, the band started chanting Q-DO-BA! I love these guys. They are my crew.

Oooof, off the rim for the halfcourt shot. Nice range, dude!

Gina and Selina poked their heads out before, but they went back in. I don't like the new number font, but the jerseys are all right.

Oh, hey, something's happening. The lights went out. We have active basketball players soon! Of course Johnny's theme song is "Johnny B. Goode". Aaaaand there goes the fog machine.

Key, switch to decaf. Amber's left foot is in a boot, and that makes me sad. Jade's a big girl- for the first time in a long time, I'm not worried about having bulk down low, with Jade, Sandie, and Selina. Amber and Selina bring the height. And then Aliyyah and Danaejah in the backcourt... ohhhh, yes. Mallory looks like she's going for the Le'Coe Willingham role.

We have names on our jerseys for the first time in, like, ever. It's so weird. And the one year where it would have been easy to tell the freshmen apart, of course. (Yeah, it took me a while to keep Key and Bri straight their first year.)

We won't talk about the dance-off. It was kind of awkward. Guys. Stahp.

The basketballs finally showed up around 8:20. Three-point shootout! Nae, Ashley, and Bri, versus Gina, Key, and Mallory. Team 1 won.

Come on, why doesn't the dude's jersey get bling? Everyone deserves bling.

Gina spotted someone in the stands- maybe Tesia or Day, from the looks of her- and squeed so loud I heard her in the upper deck. It was weirdly adorable. I never pegged Gina as the squee type.

Constantly reminding myself that it's SJU now, not STJ. Even though the logo is still STJ.

Rysheed Jordan, I gotta love your cojones, what with being a guy named Jordan who wears #23. No expectations here, not at all.

Okay, dude in the front row, you have a patch on your jersey. You are legit and I approve.

Note to self: butt pads. All the seat cushions. I think it's time to flash the New Orleans ones.

The light-up spirit sticks have settings on them, which is kind of cool.

During intros, I'm pretty sure Bri was wearing the "oh god is he really doing that in public" face when Sir'Dominic Pointer came out. I wear that one a lot. :D

Max Hooper is, like, the perfect basketball name. But JaKarr Sampson, Orlando Sánchez, and Phil Greene IV are stealing the show in the scrimmage.

Senior ladies are judging the slam dunk contest again, from the looks of it. Sir'Dominic is participating, which is unfair to the other participants, since Briana will give him him a great score no matter what (his first dunk was weak and everything else he's tried has been a failure, and she still gave him a 10). Christian Jones took an early lead after straight 10s on his second attempt. JaKarr Sampson and Sir'Dominic Pointer both tried a maneuver with a pass from the crowd, and it failed. Rysheed Jordan took over with a leap over one of his teammates, then upped the stakes with two. Further attempts were spoiled because the coaches did not approve of potentially landing on his teammates. He finished third because of lousy scoring by the ladies. C'mon, guys. Really? The passes have been good, but the finishes have been bad. Christian Jones won with a bit of spin, but Jordan's first was still the best.

Lupe Fiasco put on a good show. Aliyyah got up and danced with him a couple of times. Something tells me a Chicago kid like Lupe is secretly rooting for DePaul, though.

Is it November yet? Is it is it is it is it?

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