HHI RETIREMENT BET: COACH vs. J-STRAP

By Your Athletic Supporter, Jack STRAP

COACH Bill vowed revenge against PSU's Jack STRAP after their sweeping defeat of his St. Boni's in the Classic Rematch a few weeks back and was willing to put his career on the line to get it.  So today as HHI Captains, COACH & J-STRAP had a career vs. career RETIREMENT BET (note HHI has now legalized BETTING) regarding the Daily Championship (DC).  The other Captains for today's Round-Round Robin Goes Hacker Bob-Bob Bob'in Along 4x5x2 Simultaneous Courts' Tournament were my PSU teammate Mighty Kerr & Wooooh Nelly Shockey who just turned 33.  The ensuing HHI Draft (unlike the NBA Draft--nobody drafted anyone from Lithuania, Croatia, Serbia, or Turkey) resulted in these virtual franchises:

• The Strappies = Boo Pong (who has a big Beer Pong Tourney coming up in Atlantic City in which he has to compete without his regular partner WEEU's Paul Roberts), Bump (the latest addition to the ever expanding HHI Roster although we couldn't come to terms with his tag-team partner "Grind"), Energizer "If you can't beat'em, join'em" Boni, Stay-Puff Marsh-mellow Man, and Captain Jack STRAP
• The Mighties = Swoop, Kutztown WR Alex, Diggetty Doug Bales, Tiny Guy with Huge Truck, and Mighty Kerr
• The Nellies = Captain Nelly Sr., Nelly Jr., Nelly's Nephew, Lender Bender-Over (who J-STRAP goes way back with to the Flying Hills League about 20 years ago), and when I rode by his house on the way into Da Hills, there was police tape in his driveway & my 1st thought was "Who KIlled Kenny"
• The Billies = COACH Bill, What the Heck, Iron Mike, Quick Mike (back from HHI I/R like J-STRAP), and from COACH's speed dial (more to come on that): Gary US Bonds

COACH & J-STRAP wasted no time in getting down to settling the career vs. career RETIREMENT bet as they met in Round 1.  Heck was hot for The Billies, but The Strappies hung in there and appeared to be hitting their stride while taking a 9-8 when COACH pulled up at the deuce line & hit his speed-dial to call in Gary US Bonds who was on stand-by as the 20th pick in the HHI Draft.  This changed the balance of power just enough to give The Billies the tainted victory.  Meanwhile in a game that took about twice as long, The Mighties finally defeated The Nellies on PSU Kerry's game-winner.

The Stink'in Losers switched courts for Round 2 which then saw The Billies win again rather easily while The Strappies had a bit tougher time in subduing The Mighties.  Thus J-STRAP entered Round 3 in another must-win situation plus needing COACH's Billies to lose or it would be his HHI RETIREMENT.  Well The Strappies held up their end of that with a victory over The Nellies despite a good effort by Lender Bender-Over, but The Billies were too much for The Mighties while taking home the Daily Championship with a 15-7 win and thus COACH won the RETIREMENT BET.

Luckily J-STRAP had his lawyers Dewey Dickem & Howe on speed dial & due to the allegedly tainted DC, they were able to reduce his sentence to Semi-RETIRED as J-STRAP will from this point forward be known as Holiday Jack STRAP (filling an open HHI role since Holiday Bill Ruth moved to Ohio) and be eligible to play on Holidays like Independence Day Weekend (although not next Saturday as will then be moving to York), Labor Day Weekend which this year will mark the 19th Anniversary of what is now known as HHI noting J-Strap distributed the remaining Hills Hoops Inc. bumper stickers (collector's item) today, and the 3P.

CLASSIC ORIGINAL & HISTORIC REMATCH

By Your Athletic Supporter, Jack Strap

This is the HISTORIC 300th post in the HISTORY of this HHI BLOG, although Jack Strap Reports started well before BLOGS were even invented.  In fact I started printing/saving reports on October 13, 2001, although Jack Strap Reports started well before then also.  Thus after an exhaustive search of printed reports I unfortunately couldn't locate the account of one of the most CLASSIC ORIGINAL Series in HHI HISTORY which was followed today, more than a decade later, with the HISTORIC REMATCH.

I had hoped to re-post the Report from that CLASSIC ORIGINAL Best of 7 Series which I remember was played on a very cold/very windy winter day and featured the Boni's of St. Bonaventure with Energizer Boni & Coach Bill vs. Penn State Basketball represented by Mighty Kerr & Yours Truly.  I also recall (& the others can share their recollections in the "Comments" section below) on that frigid windy day that the St. Boni's somehow came back from a 3-1 games deficit to win that HISTORIC Series.  I recollect Boni energizing to the basket for scoop shot lay-ups and hustling down "floor boards" (i.e. rebounds) and Coach Bill fearlessly playing the wind with deuces that somehow went in (more than a couple off the backboard) at the most critical times down the stretch.  

We have talked (mostly Coach) about that CLASSIC Series for years (over a decade evidently) and all agreed we should have a HISTORIC REMATCH someday.  When Boni stopped playing HHI due to injuries a couple years back, I figured the HISTORIC REMATCH was HISTORY.  But then I heard of his HHI return last Saturday and looking for my own return from HHI Injured Reserve, we scheduled the HISTORIC REMATCH for today.

Today's weather was the exact opposite of the ORIGINAL CLASSIC as it was sticky humid hot & there was no wind whatsoever.  Mighty & Your Athletic Supporter were proudly sporting PSU shirts and in Game 1 of the Best of 7 Series, Mighty got us an early lead while I worked off the rust on offense while staying very close to Coach at the deuce line on defense.  Then Jack Strap started to find the range and it was fairly quickly over by a score of 11-2.

HISTORIC REMATCH Game #2 was more of the same with the final score: PSU 11 St. Boni's 5, but at that point the HISTORIC REMATCH was no different than the CLASSIC ORIGINAL with PSU up 2 games.  Then in the 3rd Game like the CLASSIC ORIGINAL, St. Boni's made a late comeback and got within 9-7, but unlike the CLASSIC ORIGINAL--PSU sweated out (figuratively & literally) the win by scoring the final 2 buckets to take a commanding Series lead.

So could this be an even greater comeback for St. Boni's than the CLASSIC ORIGINAL?  Uhhhh, No! as PSU closed it out by an 11-6 score to win the HISTORIC REMATCH.  That just left a CLASSIC REMATCH Iron Man Finale (IMF) to 21 during which Energizer Boni found a 3rd wind and at one juncture the St. Boni's scored 6 straight points, but unlike the CLASSIC ORIGINAL they just didn't have enough while going down 21-10 in the IMF.

So as it normally goes, the Sequel HISTORIC REMATCH  wasn't as great as the CLASSIC ORIGINAL, but it was still great to get together to reminisce & play some Hoops @ Da Hills.