G Money Sells me Out!

Coach told me that I reminded him of Dan Donavon, a former player of coach's at UD who was killed in a car accident while attending UD and playing on the basketball team. The university hosted a yearly tournament that was set up in his honor. It was in the fall semester and early in our young season. I remember sitting on the bench in those early games chomping at the bit to get in and thinking how I could have scored at will against some of the competition I saw. I did play and I did score, but game action was limited. One incident in particular occurred during the tournament that clearly stands out and affected my playing time. It occurred after our first game of the two game double header, and sitting in the upper bleachers behind one of the baskets was Big B, Zeke, Havatake, and myself. We were all liquored up pretty good. Inspired by my memories of the good old days when D Rog and Mo still played for the Spartans and remembering how UD's little gymnasium was packed to the rafters and the home fans, mostly football players, would get chants started up in the balcony section behind the basket like, "A rope, a tree, lets hang the referee..." (they got reprimanded in the middle of the game for that one), I started my own version of jeering and mind games with the other two teams that were playing. One specific important point is that my comments were very timely and in good taste (in my opinion). For instance after a missed shot I would say out loud at just the right moment so the player could hear me, "Oh man, what a brick." Or during a free throw attempt right before a shot I would say to the fellas in a loud voice, "This guy really sucks." The fellas were crying from laughing so hard. Havatake never wanted to be outdone and felt he had to do or say something funny. He made some rude comments and then a lady sitting in front of us turned around and asked us(him) to be quiet, and so G Money aka Havatake told the lady, "Shut up you fat bitch." Good one Money, real smooth and tasteful. The lady left and must have complained to someone because word got to coach who appeared in the stair way and called us all over. Havatake was like, "Zeke, quick, give me your gum." Zeke took a wad of gum out of his mouth and Havatake grabbed it and began chewing it like mad. Coach informed us of the complaint and was obviously mad as hell, and asked if any of us had been drinking. Havatake immediately said, "Coach, I haven't been drinking." In actuality he was drunk off his ass, more than anyone. I, being of age, honestly and calmly stated, "I've been drinking." And Big B too said the same. We were both suspended for two games and Coach Spock supervised extra running after the next two practices (he let us off easy). Havatake started the next couple games, scored like 20 points in one game (the best game of the season for him) and solidified his role as a starter. I missed the next game in the Dan Donavon tournament and the one after. A common theme in my life is having people who pretend to be my friends sell me out for their own personal gain. This story is just one of the times Havatake did me that way. He was my teammate and I always let things like that go thinking that somehow things will all come back around. I forever lost a level respect for the kid, but none the less for years to come I tried to help Havatake out how ever I could, whether it be job related, a place to crash, personal advice etc... I felt like an older brother to most of my younger friends and teammates, Big B included. I did have some decent games that same semester before the teams trip to Mexico. Against Mt. St. Clair in limited action I was 3-4 from the field and1-1 from the line for a total of seven points. I think coach was yelling at someone on the bench every time I scored that game. The Mad Russian (as Big B used t0 call him) Cray Murphy hit me on some good transition passes in that game, and I made all my easy open shots for once. Then there was the game against Platteville that fall, where I would score a career high 10 points and nearly led the team in scoring (Brute Mahone scored 10 or 12 also). I blew some plays early on in the game but because the whole team was fouling out coach had no choice but to continue to play me. I reached a point in my mind where the 1000's of fans and our insane coach and my previous nervous caused mistakes just didn't matter and I was like, screw it, what have I got to loose now, lets just play ball and take it to the hoop. The next time I got the ball I made a spin move on the baseline from the post and came up under the basket and dropped the ball in the net for two. The refs called a foul on the play, an offensive foul on me, and counted the basket. Coach went nuts and rightly asked them how the hell can the basket count if its an offensive foul? At half time in the locker room coach gave me a compliment in front of the whole team, the only one that I can remember, and said, "That was an NBA move out there!" We got our buts spanked by Platteville that game 103 to 57. Platteville shot 34 free throws in the game, we shot 2. The refs were clearly payed off. Platteville was a Division III powerhouse and their coach Bo Ryan had won a National Championship there two years prior. Platteville is also known for being the home of the Chicago Bears mini camp. It was also a UW school I had considered attending when my girlfriend got the teaching job and moved to nearby Boscobel. One of D Rog and Moe's teams were the only team of coach's to beat Platteville in his 25 years at the helm for the men's UD basketball team. Platteville never forgot that loss and made sure that payback was severe. When rapping to D and Moe about their win against Platteville they said they had to overcome all the same ridiculous calls and the fans and all that, but with their depth and talent and the Loyola-Marymount style of play they ran so well they just kept trading blows with Platteville and out ran, out athleted, and outscored them. Mahone came up to me after our game with the score book in his hand and congratulated me on leading the team in scoring, even though I saw what looked like the fact that he had 12 points to my 10. What did it really matter anyway, we got whipped good. Practically our whole team fouled out so even White Boy Roy Sneaky Sig got a few ticks. That game made our team reevaluate everything we thought we knew about ourselves in the yet so young season. We had a long ways to go. The trip to Mexico would be just the thing we needed to pull together for the conference run in the New Year.