St. Joe's Basketball

Last night St. Joe's had a teens vs. adults basketball game as a fundraiser for "Repair My House," their big church renovation project. Maybe 30 or 40 people showed up and paid two bucks for the privilege of cheering them on. The kids had on green uniforms with "St. Joe's" in white across the front of the jerseys. They must be left from when St. Joe's ran a high school. I didn't know until recently that the high school had survived all the way up to about 2000.

Anyway, the kids had nice-looking uniforms and the grownups were in whatever they were wearing. My friend Pat actually played for the adults--she's barely five feet tall and her hair came out of its braid instantly. As usual, there was one female on each team, and neither saw a lot of action. "They are a team of two," she said afterwards, a little frustrated.

"But you got in there," I said. "You got some play!" I saw her sneaking under people to snag the ball.

One of Pat's little boys made his First Communion last Sunday. I think that was the son who came up and urged her to leave, saying, "Ma, I need to do my homework!"

The game itself was pretty entertaining--very ghetto ball, lots of flashy moves, plenty of fouling, though they only argued with the ref a couple of times. It was a church game, after all.

Fr. Rogelio played for the grownups, too. He sank a few three-pointers and stayed very level-headed while being double-teamed by kids. There were a couple of guys on the adult team who could keep up with the younguns, but you could see the men slowing down on the rebounds to catch a breath. The kids never stopped.

Vanessa, the head of the youth group, came in at the half and asked me, "Is it slaughter?"

I said, "Well the score is 56-48, but it feels closer than that."

At the end of the third period I asked her what she thought. "It's a good game!" she exclaimed, mildly surprised.

"Simply's trying to be all slick," I told Brother Joe, when he went up, faked a shot, tried to pass and lost the ball. But I have to give him credit--he got a lot of rebounds. He and Ricky were the stars of the youth team. They eventually won with a score of 108 to 73.