One Two Punch - Chapter Ten: "The Qualifiers"

Finally, some basketball action! I gotta tell ya, I've been wanting to write this part out for a while.

I took a while to explain the rules, but I had to.

Chapter Ten: “The Qualifiers”

I drive Danny home and then go home to sleep. The following week I have Danny practicing at every opportunity when he didn’t have any extra-curricular activities going on.
Before I know it, Saturday and the round of the opening qualifiers is upon us. I pick Danny up from school and we drive to Galen Center. The parking lot is extremely full.
We get out and head towards the stadium. It’s at this moment I realize how many father and son teams are competing. The line is backed up into the near parking lot, as if there were actually a USC game going on, except of course hardly anyone had USC merchandise on.
We finally get up to the ticket-takers, and I hand them our pass, and they let us in. They tell us to find a seat in the stands anywhere. Danny and I manage to find fourth row seats in the stands, behind where the commentators usually call the game.
“Well, this is it, Danny,” I say.
“Yep,” he replies.
“You nervous?” I ask.
“Yeah… I mean this is the first time anyone besides you will see me play basketball,” he says. “How about you?”
“Danny, I played college basketball in the NCAA tournament. This is nothing compared to that,” I say.
After waiting for about another half hour, the stands are filled and the tournament chairperson takes the microphone.
“Welcome, fathers and sons, to the first ever father-son basketball tournament!” he says, to vast applause. “Before we begin the qualifiers, I must explain the rules. Each game will take place on half-court. The first team to 21 points wins. You do not need to win by two points or more, so, for example, the final score can be 21-20. After a change of possession, the ball must be taken outside of the three point arc. Failure to do so before a shot results in a turnover. To start each possession, we have what’s called a ‘reset,’ where a player on one team passes to a player on the other to start the possession. Resets occur after out-of-bounds, non-shooting fouls, scores, and the failure to bring the ball outside the three point arc before shooting. Resets must only be completed after the referee has blown his whistle. Also, if the referee determines you passed the ball in an unsportsmanlike manner, he will call for a free throw shot to be taken.”
“There is also a new scoring system. Normal three point shots are now worth two points and regular field goals are worth one point. Fouls in the act of shooting from one point range result in one free throw attempt for the player fouled if the basket is missed. If it is made, they still get one shot. Fouls in the act of shooting from the two point range result in two free throw attempts, and only one if the basket is made. Also, the first possession is determined by a coin flip called by the older of the two fathers. Finally, there is no ‘make it take it’ rule here. Each team that was just scored on will receive the ball in a reset.
“Well, that’s pretty much it. The teams that will be playing will be announced and displayed on the giant screen above your heads. When your names are called, please go to either the ‘north court’, here,” he says, pointing at the court to his right. “Or here,” he says, pointing to the court to his left. “Finally, not only will these games determine who will be playing next week, but it will determine your seedings which will be announced this Wednesday. Unfortunately, if you lose a game today, I’m afraid to say it will be pretty hard to be seeded in the tournament. Anyway, without further ado, let the tournament begin!”
Danny and I watch and listen for our names to be called. We’re able to see a few games going on, most of them one-sided. It looks like there are some pretty good teams here.
After about 3/4 of the teams have played their first game, we finally hear “Mike and Danny Hollins” announced and see our names displayed on the screen, telling us to play on the south court against a father son team named “Tom and Timmy Robinson.”
We get on to the court and see our opponents. The father is wearing a headband and an extremely short pair of shorts and looks out of shape. His son, meanwhile, looks about eight years old.
The referee motions us to gather at the top of the three point arc. He then says “Tom, call it in the air.”
“Tails!” Tom says. It turns out to be in fact, tails, so the referees hands the ball to me to complete the reset with Tom.
I complete the reset and we start. I immediately steal the ball from Tom and face him outside the now two point arc. I fake him out with a juke, drive to the rim and lay it in. On the next possession, Danny manages to steal a pass intended for Timmy and he drops back behind the two point arc, drives to the basket and lays a shot in.
Danny and I continue this play for the rest of the game, and we win, 21-0. We congratulate the other team on a solid effort and head back to the stands.
“Great job, Danny. That’s just what I expected from you,” I tell Danny as we finally take our seats, exasperated.
“You know basketball’s not that hard,” he replies. “We could do pretty well in this tournament.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying!” I say.
After a half hour, we are called again to the court. Our next opponents are a father son team named “Carlos and Miguel Lopez.” They are Mexican, with the father having a bunch of tattoos and the son being about twelve years old.
Again, Danny and I play extremely well, and we manage to win 21-2. The two points we allowed late in the game because we were easing up on our effort levels.
We return to the stands again after our victory, and just ten minutes later, we are called again. This time our opponents include an almost seven foot tall father who tells me before the coin toss he played professionally, which I later wonder if that is true or not. His son is about Danny’s age, perhaps a little younger.
Danny and I slack up at the beginning and actually fall behind, 5-3. But we work hard and go on a 16-2 run to finish the game, to win 21-7. We congratulate the other team and are told by the referee that that was our last game today.
Danny and I leave for the car, discussing the games we played.
“Man, we are going to get a great seed in this tournament,” I say.
“Yeah, I think so,” Danny says.
“Do you know what that means?” I ask.
“That we get to play easier teams?” he replies.
“Exactly. Well, at first we do. Anyway, with how well we played, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a number one seed,” I say.
“And we find out Wednesday?” Danny asks.
“Yep at 7:00 pm,” I say.
“Great,” Danny says.
“And we should probably practice even more this upcoming week. I know a lot of other father-son teams will,” I say.
“Okay, I can do that,” Danny says.
“So what do you think of basketball so far, Danny? You liking it?” I ask.
“Yeah, I really am. I mean, it’s fun and I’m pretty good at it. If only I started playing when I was younger,” he replies.
“Eh, so you’d rather be like your mother, big deal,” I say.
Danny laughs.