Spork and Basketball

I should probably start saying next time instead of next week, just as a safeguard. I had been doing better, but I am training a new hire this week, which is time-consuming, but the real problem is that the rest of the world does not stand still while you are doing that. I expect things to be more under control after this week.

While in the midst of this fame series, I was thinking how it is kind of sad that as many musicians as I have hung out with at various times, it is sad that none of them are on the most famous list. The fun surprise from it is that I have been working on and off with one band member without ever making the connection (Hi, Kurt!), but I had only talked to him two or three times back then, so it does not make me a total space case.

I understand that college (and high school) bands are not a rigid construct, with names and members changing on a regular basis (The Juice Factory? What happened to Red Shift?), so maybe that lack of stability decreases the likelihood of making it big. Still, these guys were talented, skilled, often good-looking, and made for some memorable times. So, it makes me feel pessimistic for the future of Bobby West, recently discovered outside Pioneer Place, and he just has a great voice. It also begs the question, why can’t they ever come up with a decent opening act at the Crystal Ballroom?

Anyway, I just want to give a shout-out to Mike Johnson, John Sabol, Darren Joye, and Andrew Diamond. I hope you are still making music, even if you are not making money at it.

Moving right along, another thing that occurred to me is that of the current three top contenders (Pappy Boyington, Wynton Marsalis, and Kelly Packard) along with this week’s subject, Terrell Brandon, there is not really a clear contender for most famous. There could easily be many people who would recognize one name, but not the others, depending on their areas of interest. I am leaning towards Wynton being the best known, but I could be wrong.

I did not meet Terrell until college, but I was well aware of him in high school. Through a string of events that will probably be recounted some other day, I managed my high school’s men’s basketball team for three years. Although we were Metro League, we always had a few games versus PIL teams, and you’re aware of what’s going on with them because it affects playoffs.

Anyway, he was just a phenomenal player, and I admired him even more because he was also the state triple jump champion. I mean, I don’t get triple jump as an event, but still, given the level at which he played basketball that he still competed in another sport and season, and excelled at it, was cool. He was the state athlete of the year that year, and it was like, of course, who else even comes close?

He was not the only high school standout that I saw play in college, or the only college player that went on to the NBA. Of the rest, the most famous would definitely be Damon Stoudamire. I first saw him the year we (Aloha High School) made it into the Final Four. Wilson was the team that knocked us out, going on to beat Beaverton for the state championship.

I was amazed at how young he looked. Aloha did not even have freshmen then (it is a four year school now, but when I was growing up, 9th grade was the last year of junior high), and varsity teams were still usually mostly seniors and maybe some really good juniors. So here was this child, basically, who was also remarkably short, and he’s playing with the big boys. He had the chops to back it up though. My main memory of him was that he just exuded cockiness, but maybe it was necessary to compensate for his size.

Anyway, his cousin Antoine played at Jesuit, which was also in the Metro League, and then played for University of Oregon. Jordy Lyden played for Beaverton (the afore-mentioned number two team for that year), and also went on to University of Oregon. The most exciting and terrifying game I ever saw was our home game against Beaverton that year. I think the final score was 33-32, it might have even been 36-35, but it was just ridiculously low for basketball. That’s a football score. The defense was so heavy and the competition was so intense that every point earned just took blood. We won, and it was probably as close to perfect play as we ever came, but the knots in the stomach you have watching that. Yikes!

Also, I should mention that the Aaron who was not a drug dealer played for Aloha and U of O both, though we did not overlap very much due to the time we took off to serve missions. He was how I ended up meeting most of the guys there, though not quite directly (that’s another long story, if not two or three long stories).

So most of these guys were Ducks anyway. Damon was a Wildcat in college, and they were on the Pac-10 schedule, but again with the mission I don’t think I saw him play more than once or twice. For anyone wondering about famous Beavers, Gary Payton was drafted the year before I started college, and I only have very vague memories of Brent Barry. They were really all just the opposing team unless I had high school memories of them.

I don’t really approve of drafting high school players into the NBA, but I can see how it happens because these NBA-caliber types display it really early. Damon was short and young and cocky, but you would have been crazy not to play him because of what he could do.

Terrell was just great to watch. He had great moves, and class, and it was accompanied by a sense of fun. He loved to play and we loved to watch him play. People would tell stories about things he had done in games years later.

The only person that was really comparable for me was Jordy Lyden. There was something about the way he played too. He ended up getting an injury while I was gone, and it appeared to set him back some. I don’t know if he would have made the NBA without the injury, but I wouldn’t have been surprised. As it is, the last time I spoke to him he was playing Australian ball. Hey, it’s still pro.

(I need to give another shout-out here to John Mitchell, a walk-on who ended up on the Ducks. He was not at that level necessarily, but I loved watching him play. He was just so scrappy. I’m sorry I can’t qualify these descriptions, maybe it’s just that I don’t know enough about sports, but sometimes there is magic, and I appreciate it when I see it.)

So, one of those long stories is that my senior prom date was a U of O basketball player, and although it was highly platonic I did got to see him when I started college, and gradually met other players, and because it was a deeply ingrained habit in me to do things for and be supportive of men’s basketball teams, I sort of became kind of a booster/groupie for them. It basically involved baking and signs, and some appreciated it a lot, and some I became closer to than others, but I am pretty sure it sounds weird here. Still, if I let that hold me back…

Anyway, I did not become particularly close to Terrell. He lived off campus, which really affects whom you see, and he was really busy that year, which would end up being his last year in the NCAA. However, he was always very warm and courteous. His mother would come into the Burlington Coat Factory where I worked during vacations from time to time, and she was always similarly wonderful. It was no surprise when I heard that she was starting an NBA mother’s group for when players in whatever city might need some mothering. Of course she would do that. And that Terrell has worked to reinvigorate local business and build the community, of course. They’re like that. He may not have had as many commercial endorsements as some, and there were injury issues, but he had to All-Star games, Sports Illustrated voted him the best point guard in the game, and his post-basketball career looks like it will do him a lot of credit.

Anyway, this whole basketball thing was responsible for my two closest brushes with fame (plus one brush with school notoriety, again, some other time). The first one was when we were in the final four, and female managers were rare, so local newscaster Carl Click interviewed me, and it aired on a very cheesy segment of local news where I pretty much hated how I looked and sounded. I didn’t feel free to be as interesting as I would have liked. For example, he asked what the hardest aspect of my job was. The real answer would probably have been to explain that for a short time the guys had decided to change into their practice clothes in the gym instead of the locker room, which occurred while I was sweeping it, and then it became fun to see if they could get me to look. (No.) I believe that was discontinued when the coaches noticed packs of girls outside the gym before practice, peeking through the very small windows in the doors. I didn’t think I should admit that, so I just said it would sometimes get very hectic when everything was happening at once.

The second brush involves Terrell directly, so that is how I will close.

My first year in school was his third year, but as the season ended there was a lot of speculation that he would go up for the draft that year. He wasn’t commenting, but I felt that the longer he waited, the more likely he was to stay. When the press conference was finally called, I knew immediately that he was going, and yes, he was.

I will get in a final brag here and mention that I made a very close prediction on where he would get taken. I thought he would go at number eight, and he ended up being eleven. (Basically, I thought the Clippers would take him because they needed a guard, but then they traded their draft pick, so the Cavaliers took him. Still, I was closer than anyone else I know.)

So, he makes the announcement, and people meet and greet, and as I go to say congratulations he pulls me in to a side hug and our picture is snapped. I don’t remember noticing the snap, but later this guy asked me my name and relationship to Terrell, to which I said just friends.

Well, that picture ended up being about half of the front page of the Daily Emerald the next day. I can’t remember for sure if Coach Monson or Mr. Brandon were at the conference (Coach probably was), but I know his mother was there, at least two teammates were there, and their manager was there, and any one of those would have made more sense for the cover picture. And yet it was me, looking like his girlfriend, and also looking larger and chestier than was absolutely necessary, due to an unfortunate camera angle. I kept the paper for a while, but I eventually tossed it because I hated so much that it was the wrong picture and the way I looked.

That was the last time I saw Terrell. I saw his mother at least once again, and she gave me one of his rookie cards, signed, which I still have.

That next morning I was in a van with a group headed to the state capitol to observe some budget talks about school funding. It was actually a really good day to be out of town. I did get some ribbing later, but it was not like I spent the day walking past people reading it. The picture did make quite a sensation in the van, but there was also elation at the second half of the page, which we will explore more next week with the sordid history of campus political scandal.