HALLOWEEN PARTY TRICK OR TREAT

By Your Athletic Supporter, Jack Strap

The HALLOWEEN PARTY started last night @ Grace including a large jump house. I think a jump house is where old white guys go when they want to feel what it's like to defy gravity. So Swoop, despite deciding last night on a one hour HHI delay, was there at 8am looking to jump. The TRICK was that the jump houseman showed up much earlier than expected to take it down, but Swoop's TREAT was that he got to play a couple of 3-on-3 games with the incomparable X-Smoker Bob. I heard that Big Bob was lighting it up like back in his chain-smoking days except with baskets rather than cigs. Thus Swoop-Bales-Bob won the HALLOWEEN PARTY TRICK OR TREAT Half-Court Title with 2 straight wins.

Then the one-hour delay players arrived for the HALLOWEEN PARTY TRICK OR TREAT Daily Championship as follows:
* TRICK or Quick = Swoop-Bales-Bob plus Quick Mike
* Pete or TREAT = Pistol Pete, Ian Rocks, Iron Mike, Mighty Kerr & Marsh-mellow

Game# 1 saw the one-hour delayed Quick Mike making a big impact for TRICK or Quick like Bobby Boucher did after showing up at half-time of the Bourbon Bowl. Quick hit (4) straight deuces to stake short-handed TRICK or Quick to a "quick" lead and then at the end X-Smoker Bob said don't forget about me as he hit the game-winning deuce.

With 3 straight wins, Swoop-Bales-Bob appeared to the untrained eye as unbeatable but this reporter then made like Vicky Vallencourt when she told Swanny that the Mud Dogs would come back to win the Bourbon Bowl by picking Pete or TREAT to win 15-10. That ain't a prediction, that's the way it's gonna be & it was. OK it was actually 16-10 Pete or TREAT with Pistol Pete's game-winning deuce TREAT, but the TRICK was better Defense.

So that just left the HALLOWEEN PARTY TRICK OR TREAT Daily Championship Game with TRICK or Quick having to overcome being short-handed, Pete or TREAT playing some "D", and (2) jammed fingers (Swoop & Quick) on the same play. It was a pretty exciting game which kept me awake a lot better than the Wyomissing-Fleetwood football game did for Sleepy Bales last night, but at the end it was X-Smoker Bob with the final TRICK shot deuce which gave TRICK or Quick the TREAT: the HALLOWEEN PARTY Daily Championship.

FIRST TIME

By Your Friend, Glenn Miller

Your Athletic Supporter Jack Strap wasn't at Grace for HHI this AM, rather it was his alter-ego Your Friend, Glenn Miller. Unlike Jack, I won't keep you in suspense long on the big HHI news of the day. But I can tell you it's the FIRST TIME, in almost 18 years of our basketball league, that I didn't really care about the games (my apologies to those who played including Swoop, Mighty, Iron, Quick, Bales, X-Smoker, DJ, Hacker Bob, Gary, Marsh, and the early departing Roving Rader).

What Jack Strap regularly writes about isn't important news in the context of this AM when after the games one of my Best Friends in the World, Lipper (a.k.a. John Liptock) told all that were in attendance that he has been diagnosed with colon cancer that has also spread to the liver & lungs. I know that it was difficult for him to address the HHI group on this, but admired the way he did so. It was also very clear to me that this HHI group found it difficult hearing it which is no surprise to me because it's a great group of guys.

I had found out about this a few days ago after seeing an email from Bales noting who was at HHI last Saturday which included Lip. When I saw Lip's name, I thought I hadn't talked to him for awhile, so I'd give him a call on my way home from work unbeknownst to me that he had recently gotten this life-changing news. So how does the conversation start out, Lipper asks me several questions on my knee surgery (just illustrates the quality friend he is) before telling me his news. I can tell you it was difficult keeping the car on the road after the shock of hearing that. He advised he had already told the Poletti's & was leaning on them for support as cancer survivors which is great.

Something that struck me during the call was that John was very positive considering what had been piled on to him within a relatively short period of time. I think this will be important for his recovery and it's also critical for him to have good support from his family & friends which is where we come in (I hope he doesn't mind that I'm going to give all of you his cell # 610-780-8629 to contact him not all at once, but over the coming weeks). It's going to be a tough road with chemo administered via a port starting soon, relating to which Swoop advised that there is a 60% chance that the chemo will be eradicated or reduced & another 20% probability that it will stop the cancer from spreading. So that's the 80% on which we're going to base our hope & prayers.

HHI also knows that Todd has been battling cancer for awhile (let's continue to keep him in our prayers) and Quick is going to try to connect Todd & Lip which should be helpful to them both. Like our Cancer Survivor Diane Poletti had done, Lip started a journal & is also setting a number of goals which he noted includes getting back on the HHI court & going head-to-head vs. yours truly which won't be the FIRST TIME, but will surely be the Best TIME as Your Friend Glenn Miller really looks forward to playing that day & Your Athletic Supporter Jack Strap to writing about it.

HERO ON & OFF THE COURT

By Your Athletic Supporter, Jack Strap

HEROES, likely & unlikely, emerge ON THE HHI COURTS every weekend as Daily Championships are decided and this Saturday at Grace was no exception. Your Athletic Supporter decided to mix it up by selecting today's HHI HERO based not only on what happened ON THE COURT, but also OFF THE COURT and it will be one of these Nine (9) Hoopsters:
* Four Norsemen (aka Vikings) = Swoop, DJ, Quick & DD Bales
* Four Score (& Seven Years Ago) = Marsh-mellow, X-Smoker, Mighty & Iron
* Roving Radon Rader (RRR)
Yes, that's the Gnarley Nine I had to choose from & moving forward I appeal to you No-Shows to get out there on Saturdays @ 8am.

I missed Game #1 but X-Smoker filled me in on the fact that the Four Norsemen with RRR won a closely contested 15-14 game kind of like Swoop & DJ's Vikings pulled that one out last Sunday. Game 2 was also an Amish Barn-burner which came down to the end tied at 14 at which point the defenses intensified until Iron Mike finally found a sliver of daylight to hit the game-winning shot for Four Score with RRR.

So who would win the Daily Championship (DC) &/or who would be the HHI HERO? Vegas odds said this was a toss-up for good reason as once again this game came down to the end tied at 14 when it was "DJ-vu" all over again as Swoop made like HERO Favre & hit DJ (aka HERO Greg Lewis) with a long pass & DJ abruptly finished it for the Four Norsemen with RRR's vic-tor-y. But if you were paying close attention (& I'm sure most of you not there weren't), you would have realized that the Roving Radon Rader (RRR) finished Undefeated as the Daily Champion (DC), but could he have done anything OFF THE COURT to justify becoming the HHI HERO? Highly unlikely right, but read on.

During the post-game, Rader told us how he ended up joining Facebook which doesn't sound HERO-ish but keep reading. He was driving on Rt. 422 in Sinking Spring when he saw something in the middle of the road, so much to his wife's displeasure he did a "U-ey" & then "risked his life" to get what turned out to be a small purse. Inside the purse he found $114, a bank statement showing a balance of $60, and an ID for Brianna Dugan. He then decided to join Facebook to try to track her down and with the search power of Facebook (you should all join), he found her and returned the purse & money. So Brianna (see her profile picture complete with a "tramp stamp" below) became Rader's 1st Facebook friend & he became her HERO and thus RRR is HHI'S HERO ON & OFF THE COURT.