Wheelchair Basketball 2008

I know that I have been gone for a long time - and I never even finished my vacation recap - but the priority today is to let all the visitors to The World of Linnen know about last evenings wheelchair basketball game.

This is an annual event that I attend with a bunch of great folks from my office. There is a rivalry between the NAVSISA officers and the NAVSISA civilians which has led to many historic games over the years. Unfortunately for the officers, I believe the civilians have now won ten straight match-ups, so is it even a rivalry at this point?? I'm not sure - maybe not from where we're standing!

Anyway, we had a great time last night and ended up defeating the military team 8 to 2. My good buddy George is our coach, but this year, he asked me to come up with a line-up for the game. It was a valuable experience and made me realize that he doesn't just rattle off names each year - it actually requires thought.

Everyone rose to the occasion last night; it was beautiful to behold. Great defense, great shooting, great passing. I brought my friend Toly into the fold as a rookie and he really showed us what he was made of! He scored a basket, made many key passes, and was heavy on defense. I was glad that he enjoyed himself.

Sarah snapped this very cool picture of him. Because he was moving towards her, Toly doesn't appear blurry, but everyone around him does. It's pretty neat looking - life is a blur all around him, but he takes time to enjoy the game.

I had a weird experience though. I went up for a lay-up, completely in the clear after a great pass from the Russian rookie, and after five minutes of pushing my chair up and down the court, my elbow locked up! I couldn't straighten out my arm!! It was the worst-looking shot you have ever seen and it went nowhere near the net!! How embarassing!! I actually had to reach over and use my left arm to straighten out my right arm!!!

Luckily I recovered and scored our only basket against the Chairiot Express.

After the game, we headed over to JoJo's Pizza where Mayor Ritter of Mechanicsburg treated us all to a pizza feast! It was a delicious repast with a wonderful group of folks! Thanks, Mr. Mayor!!

Oh, another highlight was having one of the best local news guys around on our team - Mr. Al Gnoza from ABC-27. He played with us two years ago and he is a fantastic guy. Turns out he also knows my friends Heather and Colby - in fact, he has seen them more recently than I have unfortunately. Anyway, he played, did a great job, and then put us on the news! Check it out: