BuzzerBeater Forums

Happy Ourer: “Well it’s been a bit of a rough start for your favorite basketball team, but tonight looks like a prime opportunity for a win at home against 209’s Most Wanted.”

Joshua Doe: “Nothing like some home cooking to get you right, but Linndale has made a change. Let’s see how this goes.”

HO: “Mantas Petriukstis is no longer a member of the team, and the team has also added Cafer Enfes. Joshua, what can the fans expect to see tonight?”

JD; “We don’t really know. First, there’s Byron Helm taking over coaching duties tonight for an ailing Pio Reina. We’re going to get a look at some of his coaching style. I expect to see Farley and Tovar in the back court to start the game, but we really don’t know. You could see Midas Kops, you could see Cafer Enfes, and don’t forget about Maurizio Cerri; the team has a few options.”

HO: “With the strength of the team being up front, would it be prudent to expect a bigger lineup given that Byron Helm was a pretty good center and may be inside oriented?”

JD: “That’s not a bad thought, but it’s going to put a lot of stress on the second unit to hold their own. Rolland Reynolds has to be a useful player on the second unit or there will be trouble. I expect we’ll see more roster changes if things don’t go our way tonight.”

HO: “I hope we can see Kops in the back court and that we see Enfes at the small forward. I feel like Kops fits better there and Enfes could show out by the end of the season.”

JD: “You could be right, but we simply don’t know. There are too many variables and unknowns. Let’s let them show us what they can do and go from there.”

HO: “After we return from the break, we catch up with Byron Helm. We’ve got questions, he has the answers!”

Happy Ourer: “Coach Byron Helm was miked up. Here he is after the first quarter and then at halftime.”

Byron Helm, after first quarter:
“Good job. No three pointers and just pound it inside. Guards, good job distributing. Nice pace. Let’s see if we can crank it up a bit more and tighten up on defense. Also, can we clean up the turnovers please?”

At halftime: “Who shot the threes? $500 fine for the misses. $250 for the make. You guys got careless and sloppy. Too many turnovers. The defense was despicable. Just unacceptable. I don’t understand why we aren’t forcing the ball inside more, gentlemen. ATTACK THE RIM! MAKE THEM STOP US! I DON’T KNOW IF YOU’VE NOTICED, BUT THEY CAN’T!!! WE NEED TO IMPOSE OUR WILL!!! WE’RE BETTER THAN THEY ARE!!! ACT LIKE IT!!!! HEY! CAMERA MAN! GET OUT MY LOCKER ROOM!!!”

Joshua Doe: “That tracks. Byron can be pretty intense. I’m sure he’s going to have words with Air Allnite about all the turnovers. I don’t think the cameras should be around for that.”

HO: “Here’s Byron after the third quarter.”

Byron Helm, after the third quarter:
“MacNeur, Koncki I love you guys! The rest of this bunch, I’m not really feeling you at all. Too sloppy, too lax, I don’t see the intensity and effort. This team should not ever have put up a 20 point quarter on us. You’re too soft! Air, you gonna fix this turnover crap or do I have to do your job, too? Marshall, when are you gonna get serious with the wings? This is disgusting!”

Joshua Doe: “And now we join Byron Helm live! Byron, congratulations on the win.”

BH: “I’m glad we won, but good lord that was the most disgusting effort I have ever seen! That fourth quarter was egregious, and I want to apologize to all of our fans for that. I am not ok with that performance, and you shouldn’t be either. Absolutely reprehensible!”

JD: “What did you like out there?”

BH: “Koncki and MacNeur. Pemwieser was decent. Tovar was serviceable. That’s it.”

HO: “Byron, Happy Ourer here. What was with the free throw discrepancy?”

BH: “I can’t answer that question without being fined by the league, so I will refrain from answering.”
JD: “Byron, what’s next for the team?”

BH: “Work. We stink. This was embarrassing. I say this and we won. We got outhustled. We were careless. The bigs came to play and no one else. You can’t be a good team playing like that. It was unacceptable.”

JD: “Thank you for your time, Byron and congratulations on the win.”

BH: “Thanks guys. The boys in the locker room need to do some soul searching, and come back ready to work. This won’t cut it.”

Day 5 (Saturday 16 December 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Lion Rebels 132 - Dragmort Dragons Utd 63
Shandong Golden Lions 83 - San Dominica Warriors 89
Muffin Men 72 - F.Day Internet Lovers Club 107
209’s MostWanted 89 - Linndale 108
Fort Wayne Pistons 92 - Super Sonics 144
Balls to the Walls 40 - Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️ 126
VileOnes 94 - CB Bethesdorf 124
Jumpstop Jumpers 55 - Tasty Tardsicles 89

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 144 : Super Sonics
Rebounds : 71 : Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️
Assists : 37 : Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️
Steals : 15 : Super Sonics
Block Shots : 11 : F.Day Internet Lovers Club

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 59 : J. Bover (VileOnes)
Rebounds : 23 : M. Coedo (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️)
Assists : 11 : W. Acevedo (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️)
Steals : 4 : D. Boyce (Super Sonics), R. Larson (Fort Wayne Pistons), W. Acevedo (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), D. Conaghan (Tasty Tardsicles)
Block Shots : 4 : I. Tabrizi (F.Day Internet Lovers Club), S. Fabis (Super Sonics)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️) (25 Points, 6 Rebounds, 10 Assists, 3 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 36
Shooting Guard : G. Azheli (209’s MostWanted) (31 Points, 3 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 29
Small Forward : T. Armstead (Lion Rebels) (25 Points, 14 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 45
Power Forward : I. Tabrizi (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) (28 Points, 13 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 2 Steals, 4 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 46
Center : G. Quevedo (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) (18 Points, 14 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots), I. Koncki (Linndale) (24 Points, 9 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 32

MVP of the evening
I. Tabrizi (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) (28 Points, 13 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 2 Steals, 4 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 46

The bad performance of the evening
S. Usuk (Balls to the Walls) (8 Points, 2 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -7

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : A. Runcie (Dragmort Dragons Utd) : 7 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : M. Albright (Dragmort Dragons Utd), I. Tabrizi (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : S. Starr (Dragmort Dragons Utd), M. Albright (Dragmort Dragons Utd), A. Runcie (Dragmort Dragons Utd), R. Gordillo (Dragmort Dragons Utd), R. Braswell (Dragmort Dragons Utd), D. Branimirović (F.Day Internet Lovers Club), R. Larson (Fort Wayne Pistons), W. Acevedo (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), J. Bover (VileOnes), G. Hilliard (Jumpstop Jumpers) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : J. Bover (VileOnes) : 6 Three points

The best performer : T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), C. Wui Kwong (Tasty Tardsicles) : Rating : 18.0

The worst performer : I. Tsebenyak (Balls to the Walls) : Rating : 3.5

Pete Jamison:
Battle of #1 vs #2 in the Big 8 here in the Daylis as the Warriors & the Lion Rebels resume their long time rivalry. I’m Pete Jamison and with me are Mr. Smooth himself Douglas Diamond along with Brian Sanborn and Matt. The lovely Samantha Walsh is courtside.

Guys, Lion Rebels, Warriors. What do we see here tonight.

Brian:
I guess you start with what we almost saw tonight. Somehow there was a rumor that Coach Stephenson would not be making the trip due to illness and that Gordo Long would be the head man tonight. Apparently that is not the case. Coach is here and he will be calling the shots during this dance.

Douglas:
That’s probably for the best. I too heard that Coach might have had to quarantine but the test came out negative. But Gordo Long coaching against the Lion Rebels will probably quick cure a lot of head coaches.

Pete Jamison:
Yeah Gordo not hesitant to talk on his dislike of the Dirty Rebels as he calls them. Sam what can you give us on that

Sam Walsh:
Yeah, talked to Gordo Long Monday, he said no matter who is the main person on the bench Tuesday their objective is the same: Beat those beeping Dirty Rebs. Give Montana Armstead hell. Make him want to see the interior of a nursing home post game and knock them from the perch of the unbeaten. Back to you guys.

Pete:
Thanks Sam. Ok now how do the Warriors pull this off?

Douglas:
I hate to agree with Hunt, but you got to get the dynamic duo back together and you got to get them going early. LAB and Ranger have to wreck tonight. I think Stephenson realizes this. I get it, you want that 2nd unit to be really strong but right now your 1st unit is struggling with LAB coming off the bench.

Brian:
(fake coughing)
Granja’s been struggling with LAB coming off the bench

Matt:
Look I’m just glad Gordo is not in a position to have a bigger chair incident than the previous one.

Pete:
(laughing)
I wondered who was going to bring up the chair incident of season 59!

Douglas:
(chuckling)
It was Season 60!

Pete:
Oh yeah it was! Early season 60, the first match of the season.
(laughs)
Ok look we’re gonna take a quick commercial break and then get into some what do we expect to see.

Music cues before sound fades out
Brian: Wait what happened in season 60?

Pete:
(trying to control himself)
It was the end of the first meeting in season 60 ….


Last edited by Coach Stephenson at 12/19/2023 7:47:48 PM

Pio Reina: “As you can see, I'm back; I’ll be brief. I expect you to go out and run the Muffin Men off the court. No excuses. I know Coach Helm worked you guys over in practice and ran a tight ship. Now, I know we’ve made a few changes while I was out. Mr. Enfes, I expect you’ll show what you can do. The traditional what-I expect-talk will have to wait. You’re starting, so be ready from the opening tip. Koncki and MacNeur, one of you will have your hands full. Step up to the challenge. Second unit, your job is to go dominate. No excuses. I expect this team to out work, out hustle, and out score the opposition. Most of all, I expect you to out defend them. Anyone that can’t do what I’ve asked, won’t be here very long. I’d like to see this group grow together, and I’d like to see that growth start already. Any questions? No? Good. Run them out of their building.”

Day 6 (Tuesday 19 December 2023) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Dragmort Dragons Utd 84 - Shandong Golden Lions 96
San Dominica Warriors 73 - Lion Rebels 86
F.Day Internet Lovers Club 95 - 209’s MostWanted 77
Linndale 120 - Muffin Men 93
Super Sonics 106 - Balls to the Walls 67
Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️ 120 - Fort Wayne Pistons 119
CB Bethesdorf 83 - Jumpstop Jumpers 95
Tasty Tardsicles 112 - VileOnes 70

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 120 : Linndale, Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️
Rebounds : 61 : Lion Rebels, Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️
Assists : 31 : Super Sonics
Steals : 12 : Jumpstop Jumpers
Block Shots : 13 : F.Day Internet Lovers Club

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 47 : U. Jaén (Fort Wayne Pistons)
Rebounds : 20 : A. Carečina (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️)
Assists : 13 : L. Petrinski (Dragmort Dragons Utd), T. Freeman (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️)
Steals : 3 : I. Pesen (Dragmort Dragons Utd), R. De Calice (Shandong Golden Lions), C. Sârbu (Shandong Golden Lions), Z. Levin (Super Sonics), H. Kwang Chih (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), R. Blanco (Jumpstop Jumpers), E. Mihklimäe (CB Bethesdorf), J. Valentin (Jumpstop Jumpers), N. Hayes (Jumpstop Jumpers)
Block Shots : 5 : Q. Yu zi (Dragmort Dragons Utd), L. Praznik (Jumpstop Jumpers)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : L. Melucci (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) (40 Points, 6 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 2 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 47
Shooting Guard : U. Jaén (Fort Wayne Pistons) (47 Points, 5 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 0 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 37
Small Forward : A. Nikitinas (Tasty Tardsicles) (22 Points, 5 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 2 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 31
Power Forward : A. Carečina (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️) (30 Points, 20 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 38
Center : P. Pardo (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) (16 Points, 9 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 27

MVP of the evening
L. Melucci (F.Day Internet Lovers Club) (40 Points, 6 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 2 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 47

The bad performance of the evening
D. East (San Dominica Warriors) (0 Points, 0 Rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -5

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : Q. Yu zi (Dragmort Dragons Utd), C. Hofstätter (Balls to the Walls), T. Burkay (CB Bethesdorf) : 5 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : A. Pakzat (Dragmort Dragons Utd), R. Stamper (209’s MostWanted) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : L. Melucci (F.Day Internet Lovers Club), A. Guilla (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️), J. Valentin (Jumpstop Jumpers), N. Hayes (Jumpstop Jumpers), A. Durham (VileOnes) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : U. Jaén (Fort Wayne Pistons), A. Guilla (Mindless Zombies 🧟‍♀️) : 6 Three points

The best performer : M. Watkins (Lion Rebels), C. Wui Kwong (Tasty Tardsicles) : Rating : 17.5

The worst performer : F. Chongwen (VileOnes) : Rating : 5.0

Week Three Power Rankings
Week 3 Observations
So, entering Week Four of Season 63, we've had 65 transfers, which is ranked third in this league since Season 60 when I first started keeping track of transition into the next season transfers. Season 61 has been the highest at 70 transfers, and as of this writing there is just one player transfer listed, though I can't vouch for anyone who might be potentially looking for that White Whale to push them over the top.

So far, collectively we're at a deficit of $1.63 M in those 66 transfers, 35 of which were sells, versus the 31 players that were transferred in to actually help teams compete. Those 31 players cost us $10.84 M, while we've received just $9.12 M in the 35 players we haven't deemed good enough to push us to the next level. Last season the league spent $10.8 M on just 23 players. So, an improvement, maybe? Here are some stats from the transactions over the last sixish weeks:

Players Sold by Position
PG | Average Age: 24.3 | Total Profit: $2.44M | Number of Players: 10
SG | Average Age: 28.0 | Total Profit: $2.64M | Number of Players: 04
SF | Average Age: 26.1 | Total Profit: $1.31M | Number of Players: 07
PF | Average Age: 29.6 | Total Profit: $0.93M | Number of Players: 07
C | Average Age: 27.7 | Total Profit: $1.79M | Number of Players: 07

Players Bought by Position
PG | Average Age: 23.4 | Total Spent: $1.23M | Number of Players: 5
SG | Average Age: 22.5 | Total Spent: $0.46M | Number of Players: 2
SF | Average Age: 23.1 | Total Spent: $2.79M | Number of Players: 7
PF | Average Age: 23.1 | Total Spent: $1.65M | Number of Players: 8
C | Average Age: 24.3 | Total Spent: $4.70M | Number of Players: 9

Collectively, we're skewing younger with the average age of players bought being 3.2 years younger. Shooting guards are not, apparently at a premium for us, selling twice as many for just over 5 times as much as we brought in.

This week's rankings will be accompanied by some facts about each team's transactions for the season. Only 5 teams haven't had a single transaction while six didn't bring on anyone new at all. Onto the rankings! Also, we're going in reverse (again) this week!

Week 3 Power Rankings
16. Balls to the Walls (14)
EFFG:16 | OPP EFFG:16

Number of Transactions: 15
Profit: $32.6K
Spent: $976K
Result: -$944K

Outgoing Salary: $16.3K
Incoming Salary: $100K
Result: $83.7K more total salary

Fun fact: The average cost of salary per player Balls has brought on board is $7,763 which is $12k less than the league average.

15. Muffin Men (16)
EFFG:15 | OPP EFFG:13

Number of Transactions: 1
Profit: $0
Spent: $918k
Result: -$918K

Outgoing Salary: $0
Incoming Salary: $64.4K
Result: $64.4K more total salary

Fun fact: Muffins' lone spend ranks them the 2nd highest average spend among league mates.

14. 209's MostWanted (15)
EFFG:13 | OPP EFFG:15

Number of Transactions: 7
Profit: $832.7K
Spent: $612.2K
Result: $220.5K

Outgoing Salary: $159.5K
Incoming Salary: $57.0K
Result: $102.5K less total salary

Fun fact: Alex's incoming players are all 24 years old or younger, while they shed the expensive contracts of 31 and older players on their reset.

Week Three Power Rankings - Part Two
13. VileOnes (13)
EFFG:12 | OPP EFFG:12

Number of Transactions: 5
Profit: $1.72M
Spent: $69.8K
Result: $1.65M

Outgoing Salary: $185.5K
Incoming Salary: $6,983
Result: $178.5K less total salary

Fun fact: Vile is running a slim lineup after their sell off, rostering only 10 players so far, leaving 23-year-old PG Jordi Bover alone to carry the weight, and while he's only played in three league games (technically four, but he only came in with 37 seconds left in the blowout loss), in the six total games he's played (BBM and one other Cup game), he's played every single minute, including in Tuesday's match up where he scored 59 points on 45 shots.

12. Jumpstop Jumpers (12)
EFFG:14 | OPP EFFG:9

Number of Transactions: 11
Profit: $3.23M
Spent: $4.35M
Result: -$1.12M

Outgoing Salary: $193.2K
Incoming Salary: $89.2K
Result: $104K less total salary

Fun fact: Coach Randall El, whose team is just three seasons removed from making the III.6 finals, spent more than a million dollars on just three players than they made in selling 8...and that's considerable, seeing as they made just over $3M on their nearly $200k in dropped salary.

11. Dragmort Dragons Utd (9)
EFFG:11 | OPP EFFG:11

Number of Transactions: 0

Fun fact: A bit of an outlier, Alex Dani has only made 14 total transactions in the six full seasons they've run the team.

10. Fort Wayne Pistons (10)
EFFG:7 | OPP EFFG:14

Number of Transactions: 0

Fun fact: The Mechanic's best player is their third drafted player in the Season 57 draft, Simón Aranda, drafted 48th of 48 and they seem content to focus their energy on making him their star, with his salary steadily climbing since Season 58, having jumped $9k last season.

9. Linndale (11)
EFFG:10 | OPP EFFG:8

Number of Transactions: 4
Profit: $502K
Spent: $900K
Result: -$498K

Outgoing Salary: $22.6K
Incoming Salary: $34.8K
Result: $12.2 more total salary

Fun fact: Speed Traps did what amounts to a 1 for 1 in movement, selling 2 and bringing in 2, with no variation in average age, but they did add that extra salary, moving on from failed experiment Rich McCain, a promising first pick for Linndale in the Season 60 draft.

8. CB Bethesdorf (6)
EFFG:4 | OPP EFFG:10

Interrupting normal program to remind that tie breakers in average ranking look first last week's average rank, followed by the lowest OPP EFFG (CB loses out on that and the chance to be as high as 6th this week, due to their 10th ranked OPP EFFG).

Number of Transactions: 0

Fun fact: Another team with zero transactions, Dabazinho's content to roll with what they've got, and even though their total salary is almost in the bottom 1/4 of the league, they're in the top four in EFFG.

7. San Dominica Warriors (4)
EFFG:8 | OPP EFFG:6

Number of Transactions: 3
Profit: $272.4K
Spent: $757.8K
Result: -$485.4K

Outgoing Salary: $37.5K
Incoming Salary: $36.1K
Result: $1.4K in less salary

Fun fact: Coach Stephenson spent a fairly pretty penny to replace two players with one, selling off a pair of 32-year-old forwards and replacing them with 26-year old Center Chris O'Brien. And while his offensive rebounds have been welcomed, his second rank in personal fouls, not so much.

Week Three Power Rankings - Part Three

6. Shandong Golden Lions (5)
EFFG:9 | OPP EFFG:5

Number of Transactions: 3
Profit: $155K
Spent: $0
Result: $155 (plus one $170K payment per week for their prior Center)

Outgoing Salary: $212.8K
Incoming Salary: $0
Result: $212.8K less salary, which is more than seven teams in this league currently pay (and that list certainly does not contain the Golden Lions).

Fun fact: Their $170K center sold for just $1,000. He was only 32. (Me, scratching my head) This market is so bizarre.

5. Mindless Zombies (8)
EFFG:5 | OPP EFFG:7

Number of Transactions: 6
Profit: $454.5K
Spent: $576.8K
Result: -$122.3K

Outgoing Salary: $75.6K
Incoming Salary: $55.1K
Result: $20.5K less salary

Fun fact: All of Dee-Jay-Tee31's transactions came before November 24th, but none of the players they brought in were older than 23, but two of those have less than $6500 salary.

4. F.Day Internet Lovers Club (7)
EFFG:6 | OPP EFFG:4

Number of Transactions: 4
Profit: $950K
Spent: $1.07M
Result: -$120K

Outgoing Salary: $42.7K
Incoming Salary: $89.2K
Result: $46.5K more in total salary

Fun fact: Mc KR made a decision to swap 26-year-old PG Miguel Blanco for 23-year-old Paco Pardo at Center to pair with Igor Tabrizi for a fearsome duo.

3. Super Sonics (3)
EFFG:2 | OPP EFFG:3

Number of Transactions: 7
Profit: $982.9K
Spent: $612M
Result: $370.9K

Outgoing Salary: $189.8K
Incoming Salary: $41.4K
Result: $148.4K less in total salary

Fun fact: zhouzhaoxu dropped Chas Goldsmith and Co. for Stanislaw Fabis, a 27-year-old Center from Poland and his #2 in REB/48 minutes seems to be worth the tradeoff (that and still being 2nd in the Great 8).

2. Lion Rebels (1)
EFFG:3 | OPP EFFG:1

Number of Transactions: 0

Fun fact: Not that I haven't tried, but do you know how hard it is to land the precise player I want? I even broadened my horizons and started looking for guards outside the US. Sheesh!


1. Tasty Tardsicles (2)
EFFG:1 | OPP EFFG:2

Number of Transactions: 0

Fun fact: I've run out of steam on fun facts, so I'll leave you all with this: of all the wheeling and dealing the league did, only four teams MADE money.

Next week we'll be looking back at what Week One's rankings were compared to the current ranking. And with that, Merry Christmas - best of luck this weekend!

“23 turnovers in the BBM game. 24 in the national tournament game. Air, your primary responsibility is the reduction of turnovers. 47 in 2 games. What do you have to say for yourself?” Pio was not a happy man.

“Look man---” Air started.

Pio interjected. “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY!!!”

Joshua Doe grabbed Pio and ushered him out into the hallway to cool off.

“Do you remember the fight back in season 50? The one that happened after the scrimmage on the way to the locker room? Cool it, Pio. You’re starting to lose it like that.” Joshua was concerned.

“Come on! That fool kept running his mouth and wouldn’t shut up! What he said deserved a punch in the mouth!” Pio laughed.

“Dude! You hit him like 5, 6 times before we could pull you off. To be fair, his teammates were in no rush to pull you off and they had you surrounded. Guess they were tired of his mouth; too.” They both laughed at the memory.

“I remember when we got separated, I looked back and saw his own team started swinging on him. I really didn’t appreciate Coach sending me to anger management classes back then. It was the right move, but I didn’t like it.” That’s when the realization of Marshall’s words hit him.

Marshall continued. “That’s what you looked like in there. Like you were going to do something you’d regret.”

Inside, Byron Helm was calm. “What Coach Reina is saying is that he wants and expects minimal turnovers. You were brought in as a know it all loud mouth. You complained about not having a different voice here. You ARE the different voice. Because of that, Coach Reina demands minimal turnovers. One of your responsibilities is to get the team to that goal. You are not doing what is expected or demanded of you. Allow me to be crystal clear for you: you WILL give him what he wants.”

Air was annoyed to be talked to like a third rate schoolyard punk. He was also a little angry himself.

Pio walked back into the room calmly. “What do you tell a man with two black eyes?”

Air stared blankly. “I don’t know.”

Pio’s reply was cold. “Nothing. He’s already been told twice.”

Air blinked hard at that.

Pio continued. “Now that I have your complete and undivided attention, understand this: I don’t have to like or get along with you to work with you. Give me the results I want, you stay employed here. It’s simple. Before you joined the staff, we shot 38.7% from deep and had 18.5 assists to 10.8 turnovers per game. Last year, with roster changes, we went 34.2% and 22.8 to 12.4. This year so far, 36.7%, 24 and 12.3. I want turnovers down to 10 per game. We were there a few seasons ago. You can’t get there giving up 47 turnovers in 2 games. I want what I want. You will give me what I want. I do try to be a fair man, so I won’t hold this week against. I’m sure you understand why.”

Air nodded ever so slightly in the affirmative.

“I see the shooting improvement. There is tangible benefit having you around. However, failure breeds discontent. Discontent begs questions. Questions lead to disenchantment and resentment, which leads to anger and action. You fail, voice your discontent, then show your disenchantment through your anger and actions. I don’t want those things. My job to maintain the order, or prevent it from being lost. Are we clear?”

Air answered. “I still don’t like you.”

Pio responded, “2 black eyes”, and walked away.

Happy Ourer: “Here we go Linndale faithful! Coming off 2 badly needed wins with a chance to make it 3 in a row and go over .500 on the season, your favorite basketball team prepares to take on the daunting task of the F.Day Internet Lovers Club. This is not going to be easy.”

Joshua Doe: “No it won’t, Happy. It won’t help that there is some discontent within the coaching ranks either, and right in the middle of it is our old colleague Air Allnite. I was there to interview Byron Helm and Pio Reina when it went down. Pio was livid about the turnovers in the BBM game and the national tournament game, and boy did he let Allnite have it. I would venture that if things don’t change dramatically, Allnite may not have a job anymore.”

HO: “Joshua, you’ve been around Pio longer than I have. How often do these blow ups occur?”

JD: “Long time fans know about the post scrimmage fight where Pio beat the brakes off an opposing player over something that was said. After Pio expressed his views to the young man, the player’s own team did the same. He clearly was not speaking for them and they were sick of his shenanigans. Fans may not know but Coach made Pio attending anger management classes a requirement for Pio that season after that.”

HO: “It must take something severe to get Pio to react like that. That guy is as cool as the other side of the pillow.”

JD: “Don’t mistake that cool for being laid back. Pio has always been a fiery competitor who doesn’t take any crap from anyone. It shows in how he leads this team. Players love the guy and will do anything for him.”

HO: “They’re gonna have to, tonight! There isn’t a position where Pio feels we have a clear advantage. This feels like a game where Pio is going to pull out something from his hat. There’s a good chance it won’t work, and he acknowledged that in my conversation with him, but he said you gotta let the guys have a little fun and give them a chance to do something amazing sometimes.”

JD: “The cloud hanging over the head is Air Allnite. Pio hasn’t really said how the next few games will affect the employment status of Allnite, but I wouldn’t be comfortable. I’m not sure Air makes it through the season.”

HO: “What do you think we can expect, Joshua?”

JD: “I think we’re gonna see the return of a staple. I think Linndale is bringing back the legendary backwards game. Why not? Nothing to lose at all. This will likely be one of the rare ones that happen on the road. I’m not sure if they’ve ever had one on the road!”

HO: “I know the fans have always loved the backwards game. They still talk about that season 58 classic against Hustlas even though we lost 144-143. Joshua, that was a road game! Got beat on the boards bad, but made up for it with steals and turnovers. Almost stole that one!”

JD: “I don’t know if they’re gonna steal this one, but somebody’s gonna have to step up and lead the way.”

HO: “We’ll discuss who are the prime candidates to do just that tonight, when we return from the commercial break!”