The USBL does not get a lot of press. It is, more or less, minor league basketball. In fact, the play is sloppier than what you'd see at your average college game. But it's all we've got here in Brevard County, and we are thankful for what we have.
What we have is the Brevard Blue Ducks, a team that is impossible to dislike. Their record isn't so hot, but it's not so bad, either. And in this league, it's not so much winning and losing that matters.
What matters is heart. And our guys are pros in that sense, as I can attest from witnessing their game at the Clemente Center at Florida Tech on 5-9-2003.
The game started at 7 pm, and me and my girlfriend, Jenna, barely made it in time. No matter. As any basketball fan knows, it's the last three minutes that count in most games, and the final moments were a doozy indeed.
We bought the tickets upon arrival, and sat in the nose-bleed "General Admission" section, largely due to the fact that I'm infamously parsimonious. We sat in a corner surrounded by the pre-teen children of absentee parents. The majority of the rest of the fans in attendance appeared to be working-class adults. Apparently, the rich idle away their time at less vulgar events. Pity for them.
Let me first state this: John Mueller, #44, will one day be a pro. A 6' 10" power forward for the Blue Ducks, he's got all the skills and heart of an NBA bench-warmer. And I don't mean that as an insult. Most of the guys out there on the floor would be lucky to make a high school roster. But Mueller is the kind of guy you put in the game when Shaq or Kevin Garnett is in foul trouble. He's that good. Seriously. And remember me when he signs with the Charlotte expansion team.
The opponent for this evening was the Adirondack Wildcats. Yes, even Adirondack has a team. Sadly, ANWR does not. Yet.
The game started slow. And I mean s-l-o-w. I think it was halfway through the first quarter before either team had made two field goals. The Blue Ducks took an early lead, and the crowd was going wild. Well, as wild as a couple hundred pre-teen kids and trailer park refugees can be expected to get. Which is to say, lunatic.
Article comments
1 - RJ
Wow. Two-and-a-half years old, and this post has not garnered a single response.
Sigh... :-/
2 - Bennett
The old "sound 'o crickets" syndrome. TANJ!
3 - Bennett
It is funny however. In a basketball sort of way. ;-]