On The Sly

Sometimes Seton Catholic boys basketball coach and Steve Martin lookalike Larry Converse sits with us as well. I sometimes tap his brain about coaching philosophies in case I'm ever called out of retirement to coach some team whose coach is caught in a March blizzard and can't get to the game.

If there is room at the officials' table sometimes the Press-Republican sports reporter Keith Kane sits with us. This weekend he wore a baseball cap with the letter P on it, meaning Press, I guess. Or, it might have been a Pittsburgh Pirates hat, though those are pretty hard to find around Plattsburgh.

During the eight games a lot went on at the officials' table. At one point on Saturday the shot clock stopped working. After several attempts to fix the clock failed, it was decided that Goose would keep the 35-second time on his own watch and then count down over the microphone when a team was into its final ten seconds. It's a pretty tough task to look at your watch with one eye while keeping your other eye on the basketball to see if possession had changed.

Goose did that for about fifteen minutes before being handed a stopwatch and an air horn. That worked better, but Goose's eyes looked funny for the rest of the night. Finally the Field House staff came up with an old NBA-style shot clock that was floor level. It was positioned in front of the officials' table, and it worked properly, but neither coach could see it from their bench.

Mark Donnelly was called on duty for a medical emergency when I suffered my third papercut of the weekend. It's not easy carrying a clipboard around with all kinds of paperwork. Three times when I was quickly flipping through my papers to find the right lineup I suffered an annoying papercut. And it was always on the same spot of the same finger.

Finally on the third papercut blood began flowing out. Well, not really flowing, not trickling -- what is the word? Okay, there was a dangerous drop of blood on my finger. Knowing the concern these days of blood getting on someone I immediately told Mark about it. Mark remained calm, and without hesitation reached for his black bag. He knew which of about twenty zippers to unzip, and within seconds I had some kind of wierd-shaped bandaid on my injured finger. Mark's choice of bandaids in this emergency still allowed my finger flexibility, while covering and protecting the wound from further injury. Mark's skill in moments such as these make him a vital member of the sectional official team.

The officials at the table weren't the only ones to sit through all eight games this weekend, however. Across the gym from us sat Bob Dailey, Mr. Basketball of the North Country. No one sees more basketball games in a year than Bob. He loves the game and he especially follows and supports high school athletes. He's a former member of our official team, but more on that in the follow-up blog.

The other person to watch all eight games was Calvin Castine of Home Town Cable in Champlain. Calvin does play-by-play for every sectional basketball game while operating a video camera at the same time. I've never known him to suffer an injury so his job probably isn't as dangerous as mine as court announcer, but he surely must have a sore back at the end of the weekend. He is a tireless devotee of high school sports.

I saw a few On the Sly regulars, such as Bullet and miss d, at the games. This coming weekend the Section 7 finals take place at the Field House. There will be some great basketball on the court and plenty of more action at the officials' table. I promise to keep you posted.