Payton Baseball Controversy

I've been thinking about something to write for awhile now, since it's been over a month since my last post. And in the wake of the Payton Baseball controversy, I thought it might be appropriate to jump on this bandwagon.
If you haven't been paying attention to social media or Chicago media outlets, here is a very short summary of the situation as represented by the Chicago Sun-Times and a few other news sources: a few Payton parents refused to let their children play against the Brooks baseball team because the game would be on the south side of the city.
Needless to say, this has caused a huge scandal within Payton, CPS, and the city as a whole. It is a slap in the face to Brooks, a school on the south side that has given the baseball team no reason to be wary of playing them, and it is one of the most embarrassing moments in Payton's history.
What we need to keep in mind, however, is that there are two sides to every story, and that players on the baseball team and Payton administrators maintain that the situation has been misrepresented by the media. Players claim that the game was cancelled because the coaching staff of the team did not get a bus to take the team to Brooks and back.
I'm not on the baseball team, and I'm not claiming to know the story. But from what I know of the baseball coach, I'm inclined to believe the baseball players, and Principal Devine, when they say that the game was not cancelled due to racism within the Payton community, but due to leadership issues within the baseball program. According to one baseball player, the coach didn't inform them about a lack of a bus until only a couple hours before the game. And as one student has said, travelling from one side of the city to the other at 11 PM on the CTA is dangerous, no matter where you are. Not only is it dangerous, but Brooks is extremely far away from Payton, and extremely difficult to reach by public transit for the majority of the players on the team.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I know most of the kids on the team, and am close friends with a few. No one on the team has ever expressed any racist tendencies that I know of. The entire Payton community has been vilified by the media and made to look like a school full of ignorant, over-privileged, racist kids, due to the actions of a few parents, actions that are beginning to seem misrepresented in the first place. I really feel bad for the players on the baseball team, who only themselves know the true account of things. They have become the victims of sensationalist, yellow journalism.
I am upset by the actions of the Sun-Times, who were previously my favorite newspaper in the city. They printed a story without knowing all the facts, and has made an entire school the object of hate and disgust from people all across the city. This is an example of the media at its worst. They'll do whatever it takes as long as they get a story.

Why the Knicks and the Nuggets are the most interesting teams in the NBA

With the basketball season done, I've found myself at a loss for things to write about. This, as well as a sharp increase in homework, is the reason I haven't posted anything in weeks. Well a couple nights ago, as I was watching the New York Knicks play the Denver Nuggets, it hit me. Write about what makes these two teams so fun to watch, though neither of them are really championship contenders. There's something about these teams that makes them interesting. Now I might be the only one who feels this way, since the Knicks are my go-to team in NBA 2k13, and my friend always picks the Nuggets. But these are two teams that grab my attention in ways that other teams cannot. So lets start with my favorite of the two: the Knicks.

Lets take a look at their roster. Their big men are Tyson Chandler, Marcus Camby, Amar'e Stoudemire, Kenyon Martin, Rasheed Wallace, and Kurt Thomas. I can't be the only person who finds this selection of people hilarious. First off, this is the oldest collection of big men I can think of. When Amar'e Stoudemire is your youngest big man, you have a bit of a problem. To put this in perspective, I assumed Rasheed Wallace retired as a Detroit Piston about 7 years ago, and I thought Kenyon Martin was dead. There are also few things I enjoy as much as watching 40-year-old Kurt Thomas run up and down the floor with players like Kenneth Faried.
Ok I'm done with the big men, lets move on to the guards.  My personal favorite point guard in the league (besides DRose) is Raymond Felton. He's not exactly the best point guard in the game, true, but you can't deny that he has the friendliest looking face in the league. Just look at that smile, cmon.

Next we have Iman Shumpert, who in my opinion has the greatest hair in the league. He might be the only player in the league who can still rock the flat top. He's not really that good either, but who needs skill when you have a 6-inch flat top. 

And don't forget Steve Novak. Every team needs the awkward white guy to stand in the corner and shoot 3's. And of course you have Carmelo Anthony, second to only Lebron James when it comes to  ridiculously large egos. The Knicks might not be the best team in the league, but its hard to deny that they're an interesting group of people.

Now lets take a look at the Denver Nuggets.
First and foremost, obviously, is Javale McGee. Easily the funniest player in the NBA. I can't even explain it. I can only link you to a video of him. If you haven't seen this guy play, watch the video below. If you have seen him play, watch the video anyway, because it'll make you laugh.

Now that you've laughed at Javale McGee, we'll take a look at the rest of the Nuggets' big men. The Nuggets have their very own awkward white guys with interesting names in Centers Kosta Koufos and Timofey Mozgov. And no, I didn't misspell Timothy, this 7'1" Russian mammoth spells it Timofey. Now on to one of my favorite players in the NBA, Kenneth Faried. There's a reason they call this guy "The Manimal." Watching him matchup against other Power Forwards is like watching a lion devour some poor gazelle. It makes me feel bad for other PFs. He doesn't dominate because he's more skilled than the rest. He dominates because he's a monster. He's faster, stronger, and hustles harder than anyone in the league.

Then you have Italian heartthrob Danilo Gallinari. He's like Steve Novak, but bigger, better, and more attractive. More importantly, the Nuggets have Wilson Chandler and Andre Iguodala. Iguodala is a star, we all know that. He's an amazing defender and an exciting player to watch on offense. As for Chandler, if it were up to me, I'd have him starting over Gallinari. Chandler is a dawg, there's no other word for it. This 6'8" forward can play at both ends of the floor, and he's got some mean tattoos.

Last but not least, we have Ty Lawson and Andre Miller. Neither of these point guards are particularly good, but I like Ty Lawson only because he's small and speedy and fun to watch. Miler on the other hand, is a player who is universally referred to as "fundamentally sound." The amount of times I've heard Miller called a "fundamentally sound" player has engrained it into my head, so when I hear Andre Miller, I think of Coach Tony's ball-handling and defensive drills. 

I wish one of these teams had a chance of winning the championship this year, but I think we all know that isn't gonna happen. These teams are good, but they're not that good. But as I said about Iman Shumpert, who needs to be good when you can be cool and interesting?

End of season

We ended our season on a bad note yesterday, losing something like 60-35 to Glenbard South in our first state-playoff game. I knew it would suck to lose, but I thought that I would be happy that the season was over. We've been practicing every day, including weekends, since October. I was pretty tired of it. But almost immediately after I left the gym. I already missed the team. It was an odd feeling. A mixture of happiness that basketball was over, confusion over what to do with all my new free time, and sadness that I'd have to wait a year before playing with some of these guys again. It was really unexpected, and really confused me.
Coach Tony didn't even speak to us after the game. I don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing. Its not like we played that poorly, they were just a good, fundamentally sound team. We've never played a team like that, a team that beat us purely on their fundamentals. For the first time ever, we were the flashier team. And we lost because of it. We missed open shots and open layups, because we were out of our depth.
On another note, I was supposed to shoot in the 3-Point Contest for State before the game. I was really excited to shoot in the contest, and curious to see how I held up against everyone else. I've always considered myself a good long-range shooter, but I was excited to see if I could prove it in front of a crowd, while I'm alone on the court.
But we got there late, and they had to reschedule the contest for Friday, the day I won't be able to make the contest. I'm going to have to wait a whole year before I get this opportunity again, assuming Coach Tony picks me next year too.
The season as a whole went a lot better than I expected though. We ended the season under .500, but I still think it was a pretty successful season, at least compared to last year. It felt weird to actually win a basketball game. And personally, I moved from 12th man in the beginning of the season to 11th man by the end of it. The way things are going, I'll be the 10th man next year! I guess I'll have to change the name of the blog.

Deja Vu

We got dunked on today, for the first time all season. It was almost as bad as the time I got dunked on by the same team last year, on JV. Except last year, instead of just rising up and dunking it like Omer Asik, as was done today, their power forward threw down a two-handed tomahawk slam, as I was trying to block him from behind.
The team in question was King College Prep, a team I was not excited about playing for the reason stated above. I knew they were going to be tough, and I was right. We lost by 25 points. They were bigger than us, and way more athletic.
We ate some "humble pie", as Coach Tony likes to say. And while we're on the subject, I've been considering making Coach Tony a pie at the end of the season, and call it "humble pie." But I don't know if that would be in poor taste, considering we're ending the season below .500, something he didn't imagine could happen at the beginning of the season.
Anyway, this game panned out pretty much the same way it did last year. We didn't score very much, because we could barely get the ball over halfcourt. But at least we didn't lose by 50 this time.

Disappointing at best

After our six game winning streak, we lost two in a row.  We blew two of our most important games: Senior Night and our first City Playoff game. 

Even though we lost against Jones on our Senior Night, it was still a fun night. This team won't be the same without our seniors next year. To be honest I have no idea how we're going to survive without Kamau on the team. But he's off to play ball in college, and so the best of luck to him. The rest of us on the team couldn't be prouder. Shit, Coach Tony got choked up delivering Kamau's introduction, and even though he's described himself as an "emotional Italian,"it was still a bit shocking. Anyway, we lost that game by 1 point, and it came down to the last shot. We lost but we played a great game and sent our seniors off with a bang.

The City Playoff game was another matter. We played Lakeview, and instead of coming out with the win like we expected, we got blown out by 20 points. The last time we played Lakeview, we lost by 1, to the hands of 1 stout Asian kid who couldn't miss a 3-pointer if he tried. So this game, we focused all of our defensive efforts on him. And in that regard, we were a success. We limited him to only a couple shots. In his place, however, stepped up a 5'5" Hispanic kid that none of us could guard. That kid had to drop at least 20 points on us, and he ran circles around our guards the entire game. Towards the end, once all hope was lost, was my time to shine. Coach Tony put me in with 3 minutes left when we were down by about 25, at the same time Lakeview's coach put in all of their scrubs. I hit the first 3-pointer I took. Although to be fair, I did bank it off the backboard, from the top of the key. But I totally did that completely on purpose......

Coach Tony should be in the NBA

After practices on Friday, a couple guys and I always play a game of 21 before we leave. This is where I excel in basketball. I'm a mediocre player during organized games. But put me in a game of 21 and I'll beat anyone. It's my favorite part of the game. One of the main reasons I decided to play on the team this season is because I knew it would make me better at 21. After a season of hard basketball, I could  proceed to embarrass all my friends when Spring comes around, and we spend every day playing 21 in an alley.
Today was different. Coach Tony decided to play with us, to everyone's amazement. He's always surprised when I win, maybe he wanted to see what it was like to play with us. Well anyway, the team finally learned just how good he is at basketball.
The man is an incredible basketball player, and athlete. He's 40-something years old, and is more athletic than anyone on the team, except maybe Earl. He wouldn't miss a 3-pointer, no matter who was guarding him. Whether it was Derick, our 6'3" man-child of a center, or James, our skilled small forward guarding him, he couldn't be beat. He would crossover about 3 times in one second and then proceed to hit a fadeaway 3-pointer in the defender's face. When he drove, he got over, under, and through anyone in his way to make the layup.
I've gained a newfound respect for Coach Tony. I always thought he took basketball too seriously, when all I wanted to do was play a game of 21in an alley, or a pickup game at the park. We've all learned that he can get back to basics and just have a fun time playing. And he's damn good at it too.

Suntimes

I saw on the Chicago Sun-Times's high school sports website that I was the third leading scorer in the game yesterday. I don't think thats necessarily true, but shouts out to Mr. Wu for putting my name down anyway. I think he knew I would freak out, and freak out I did.

Payton v. Sullivan

Due to some unfortunate circumstances and an overall lack of excitement the past couple of games, I've refrained from posting anything, because I didn't want to start down the "posting just for the hell of it" road. I don't know if anyone has continued to look at this blog after the first day anyway, but just in case anyone does, I'm going to take the time to write out whatever comes to mind.
A quick catch-up: We beat a couple teams since my last post, and one of those teams was Northside. I didn't play in that game due to an injury, and that really bummed me out because I have a couple friends at that school. The one game where I actually know people on the other team and I'm sitting on the bench in a shirt and tie, looking like the equipment manager. Now everyone at Northside thinks I'm a scrub. But there's always next year, and it's not like I would have played in the game anyway.
We've won our last several games, and we're on a 5 game winning streak right now. Maybe not so coincidentally, we also have happened to win every game we've played since Jerrod got a tattoo. Now I don't know how much of an effect that tattoo is having on our team, but what I do know is that someone is going to have to step up and get one after Jerrod graduates.... I guess I'm going to have to take one for the team and get a tattoo.
Today's game against Sullivan was a big one for the team, and for me personally. We beat this team by 30-something points, myself contributing 5 of them. 5 points! Now that might not seem like a lot, I know, but when your total minutes on the season add up to about one half of a high school basketball game, that's not too shabby. And now that I've reached my goal of scoring just one basket this season, I don't have to worry about getting salty if I don't get playing time, and I'll continue to support the team as best I can from the bench. Again, scoring one basket all season seems like a very low goal to set yourself, but I was cutting it pretty close there. My 3-pointer today was my first basket of the year, and we only have like 3 or 4 games left this season so I was starting to get worried.
I got a couple of other stats today, but enough about me. The team played great today and we're finally at .500 with a record of 10-10. Not the greatest record but it won't send Coach Tony over the edge. I don't think it registers with him that it is entirely possible, and very common, for a team to lose more games than they win. And to be honest, for the team's sake, I hope he never has to find that out. Because as nice of a guy as he is, I would be pretty scared to be on a losing team with him as the coach.

I swear I wasn't "smoking the loud"

It's hard for me to take our team seriously when Coach Tony tells us our pre-game warmup playlist is Run This Town by Rihanna, All I do is Win by DJ Khaled and Touch the Sky by Kanye West. It's even harder for me to keep a straight face when Bring Em' Out by T.I. starts playing as we run out of the locker room. Consequentially, I looked like an idiot when we did our lap around the court and I was laughing my ass off. I know those are good pump up songs but it just feels like a little much for such a small school.
We won our game by only 20 points today, I don't remember the final score, but we won and that's what's important. I do, however, remember the douchey/funny ref. After yelling at me for heckling from the bench, he proceeded to yell at Zac, our freshman point guard, for going up for a layup after the whistle was blown and getting clotheslined by a player on North-Grand. It made me really appreciate the Payton student body when the entire crowd broke out into a chorus of "boos."
The best part was when I finally got into the game at the end of the 4th quarter and was waiting for the ref to give me the ball. I didn't understand his directions when he was telling me where to inbound the ball, so he said "Boy you tweaking. You better stop smoking that loud." Everyone in the crowd exploded. I was laughing for the last couple minutes of the game, which probably wasn't too pleasing to Coach Tony but what can I do in a situation like that?
 I didn't really do in the game, but I didn't screw it up, and I think that's enough to impress Coach at this point in the season. It was fun playing in front of my friends and my girlfriend, though I'm sure they all think I'm a scrub. Not that that's something they didn't already think though.

Pre-game Mentality

We have a game this afternoon against North Grand High School, whom we beat 59-21 last Saturday. And I played a whole 8 minutes that game. So needless to say I'm excited that we're playing them again today. Because I learned two things from that game: that winning is fun, and playing is also fun. 

My girlfriend is coming to today's game, which makes me kind of nervous. But I'm not too worried. I  doubt she'll break up with me if I airball another 3-pointer. I'm letting her come today because I figured that this is probably the only game left in the season in which I'll play for more than 3 minutes.  I haven't let her come to a game thus far, because I'd rather not have her come all the way to my school to watch me sit on the bench in a uniform that is several sizes too big on me. That's also why I tell my parents not to come to my games, but I have to be a little more lenient on that one since they're also my ride home. 

I'm pretty pumped for today's game. I still haven't scored any points and this might be the last chance I get to do so. I just hope I don't screw it up

Intro to the blog

Ok first things first, let me explain the title of this blog:
If you're familiar with basketball, you know that a basketball team fields twelve players, and you know what it means to be the twelfth man. For those of you who don't keep up with the sport, it means that out of the whole bunch, the twelfth man is the last player who will ever go in to a game. He rarely sees playing time. Simply put, he is the worst player on the team. On Walter Payton College Prep's Varsity Basketball team, that role is occupied by me, Sam Kelly. I'm 5 feet 10 inches, 135 pounds, slow, and I can't jump high. I'm not exactly what you would call a "force to be reckoned with" on the basketball court. Not to say I'm bad at basketball. I'm pretty good compared to the average joe. I have long arms and a decent jump shot. But in a city with players like Jabari Parker and Jahlil Okafor, "pretty good" doesn't cut it. To be honest, I'm surprised I made the team.
Moving on the "the capitan". I'd like to clear up one thing about that. I am not currently a captain for Payton's 16" Softball team. There is no guarantee that I will be next year. I put it in the title because it rhymes (sort of) and I think it's clever. I've been the starting pitcher on the team for two years and this year, we won the city championship for the first time in almost a decade. And while being a pitcher for a softball team isn't the same as being a pitcher for a baseball team, it certainly makes me more valuable to the softball team than I am to the basketball team.  If I don't end up being named captain, I'm gonna have to think up a new title. Until then though, I'm keeping it the way it is; partly out of laziness and partly out of a desperate hope I'll be named captain next year.
So if you haven't figured it out already, I'm a mediocre high school athlete writing about his experiences  playing on varsity teams in a city that gave the world Derrick Rose and Anthony Davis. These posts could range from my personal opinions about team sports to simply relaying things that are happening on the teams. I promise I won't just give a play-by-play recap of games though, because that's no fun. To be honest, I don't know how this is going to go. I don't know what I'm going to write about during the off-season. I'm guessing it'll be anything that interests me, or that I think might interest the small number of readers I hope to win over. This could turn out to be great, or it could be a disaster. I'm hoping for the former.
Hoping this all goes well,
Sam