When I tell people I have a Celtics themed blog they always ask if anybody reads that type of thing. I have to be honest and say, "Yes and no." They do not necessarily read my Celtics blog but they do read one. The point is that Celtics and NBA blogs in general are a lot less obscure than people think. They are definitely less obscure than rants on high school basketball, Worcester, and Massachusetts. Having said that, enjoy...
Last night I decided to check out the Massachusetts Division I Boys basketball semifinals in Worcester, MA. Holy Name played Holyoke at Holy Cross. It was a neutral site minus the fact that both Holy Name and Holy Cross are in Worcester, while Holyoke is about an hour west, out by Springfield. I was born and raised in Worcester, which is literally right in the middle of Massachusetts. However, people from the Boston area view anything west of Framingham as Western Massachusetts. This was a huge point of contention with guys I played college football with from Waltham, Melrose, Weston, Brockton and numerous other soulless towns in Eastern Mass. For the record Worcester is clearly Central Mass and anything west of it, such as Holyoke, is Western Mass.
The game was actually pretty terrible. Holy Name played by all accounts an atrocious first half and led 20-11 at the intermission. In the second half they built a big lead and won by a comfortable margin. This was even after Holyoke finally started to push the ball and create scoring opportunities after 22 minutes of stagnant half court offense. I say, “won by a comfortable margin” because I left early to beat the crowd and I don’t have enough confidence in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette to report the outcome accurately. I kid, I kid. Five years from now when I’m pulling a Ron Borges (hypocrisy or plagiarism - you choose) over at the Gazette, we’ll all look back at this and laugh. Of course I’ll have to write as if my target audience were freshmen in high school. Meaning I’ll actually have to raise the quality of my writing. See I can laugh at myself too. Back to the game. Despite the poor quality of play I really enjoyed it. Why? Atmosphere. It had the following in its favor:
Holy Cross was the perfect venue. It was big enough to allow for a good-sized crowd. Holyoke traveled well (several buses), Holy Name had a big following, and people from Worcester who simply love basketball showed up as well. Worcester is actually a solid basketball city. You can always, always get a game in Worcester. Meanwhile the city has 5 public high schools, 2 parochial high schools, and many other schools just outside the city limits in the numerous surrounding towns. And while Holy Name (parochial school) is by no means popular, people still turned out to watch. Also I would be remiss if I did not mention that Holy Name has a solid basketball tradition. Basketball legend Marvin Safford played there before moving on to USC and a small part in the movie Airplane. People always say he could have stuck in the Association if the three-point line was around in his day. Neil Fingleton from England played there before going to UNC and later Holy Cross. Of course Holy Name does not recruit (my dad forced me to type that). J.P. Riccardi (the fact that they said he's from Worchester made me hate them), the current general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, coached the Holy Name Boys team for a number of years before his baseball duties grew to a point that he could no longer do it. But back to Holy Cross as a venue:
It has seating under both baskets, which meant the student sections stared each other down and chanted for the duration of the game. And that was the key. Other possible venues – Worcester State College, WPI, Assumption, Clark, etc. don’t have the seating under the basket, which really ratcheted things up a notch. This was most noticeable when the opposing team had to shoot free throws while facing the other school’s fans. Unfortunately this only occurred during the first half. I think the fans should have switched sides to keep this up or had the foresight to sit under the baskets that their opponents would shoot at during the second half. However, that’s a lot to ask for from high school kids. And in every other regard they were fantastic fans. The following occurred:
“Aiiiirrrrbaaaaallllll, Aiiiirrrrbaaaaallllll, Aiiiirrrrbaaaaallllll…” – Shouted after every air ball, and there were plenty. It’s a classic.
“Let’s go defense (insert 5 claps), let’s go defense (insert 5 claps)…” – At times students stomped their feet on the bleachers making this one even crazier.
Both student sections never sat down.
Each student section had a leader coordinating the chants. That kept everyone on the same page and raised the quality of the chanting. Very savvy.
The noise was deafening to the point that players could not hear coaches, refs could not hear slaps, and I could not hear the people next to me. Impressive.
At halftime 5 Holyoke students snuck into the Holy Name section, which caused the Holyoke section to explode with applause. I’m pretty sure the MIAA (Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) put an end to this because things were getting a little tense. By the way, I hate the MIAA. It’s the kind of organization that I’d still despise even if it created peace in the Middle East.
Meanwhile each student section had individual high points:
Holyoke:
Chanted, “You got served” after a particularly devastating blocked shot.
Chanted, “We still love you” with the 5 claps after one of their players fouled out.
Pulled off a coordinated, collective back turn on the Holy Name cheerleaders, which led to the obligatory MIAA announcement on sportsmanship.
Pulled off the only “bullshit” chant of the night, which somehow did not lead to a sportsmanship announcement.
Chanted “hometown refs” after a close call went Holy Name’s way. It was really well done.
Holy Name:
Chanted, “We can’t hear you” anytime Holyoke’s spirits were down due to the poor play of its team.
Pulled out the old “Scoreboard, scoreboard…” routine on a few occasions.
Chanted, “You can’t stop us” several times.
Chanted “Whose your daddy?” In my opinion it did not work all that well.
Screamed to drown out the Holyoke cheerleaders, which led to the first sportsmanship announcement of the night. Of course Holyoke countered with the aforementioned back turning routine, which proved to be far more powerful.
Pulled out the most controversial chant of the night: “No comprende” after Holyoke chanted, “We still love you” for the player who fouled out. Thankfully nothing came of this chant. However, given the racial make up of the student bodies (Holyoke’s was far more diverse) it could have been trouble.
Ultimately Holy Name had a lot more to cheer about and yet I’d argue that the Holyoke kids did a better job precisely because of that reason.
Some random closing thoughts:
I love how high school basketball teams seem to have 1-2 football kids who are not as skilled as their peers from a basketball standpoint (shooting, dribbling, etc.) but make up for it with intensity, athleticism, and toughness.
It’s refreshing to watch a game without TV timeouts and with refs that let players play.
Some guy sat in front of me with a Red Sox t-shirt that had the number 22 and the name “Pena” on the back. I looked at the shirt for a while and thought, “Tony was #6 right? Was Carlos with the team long enough to have a t-shirt made? Is there another Pena? Who was #22?” About a half hour later it hit me – Wily Mo Pena. Kind of sums up the Wily Mo era for me right now. Hopefully he'll have a big season.
Cornrows and tattoos have made their way to high school basketball. Sweet.
I love it when people who live in Worcester big time act big time. I guess it’s better to be big time in Worcester than nowhere at all. But still…
On Saturday the Division I, II, and III boys and girls state finals will be played at the DCU center. Sadly this is way too big a venue that will hurt the quality of the cheering. I might still go. I saw Scoonie Penn, of Boston College and later Ohio State fame, play there once and it was awesome.
John Hollinger: I'd say Jefferson goes under the tree-in-the-forest category at this point -- people stopped paying attention to Boston a long time ago. But yes, he looks like he's finally interested in living up to his All-Star potential. Incidentally, got some emails asking why I didn't put him in the list of the 10 centers who might one day make the All-timers list -- I was down to Aldridge and Jefferson at No. 10 and went with Aldridge. It was a close call and, in retrospect, I'm not sure I chose correctly."
