Biraj's Notes

04 Feb. 2012 Playoff schedule is now up.  Please see Notice Board for playoff structure.  Congratulations to Lummerland and Sputnik for finishing tops in their respective Divisions.  Thanks to all the players for getting us smoothly through the regular season.  Let the post-season begin.  Enjoy the Superbowl, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj     30 Jan. 2012 Great finish to a great regular season!   Some great games.  The final standings are now up along with the Round Robin results.  Please review carefully and let me know if any corrections are required.  Some key points to note are as follows: 1) A two tie was decided first by whether a team had defaulted, and secondly, by won/loss between the two teams in the tie. 2) A 3 way tie was decided by games won/lost between the three teams (it wasn't necessary to use points to further decide) 3) The top four teams in each Division will play for the respective Divisional Championships. Once the standings are finalized, I will post the playoff schedule.  Note that all teams will play in the playoffs. Stay tuned.  Biraj   24 Jan. 2012 Pretty good games on Sunday.  We're down to one more game before we move into playoffs.  It looks pretty competitive to see who ends up in the final four in each division.  Below the top four teams, we will form Pools of four teams in each Division, and the last three teams in each Division will play a 3 way playoff - may give the 13th place team a bye in the first round.  Key notes for the playoffs as follows: 1) Players must have played 4 regular season games to qualify for the playoffs.  Any team with a player not meeting this requirement will default the game. 2) Teams with defaults will lose a tie in the standings 3) There will be 4 winners in each Division - Pool 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, and Pools 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D 4) Please review the 5 second rule as it might come into play in the coming weeks. Looks like we'll have a great finish. League social:  10th March - details to be posted next week. Spring season:  Registration will start shortly - hopefully, next week.  Please let me know as soon as possible if you will be playing in the Spring. Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   19 January 2012 Games on Sunday went very well.  No issues.  We've only got a couple of games left, and the standings look very tight to determine who will claim the top four spots in each Division to qualify for the respective Division Championships.   Please note that no new players can enter the league.  The rules indicate that players must have played at least 5 games to qualify for the playoffs.  But if you have players that have played four games, please contact me.  Please also contact me if you have injured players or other circumstances where your team would be short players for the playoffs. -- I'm looking for some gym time on Sat., March, 10 to run a small tourney with some teams from the US - I will officially announce this later.  Does anyone have access to any gym time on that day? - Sunday morning gym time on March 11 would also help.  Thanks. Biraj   18 January 2012 Please see Fundraiser notice on Notice Board from Katie Li, captain of Wild Rice.   10 January 2012 Welcome back to KBL.  We're on our way to finishing our Fall 2011/2012 season with only 3 games left.  However, we had a very rough return - probably the roughest Sunday of the season.  But there were many good games.  Comments as follows: 1) Security -- one of our players (on MP Ballerz) had her car broken into in the Kerrisdale parking lot while she was playing her game.  The player noticed the car was broken into only as she was heading to her car to leave.  Her purse and contents were stolen.  It was not good.  We reported the break-in to Police asap, however, so far, no items have been recovered, and there are no suspects.  I will continue to follow up on this incident.  Please ensure you lock your car doors, and please do not leave valuables in your car.  Also, please do not leave your valuables anywhere near the two external gym doors when playing your game - we've had one theft in the last few years where someone stole a gym bag from inside the gym while the game was on.  It's a crazy world we live in, but we'll do our best to secure the gym.  The parking lot is not monitored, so it's not so easy to feel secure about the parking lot.  I will try to walk out there periodically from now on. 2) Injury - one of the players on Nashty injured his hand when he ran against the East gym wall when using his hand to break his momentum.  We only had one mat up as that was the only mat we had.  I've asked Kerrisdale to order a couple more mats, so it will be a bit safer.  But even with the mats, please be careful.  Also, generally, if you notice the mats are not there or improperly positioned, please let me know or please go ahead and adjust yourselves.  At Kits. sometimes the center staff forget to put up the mat over the gym storage doors.  If you see this, please let the Kits staff know. 3) Games - behaviour.  We had two games with serious behaviour issues.   I'm following up on both games, and I've already issued two suspensions in one of the games.  Please note that the suspension penalties are simply warnings, as a recurrence of a behaviour violation is an ejection from the league.  Please - everyone - read the league rules either as a reminder or as your first reading.  The spirit of our league rules is that you either play within the spirit of our league or you don't play in our league.  Although the vast majority of the players in this league play with great spirit, there are a few that need to correct their play.  Let's please read the rules and make the corrections before we have any more incidents.  Captains - you are key to these corrections as I cannot keep an eye on all the games.  Monitors - as well.  And players - ofcourse!  - it's your league. 4) Games - intentional fouls.  Please note that unlike refereed or other basketball, our league rules do not allow intentional fouls.  An intentional foul is an automatic two points, and frequent intentional fouling is out of the spirit of this league and may result in an ejection from the game, and likely further penalties.  On fast breaks, if you don't have a clear shot at stopping the play, please let the player go to the hoop, especially in the open court. 5) League standings - we are only three games away from playoffs, and even with a rough week our first Sunday back, we are poised to have a great finish to a lengthy season.  The standings are still up in the air, so the last few games will make a difference. As mentioned, I will follow up on a couple of issues.  Otherwise, please review our rules and come prepared to play next Sunday.  Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   13 December 2011 Great finish to the Fall portion of our season.  Thanks to everyone who donated food to the Food Bank - we ended up with 4 full boxes at Kerrisdale and 6 full bags at Kits, as well as an unknown amount at Sunset.  Thanks to Veronica and Darlana on Sweet for initiating this drive, and thanks to all three centers for supporting the Food Bank. Thanks to Blaze and Wasted at Kerrisdale for helping put away all the equipment in the gym after the last game.   Kerrisdale is doing their annual floor polish this week, so we had to get all the equipment out.  Therefore,  we should have a beautiful floor in January.  I think it'll be the same with Kits. The games were terrific.  There were quite a few close games with two one point games. I'm not sure if many of you realize, but teams only have 3 or 4 games left before we get into playoffs.   The standings are very tight in both Divisions, and the top four spots in each Division are still a toss-up.  At the other end, there are still a couple of teams that are winless, however, there is still time to get that elusive win. For the playoffs, we will split into Pools of four, starting at the top and working downwards.  In the lower Pool of four in each Division, one of the teams will get a bye. Thanks for a great Fall season, and I hope all of you have a great holiday.  Biraj   05 December 2011 After a week off, the games went very well on Sunday.  No issues.  Please note that we only have 5 weeks left in the season, so the playoff matchups will start to solidify right about now.  Next Sunday is our last week of bball before we break until the New Year. There is an important event next Sunday: Two players from Sweet, Darlana and Veronica, will be collecting donations to the foodbank.  There will be boxes at Kerrisdale and Kitsilano beside the scorer's desk.  Please bring as many non-perishable items as you can, and let's fill these boxes up.  Both centers are very supportive of this initiative.  For players playing at Sunset, please try and swing by Kits or Kerrisdale and drop off any items. Have a great week, and don't forget to bring non-perishable food items next Sunday.  Biraj 22 November 2011 All Nov. 27 games cancelled.  Drop-in at Kits from 1 pm to 4pm.  Thanks.  Biraj   21 November 2011 Great games yesterday.  I'm just waiting for the Sunset scores to update the scores and standings.  In the meantime, a few comments: 1) There was a terrific game at Kerrisdale between Hoop Dreams and Usual Suspects.  This game was played at a really high level, and it was also really well played.  The entire game was terrific until the last 5.1 seconds when, unfortunately, I made a bad call on the 5 second rule.  Hoop Dreams inched their way back to within a couple of points with about 22 seconds in the game.  As per our rules, the 5 second rule was in effect, and I called a timeout to let the teams know.  However, I neglected to let the defensive team know that a foul would negate the 5 second rule.  Guess what? - with about 5.1 to 5.5 seconds on the clock, Hoop Dreams committed a foul.  Forgetting my own rule where a foul negates the 5 second rule, I tried to come up with a fair solution.  We ended up putting 15 seconds on the clock and gave Usual Suspects possession.  The clock ran past the 5 seconds, so Hoop Dreams had a shot with 5 seconds to play.  Hoop Dreams missed and Usual Suspects won the game.  If Hoop Dreams had scored, Usual Suspects would certainly have had an argument.  So I chalk this situation to experience.  The key point here is that a defensive foul negates the 5 second rule.  I know I have reminded teams of this many times in a "5 second situation", but yesterday, I forgot.  This was unfortunate, as it didn't allow a terrific game to have a terrific finish, and I apologize for this.  But players also need to take away from this situation and make sure they understand the 5 second rule, which is bound to come up a few times through the balance of the season.  To help us manage this situation, I will ensure we have a set of rules available at each of the gyms.  Thanks to the Hoop Dreams and Usual Suspects players for a terrific game. 2) Nashty and Tenacious D also had a terrific game.  I don't have details, however, I did get an email from one of the captains mentioning that it was a terrific game. Next Sunday is Grey Cup.  I may cancel some of the games, so please stay tuned.  Thanks.  Biraj  20 November 2011 Hi Everyone.  We're now halfway through the season with the league in pretty good shape.  However, a couple of teams are still having difficulty with players.  With Tiffany's help (Nashty), we've almost resolved these roster issues, but overall, please ensure you have good rosters for your games.  I know there are lots of players out there who would be interested in playing, so I think it's just a matter of a bit of "field work" to recruit these players.  Also, a bit of planning is important to avoid being short on game days - last minute subs are almost impossible.   Have a great game today, and see some of you later today.  Biraj 08 November 2011 Great games again on Sunday, except for one poor default - no show by the whole team.  Please note that if an entire team doesn't show, I can remove them from the league.  These types of defaults put me in a difficult situation as I'm forced to toss around the possibility of ejecting the team.   Please also note that there should always be a game.  There is no such thing as no shows in this league.  Even if a team thinks they are going to default, they first need to tell me ASAP (not on the day of), and they need to send anyone who can play so that we at least have numbers for full court pickup.  Two defaults is a possible ejection from the league.  Often I get calls from captains on the day of telling me that they have to default.  This is absolutely not allowed - there has to be a game - if I have to, I'll get my beat up body back on the court to help salvage a game. All the games I witnessed and heard about on Sunday were well played.  Point margins were reasonably close and there were no issues.  The standings continue to take shape as we approach the half way point in the season.   The standings are a bit polarized in both divisions, but there is still time. We do play next week, so please make sure you communicate to your team-mates that the games are on.  There is one slight difference in that Kits starts at 3 pm and Kerrisdale ends at 9pm. Have a great week, and don't forget Remembrance Day.   See you next Sunday.  Biraj   06 November 2011 Don't forget that clocks go back an hour today.   31 October 2011 Great games continue except for one unfortunate default at Kits.  Defaults tend to occur because teams are short either one or two women - teams seem to bring enough guys.  Teams - please make sure you carry at least 3 women per game.  A reminder that defaults are not about the teams that defaulted, but rather about all the players that showed up to play that couldn't get a legitimate league game, although a good game is almost always played. In Div. 1, Wild Rice and Hoop Dreams had a great game to start things off at Kerrisdale.  Wild Rice put in their best effort so far to stay with Hoop Dreams almost all the way.  Hoop Dreams won it in the last two minutes.  --- Barrage pulled off a bit of an upset by beating Triple Threat.  The Div. 1 standings look a bit polarized with 4 teams without any wins. Let's continue on and see what happens.  The Div. 2 standings are quite a bit tighter.  The top 5 teams are pretty strong, so the matchups should get very interesting over the next few games.  Behind these 5 teams, there are quite a few teams who could challenge the top 5, but they're going to have to prove it. Generally, things are going well.  A few things to keep in mind: 1) At Kits, if your game looks like it's going to be late starting, please reduce the length of the game, but not to less than 55 minutes.  At the tail end, we have to be out of Kits no later than 9:20 pm, so we have a bit of margin, but not much. 2) Please help with setup and cleanup at all three gyms - don't wait, just jump in.  Thanks to the many players that do this. 3) Please make sure you bring enough players.  You need at least 5 guys/3 gals per game, or else it compromises the game.  Remember, when it comes to rosters, it's not about you, but it's about everyone else that shows up to play. Let's keep going.  Have a great week, and see you on Sunday.  Biraj   27 Oct. 2011 Great games again on Sunday.  Thanks to Joe at Kerrisdale for looking after the league while I was away.  Thanks for Sean (Abusement Park), Morgan, Diana, Ryan, and Geoff for reporting scores.  Looks like many of the games are tight, although the standings suggest that each Division could easily be split into two to form 4 divisions.  But we're still early.  There is still time for the lower teams to challenge the teams in the upper decks of each Division. Notes on the games as follows: 1) Triple Threat and Hoop Dreams had a game last week, which went down to the wire.  With Hoop Dreams up by two with 6 seconds left, a TT players tried to drive to the hoop.  The player was fouled, and in the midst of the situation, time ran out.  There was a debate between the two teams as to whether a foul had occurred or not.  This did not get resolved, and Hoop Dreams won the game.  ---- It's unfortunate the game couldn't have had a smoother ending, but apparently, it was a great game.  A suggestion in such a situation is to figure out approximately when the foul occurred, and if the foul is a contested foul, then reset the clock to when the foul occurred and have offense take the ball out of bounds - in this case, the clock could have been reset to 4 or 5 seconds.  Generally, with contested fouls, offense should simply take the ball out of bounds, and if the game is in its latter stages, simply reset the clock to when the foul occurred.  This resets the play in a neutral way. 2) Rim Touchers played a hard fought game against Butta.  Apparently, a fairly low shooting percentage game. 3) There are no undefeated teams in Div. 2, however, the top 5 or 6 teams seem to be winning their games handily. Rule change: Currently, we break standings ties by checking defaults - defaults will cost the team the tie.  We will change this to look at defaults first, then monitoring.  Therefore, if you are tied with another team, and you have had more monitoring no-shows than the team you are tied with, you will lose the tie.  Hope you think this is fair. Have a great week, and see you on Sunday.  Biraj   17 Oct. 2011 Great games, except for one not so good default.  Rosters are almost there with a couple of teams  still trying to round out their rosters. Interestingly, some of the games were lopsided in each Division.  Hopefully, this will settle out over time.  There seems to be some separation in strength in each Division with the top half in each Division noticeably stronger than the bottom half.  Hopefully, this also evens out over time.  It's noticeable more so in Div. 1 than in Div. 2.  In Div. 1, the perennial teams at the top are back at the top.  But in Div. 2, we're seeing some tough competition with the upper 7 to 9 teams almost a toss up at this stage. Out of the games that I witnessed yesterday, the one between Sputnik and Nashty was one of the best.  This was an intense game with Nashty pulling about 20 to 25 points ahead with about 20 minutes to go.  Sputnik made a valiant come back, but Nashty hung on.  It's great to see the intensity, and although there were a couple of rough spots here and there, it turned about to be a great fast paced game. Tenacious D also had a great one against Hoosier Daddy.  Ten. D have a very balanced and deep roster - this is the kind of roster I'd like to see teams bring out - great job with team building Sean. In Div. 1, Badgers had their hands full with an intimidating Lummerland squad.  Badgers stayed with them for the first 10 to 15 minutes, but Lummer then pulled away.  Badgers are one big man away from being a Div. 1 challenger. Overall, the competition is good, spirit is great, and the pace is good, so let's keep going.  There is one new rule.  Women who are pregnant are now required to produce a doctor's note indicating that they are okay to play.  This is a requirement of all three community centers.  So please, keep this in mind. I'm away next Sunday across the ocean, so please keep the schedule as best as you can.  There will be a community center staff at Kerrisdale who will lock up (Joe), however, I'm leaving it to the players to manage the games and the schedule.  I'll be back the following Sunday.  Have a great rest of the week and enjoy your next Sunday of basketball.  Biraj   03 October 2011 Good games on Sunday.  We're now three weeks into the season and solidly in play.  A couple of unfortunate injuries: 1) Mer on Barrage had a bad ankle sprain, which was managed very well by both teams - thanks Barrage & Jamma, and 2) girl on Wolverines dislocated a finger and was taken to hospital. There was one unfortunate default with Wild Rice defaulting to a full Royals squad who were itching for the competition. Rosters: Thanks for sending in your rosters - just a couple of teams left.  It seems that although teams have large rosters on paper, about 5 or 6 teams are short players at game time.  A few teams need women, and I'm trying to find some, but it's not easy.  However, I'm pretty sure there are lots of players around who will play.  Once I get a chance, I will start checking around and see if I can recruit some players.  Please make sure you show up with at least 7 or 8 players each game, otherwise, the game is compromised.  It makes such a difference to the game and to the league to have a good bench. Overall, the games were great - most teams have great rosters.  There was one terrific game between Nashty and Brook City, two undefeated Div. 2 teams.  This game was tightly, but well played all the way.  Nashty put in a courageous effort to catch up near the end, but Brook City stood tall and took the game - terrific game.  --- Looks like there were some other great games based on the scores, but I don't have any details.  Please don't hesitate to send me some game commentary. The standings have begun to develop.  There are familiar names at the top of both Divisions, however, there are subtle differences in rosters. Issue:  Last week, one of the players brought up a point about league guidelines for women players who are pregnant.  Since this is a sensitive topic, I did discuss it with the community centers, and the guidance I have received so far is that players play at their own risk.  My own preference is that I get a bit paranoid when I see pregnant women on the court.   However, I hesitate to draw specific guidelines.  This may change over the next couple of weeks.  I need to discuss with some of the players, especially the women this applies to. Please note that we are off next week, and back the following week.  In the meantime, please work on your rosters, and I am also going to see if I can find some players for those teams needing some.  Have a great thanksgiving weekend.  Biraj         22 September 2011 Welcome everyone to another season of KBL basketball.  We were underway last Sunday, when we had a great set of initial games.  It was great to see most players back in action, although we lost a couple of well established teams - BTR and Red Truck for family reasons.  But some of the players on these two teams have relocated to other teams, so we still have the bulk of the league intact with slight roster changes on a number of teams.  Regarding rosters, could you please make sure you've registered and sent me your most current rosters.  Please do not send me individual names.  If you have changes to your roster, please revise your roster, and send that to me.  Thanks. There were no issues at all with the games.  In fact, most players seemed not to have skipped a beat since last season, thus making for very competitive first games. I'm not sure if any of you watch the WNBA playoff games on TV, and if not, you might want to take these games in as it's pretty exciting bball.  The FIBA Americas men's championships have also been on. One of these days, we'll get a national level co-ed championship game. Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj       13 June 2011 Congratulations to Lomas for winning the KBL Cup.  It's their 3rd Cup.  Congratulations to Lummer for reaching another final.  The final was a terrific game.  Lomas just had too much team against a Lummer team who gave a solid effort, but couldn't match the depth of the Lomas team.  The game was fairly even early, but gradually, the Lomas 3pt. shooting and overall shooting percentage started to take over.  Lummer tried to catchup up with 3 pt. shooting, but it was a tough climb as they were playing against a high percentage.  Great matchup though, and great individual efforts from both teams.  Congratulations to R-Town for winning 3rd place.   This was a well played game, and R-Town really earned this win against Hoop Dreams. Congratulations to Usual Suspects for a great win over Triple Threat.  This was a tough game, at times a bit physical, but nevertheless a good game.  Good matchup. Thanks to Barrage and Blaze for playing out their 1B consolation game.  Hopefully, both teams were able to get home in time to catch a good chunk of the Mavs/Heat game - I was able to catch the second half. Please check the Notice Board for the final standings and prize distribution. Well, we have now come to the end of another great KBL season.  This is our 14th year, and something like our 32nd season.  As always, I have a number of thanks to pass on: 1) Thanks to all the players who make this league possible.  The design of the league has caught on with many, and most importantly, players are enjoying playing basketball.  We will continue with the size of the league as is, perhaps capping it at 36 teams locally.  With the interest in the league, there is a possibility that we will run an inter-city tournament next year - about 6 teams, to begin to introduce this league to other cities. 2) Thanks to the three community centers for their facilitation and support of this league.  The respective center staff really need to be thanked  - Programmers: Cathy Almaas at Kits, Eva at Sunset, and Erik at Kerrisdale.  Staff: Jay, Emily, Randy, & others at Kits, 2 or 3 at Sunset, and Tony, Joe, Amy, & others at Kerrisdale. 3) Thanks to Brian from Mud Hens for his support of the league website 4) Thanks to Brian from Blaze for his continued support of this league and his donation of liquid prizes (this is where our liquid comes from).  Brian has been in this league almost the entire 14 years. 5) Thanks to the Captains for a great job.   Players, please treat your captains - they deserve it. 6) Thanks to Corey for her effort in organizing our KBL social 7) Thanks to Ceilis for their ongoing support of this league with gift certificates So with the above thanks, we officially close our Spring 2011 season.  Personally, I'm thrilled at how the league has worked out, and I've been really impressed with the contribution by the players in making this league work including monitoring, team organization, and spirit.  Over the next two months or so, I will review all the feedback and begin organizing the Fall 2011 season.  Registration will start mid-August, and opening tip-off is anticipated on 18 Sept. 2011, possibly 11 Sept. 11.  Have a great summer, and thanks for playing.  Biraj   07 June 2011 Terrific Div. 1 semis on Sunday.  Congratulations to Lummer and Lomas for reaching the KBL final.  It wasn't easy for either team as Hoop Dreams gave Lummer a pretty good run, and R-Town made Lomas work for their hoops - Lomas just made an inordinate number of three pointers.  It should be a terrific final (Lummer may be going for a record 7 championships?  - I think Triple Threat and Lummer are currently tied for 6 each?  Lomas is going for their second).  We're all set to go at 1pm at Kerrisdale.  If you can, please try and come out to watch this game.  I really think it's going to be a good one.  Don't worry, I'll have lots of chairs. The 1B semis were also really well played with Triple Threat and Usual Suspects winning competitive games.  In 1C play, thanks to Jamma and Abusement Park for completing a good game as the other 1C semi ended up being an exhibition game. Not sure what happened to the two Div. 2/3 exhibition games that were organized.  In both games, teams were no shows.  Generally, if your games are organized, regardless of exhibition, you need to let me know if you're going to show up because it affects the schedule - thanks to Ryan on Rim Touchers for letting me know and Sean on TD for accepting their cancelled game. We're finally approaching the end of a great Spring 2011 season.  We're down to just the Div. 1 finals.  The Div.2 and 3 finals were officially completed last week.  From the bits and pieces of feedback I've received, the season seems to have gone well for most teams.  If you have any feedback, please do not hesitate to let me know as I'm always open to improving any aspect of the league.  We'll start up again in early Sept., with registration beginning early August - only two months away. Please try and come and watch the KBL finals next Sunday.  It will be exciting for the league to have a bit more of an audience than we usually do.  I've always hoped to break a 100, but if we get 25 to 50 spectators, it will be exciting.  Hopefully, see you then.  Have a great week and enjoy the Canucks and Mavs.  Biraj   31 May 2011 Playoff schedule for next week is up.  Playoff matchups are shown on the Notice Board.   Biraj A note from Tiffany - captain of Nashty - regarding an upcoming Co-ed tourney. Hi Biraj,   The co-ed tournament that I'm hosting is finalized.  The website is www.vcbclassic.com. It's an outdoor tournament at David Lam park (downtown). It's family oriented so we do encourage for ballers to bring out kids. We have bbq and music going.   30 May 2011 Great games on Sunday.   Congratulations to MP Ballerz for winning the Div. 3 title, and congratulations to Wild Rice for winning the Div. 2 title.  MP Ballerz had a challenging game against Rim Touchers who stayed within striking distance the whole game.  However, some key plays by MP Ballerz gave them the title.  Interestingly, no one could hit a foul shot - I think there were 4 misses (maybe 1 out of 4 went in?).   Great effort by both teams. It was really a pleasure to see the sizable benches on both teams - truly a team final.  Each team walked away with some medals and gift certificates to Ceilis.  I also owe Rim Touchers some beer.   .... Wild Rice won handily over Benchwarmers who put in a terrific effort even though the game at times seemed out of reach.  In the end, there was just too much "big man shooting" on Wild Rice.  Wild Rice walked away with medals, gift certificates to Ceilis, and the Div. 2 trophy.  Benchwarmers received medals and Ceilis gift certificates.  I meant to bring some beer for prizes, but I just ran out of time.  However, I've put aside a good chunk of money for our league social next year, which I will push as more of a league wide event.  The social is nearly a year away, but since it will be our 15th year, it's worth thinking about it now. The other games were also really well played, starting with the 3B Cons between Patrick Chewing and Sweet, and continuing on with all the consolation games - all really well played - one inter-div game was a bit one sided, but still played - the other wasn't played. Next week, we will play a couple of exhibition games between Div. 2 and Div. 3, and ofcourse, we will have our first round of Div. 1 playoffs.  I'm just working on the schedule, and I hope to have it up tomorrow.  Looks like we have a couple of rematches, and the final four look pretty familiar.  Noticeably, Triple Threat aren't there, and it seems lately that they're MIA out of the final four.  Other teams like Usual Suspects and Barrage have stepped in to challenge these veteran teams.  The 1B semis should be pretty good basketball.  Look out for the schedule tomorrow.   -- To the Div. 2 and 3 players, please feel free to come out and watch some Div. 1 bball. Have a great week, and see some of you next week.  To the ones that finished their KBL basketball this week, I'd like to thank you for playing and making this league what it is.  It's great to see players who can balance intensity and spirit and play with the self control that makes our games work.  Thanks especially to the captains who have done a marvelous job with rosters and weekly team management.  If we were a company, I'd have to take all the captains to the Bahamas or someplace like that for a captain's retreat.  Instead, I hope the players will treat their captains and themselves for their participation in this league.  Thanks.   Biraj   16 May 2011 Little tricky getting all the games in considering the Canucks playoff game, but we did it.  Thanks to the teams involved for playing as scheduled - particularly MP Ballerz and Brook City.  Great playoff games in Divs. 2 and 3.  In Div. 2, Wild Rice won a good one over Royals, and Benchwarmers won a good one against Badgers who needed more players to compete against a well developed Benchwarmers roster - like the Bulls, you need a bench to win.  It should be a great final between Wild Rice and Benchwarmers.  In the Div. 3 semis, MP Ballerz won a tight game against Brook City, and Rim Touchers are back in another final with a win against Nashty who came pretty close to winning.  Rim Touchers and MP should have a pretty competitive final. The playoff matchups are shown on the Notice Board.  Please note that all teams will play on May 29th, including the bottom two teams in Divs. 2 and 3.  The schedule will be up in a day or so. Div. 1 continues with their regular season with their final regular season game on 29 May.  We'll then go into a two week playoff round to determine the league champs and Pool B and C champs. Well, we're off next weekend for Victoria Day weekend.  Enjoy the Canucks and the NBA playoff games, and hopefully, we'll be looking at canceling some KBL games on May 29th because of the Stanley Cup!  Have a great couple of weeks, and see you on 29 May.  Biraj   10 May 2011 Sat. Social: Looks like the social went very well. A huge thanks to Corey (Blaze) for making the social happen – it wouldn’t have happened without her. Thanks to the following teams and captains for coming: Butta (Lindsay – looks like the whole team was there) Rain (Annie – about 5 came) MP Ballerz (Jude – 6 or 7) Blaze (Brian – full squad) Triple Threat (Team paid, but couldn’t’ make it – always there in spirit) Abusement Park (Sean – looks like the whole team was there) Wolverines (Mike – another full squad) Although the turnout this season was great, for next season, I’d like to try and organize a social with specific league events with a broader turnout. A few ideas include: video presentation or slide show of moments or minutes through the year of basketball various prizes, some humorous, some athletic. Guest speaker Historical review of the league – I think next year will be our 15th anniversary. I’ve set aside a budget for next year’s social. Also, I’d like to form a small social committee for next year’s social with Corey as the lead. If you’re interested, please contact me. Thanks again to Corey and the players for supporting the social   Games: Games went well on Sunday. Thanks to the players and the various captains for ensuring the games went smoothly. Thanks specifically to Vince (TT), Lindsay (Butta) and Ryan (Rim Touchers) for emailing me the scores. Thanks to Brian (Mud Hens) for posting the scores and the latest standings. The scores and latest standings are now posted. The playoff matchups for Divs. 2 and 3 are also posted. As established earlier in the season, the top 8 teams in each Division (2 & 3) will split up into two Pools of 4 with the bottom two teams playing a one game playoff (we may do a two game playoff for these teams, or a crossover playoff between Divs. 2 and 3 in the second week). The playoff schedule will be posted later today or tomorrow Div. 2 Congratulations to Wild Rice for finishing atop Div. 2. However, they will have their hands full against a good Royals team in the first semi-final. Benchwarmers and Badgers will have a rematch in the other semi. The Pool B matchups appear dead even as all four teams finished with the same record.   Div. 3 Congratulations to MP Ballerz for finishing atop Div. 3. This is an exciting achievement for a long established team with an opportunity to capture a Divisional title. But MP will have to get by Brook City first. In the other semi, it should be an exciting game between Rim Touchers and Nashty. In Pool B, the teams are dead even, including in the defaults column! Patrick Chewing is the only team here without a criminal record – just kidding. Should be a well matched Pool B.   So if there are no issues with the standing and schedule, we should be all set for the first round of playoffs next Sunday. Div. 1 has two more weeks of regular season before they start their playoffs. Have a great week, and see you next Sunday. Biraj   02 May 2011 Good set of games on Sunday.  Thanks to everyone, particularly the captains, for getting the games through on time at Kits and Kerrisdale - it all worked out really well - clean up was great at both centers.  The scores and standings are now posted.   The standings are very tight, especially in Div. 2, where there is a log jam for the 4th and final Divisional title playoff spot.  Divs. 2 and 3 only have one game left in the regular season, while there are 3 games left in Div. 1.  Note again that in all Divisions, only the top four teams will qualify for the respective Divisional Championships. Teams - you must watch your rosters - no new players!  A couple of teams yesterday were given losses for using new players. Social - Don't forget the social this coming Sunday.  The socials are always fun, so try and come.  It's your opportunity to come and hangout with players from around the league - the Canucks game will be on. I'm away next Sunday out East, so please do your best to keep the games on time and ensure the gyms are left clear of recyclables and garbage - thanks.   A Kerrisdale attendant will lock up Kerrisdale after the last game there.  I will get all the scores emailed to me, and I will have Brian from Mud Hens post the playoff schedule for Divs. 2 and 3.  Div. 1 Lomas remains undefeated with a number of teams vying for the next three playoff spots.  Lummerland has a slight edge amongst these teams, but the three spots are still essentially wide open.  Historical champs TT continue to struggle to get back to the top 4.  They lost yesterday to Hoop Dreams.  Comment by Vince on TT "TT held a ten point lead with 15 minutes left. We couldn't buy a basket after that while Ben from Hoop Dreams dropped five threes in a row to take the lead for good.  Kevin landed awkwardly on a rebound but was able to walk to the sideline on his own. We hope it's nothing worse than a bad bruise to the back."   There was a terrific game yesterday between Blaze and Abusement Park where Blaze won by a point on a short 12 foot jumper by Blaze at about the 4 second mark.   Ab. Park  then had a chance to score after a timeout, but a long 3 pointer missed.  Ab. Park remains winless in a very challenging Div. 1.   Div. 2 The most competitive of all three Divisions.  Wild Rice continues to hold onto top spot with Badgers locking up one of the next three spots.  3rd and 4th place remain open.  There is a possibility that an 8th place team jumps up to 4th.  This has never happened, so it should interesting and exciting.  We had a little incident in the game between Butta/Sputnik, but it's been dealt with.  Reminder to all players to play with spirit and not to get caught up in anything other than the basketball.  If issues arise, please communicate this to your captain as soon as you can.  Please do not take matters into your own hands.  Stick to basketball and all will go well.   Div. 3 Looks like Rim Touchers, MP, and Nashty have locked up a spot in the top 4.  The fourth spot remains open.  At the other end of the standings, Mud Hens continue to look for their first win, although they have put in a solid effort week after week.  Perhaps next week will be their week.   So that's where things stand with one game left in Divs. 2 and 3.  Thanks again to everyone for making the irregular schedule this Sunday go smoothly.  Have a great week and enjoy the games next Sunday.  Biraj         25 April 2011 Happy Easter!  Hope you had a great Easter weekend.  Disappointing with the Canucks, but the big one is tomorrow!  --  We are fast approaching the end of regular season play with only 2 games left in Divs. 2 and 3, and 4 games left in Div. 1.  Also, a reminder about our social on 07 May as per the schedule.  Please note the irregular game times this coming Sunday at Kerrisdale and Kits because of an event at Kits.   Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   15 April 2011 Great rosters on Sunday, which helped the quality of the games.  Thanks to the captains for responding with roster adjustments.  There are really no issues with the games, so we just play on.   Believe it or not, we're on the home stretch, so playoffs are not that far away.  A couple of long weekends will stretch out the home stretch, but otherwise, if you want to move into playoff position, this is the time to do it. There was one super high scoring game.  Lomas scored 182 points against Abusement Park's 113.  Believe it or not, this was not a league record.  Lummerland correctly reminded me that Lummerland set the league record on 28 October 2007 by scoring 200 points against Dynasty who scored 129 points.  Triple Threat scored 177 points in 2009 and Lummerland scored 176 points in 2005.   So as high as the points were on Sunday's game between Lomas/Ab. Park, Lummerland still holds this incredible record.  Unless we change the game length or something else, this record of 200 points is likely going to stick in the KBL Guinness Book.  The total points record of 329 has a chance of being beaten, but it's really the individual team score of 200 points that's most record worthy.  To get a sense of how crazy the total number of points of 329 is, the two teams are scoring about 5.5 points a minute - that's about a 3 pointer on every 30 second possession.  What's probably happening is that teams are scoring very early in the shot clock.  Great scores.  To indicate further how incredible these numbers are, the low game score record is 39 points, and several times, teams have scored under 44 points -- ofcourse I'm not going to mention who these teams were, but these points are arguable because in some very defensive games, teams just don't score that many points.  Nevertheless, the high scores imply a highly spirited offensive game, which is great to see. Sunset scores:  If you're the last monitor at Sunset, please make sure to either phone in (604-738-2333) or email me the scores right after the last game.  Otherwise, it takes 2 to 3 days to chase the scores. Please continue with the good rosters.  Also, don't forget the social on 07th May.  See you next Sunday.  Biraj 05 April 2011 Games continue to go really well - several very close and exciting games.  One notable game was in Div. 1 where Blaze won over Triple Threat for the first time in 8 years.  This is very exciting for Blaze, and very exciting for the league to have two long standing veteran teams continue to challenge each other.  Thanks to Vince on TT and Brian on Blaze for keeping their respective teams and spirits for so many years.  In the early years of the league, Blaze were unbeatable.  TT then took over, followed by Lummerland.  Let's see if a new team steps into the winners circle this season. See game summary below by Audrey on Rim Touchers on a notable game between Rim Touchers and Mud Hens (thanks Audrey): "The Rim Touchers went down to the wire against Mud Hens last week. During the first half, the rim seemed smaller than it did for Butler as RT missed a good portion of their shots. Strong penetration and aggressive defense by MH allowed them to keep a comfortable lead for most of the game. Thanks to strong play by Sean Oliver, who became a dad the next day (congrats Sean!), the Rim Touchers crept up and eventually took the lead towards the end of the game. They nearly deflated their one-point cushion in the final seconds after a turnover presented the Mud Hens with one last chance to reclaim the lead. After a missed layup, the Rim Touchers came out on top." Standings are very tight, with little or no change in all Divisions from the previous week.  However, we do have roster issues, which we need to get sorted out quickly so that the standings are fair.  The following email was sent to the captains this week: "Hi Captains.  We need to make a change to internal substitutions within the league.  Some teams are using subs from other Divisions regularly, and some of these subs are from higher Divisions.  The intent of the original allowance to use subs from lower Divisions was to allow teams to avoid defaults in the rare occasion that they were short players.  However, roster shortages have become a habit for some teams, and hence, the use of subs from other teams has also become a habit.  Therefore, starting with our games next Sunday, no internal substitutions will be allowed at all.  This means that no player can play at all for a second team – simply, no KBL internal substitutions allowed.  If a team is found to be using a player from another team, that team will default the game; as well, the sub player’s team will also receive a default.  I realize the risk with the change in rules is that a few teams may be short players, but the reality is that if we’re going to be a league, we’ve got to operate like a league.  At some point, I may post a short list of designated subs, however, for the time being, the onus is on each team to get their rosters together.  I wish I had extra players to pass on, however, at the moment, I do not have any subs or individuals wanting to join the league – I’ve put all the new players onto teams already.  A couple of teams have been successful using Craigslist, so teams may want to consider that potential source for players.  The above guidance is really because of 5 or 6 teams out of 32 teams who have not been able to get their rosters together.  The bulk of the league continues to operate with solid rosters, so for those 5 or 6 teams, please get on board with the rest of the league.  Another point while I’ve got your attention is that no players with grey shirts will be allowed on the court.  Captains – please ensure your players have dark or white shirts.  Anyone with a grey shirt will be pulled off the court immediately.  Thanks.  Biraj" Other than the above, the basketball is going well.  We're half way through the season.  Let's solidify the rosters and have a good second half.  Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   29 March 2011 Good set of games (captains & other players - please feel free to send me game summaries or comments - I'll post them).  Rosters are getting better, however one or two teams are still struggling with fielding a full squad.  Believe it or not, we are almost at the halfway point for Divs. 2 & 3.  Playoffs are not that far away.  Please note that for Div. 1, players must have played 5 games to play in the playoffs, and for Divs. 2 & 3, players must have played 4 games.  Also, please note that new players cannot come into the league inside these game requirements.  For example, no player can come into the league with 3 games left in the season - if a player cannot expect to meet the minimum game requirement, they cannot even play one game. Sunset scores:  Monitors - please ensure you call or email me with the scores.  I have yet to receive this week's scores, although I was able to get some approximate info from the teams. Note that for many of the games, the outcome seems to depend heavily on rosters.  So if you want to win and play a solid team game, you have to have a good roster.  The best games clearly are the ones where both teams have good benches - these are great team games, and they encourage spirit, which is such a big part of this league - playing on a shoestring roster is just not the way to go. We continue with the close games.  In Div. 3, Rim Touchers and Sweet had a great game.  The game was close most of the way, favouring Sweet for a good chunk of the game.  But some good "down the stretch" scoring put Rim Touchers ahead to stay.  In Div. 1, Lummerland squeaked out a close one in overtime over Hoop Dreams.  This was a rematch of the previous league championships.  It's quite possible we could have a rematch, but Lomas, BTR, Usual Suspects, and R-Town will have something to say about this.  Div. 2 seems to be the most competitive of the Divisions with all teams having had at least one win.  This Division is truly a toss-up, but for the moment, Badgers are sitting on top. League Social.  Please note that Corey (adamscj1@hotmail.com)  from Blaze has got the league social organized, and she will start selling tickets this Sunday.   Details as follows: Date:  Saturday May 7th Where:  Ceili's Irish Pub Time: Starting at 7:00 Cost: $15.00 per ticket which includes appies, a drink, and free cover until 9:30 pm.    Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   22 March 2011 Competitive games continue.  Seems like teams are pretty well matched within the respective Divisions, even though the standings may be polarized.  Because of the close matchups, a few of the games are bit more tense than usual.  Perhaps step back a bit and just run. No injuries reported - great! Thanks for the cleanup help at Kits and Kerrisdale -- really appreciate the assistance from the players.  Please ensure we keep the gym clean at Sunset - so far, no complaints from Sunset. Defaults - we've had more defaults than usual.  The majority of teams have terrific rosters.  However, there are 3 or 4 teams that are having trouble with their respective roster.  Captains - please ensure you have enough players for a game.  If not, please call me, but please try and give me time to help you find players - calling or emailing me on Sunday morning is kind of tough! Please try and get familiar with the 5 sec. rule.  It seems to come into play more often than not.  It worked very well on Sunday in the game between Blaze/Barrage.  An official time out was called with about 25 seconds on the game clock to set the stage for the 5 sec. rule.  Barrage was up by 2, so they had to put the ball up before 5 seconds on the clock - in other words, they had 20 seconds to take a shot.  Blaze had to get the rebound in order to have the 5 seconds.  Barrage took a shot with about 13 seconds on the clock.  Blaze called a time out and ran a play.  The shot missed, and it was Barrage's game.  Well played by both teams. Please send any game commentary as I only see a few games here and there.  There are a couple of side issues I'm following up, but otherwise, the games continue to go well. Have a great week, and see you on Sunday.  Biraj   14 March 2011 Very competitive games.   Many injuries at Kerrisdale (6), with at least one player sent to UBC Urgent Care with a bad knee injury.  There were three ankle injuries, two knee injuries, and one head injury.  Not sure why there were so many injuries, but there didn't seem to be any obvious reasons.  All injuries were managed. Thanks to Blaze/Rain for their cleanup help at Kerrisdale.  Thanks to Sputnik & Wild Rice for their cleanup help at Kits. Registration: Please ensure you're all paid up.  I will check on registrations tomorrow. Playoffs:  Decided that all playoffs will be based on Pools of 4 teams.   Only the top 4 teams in each Division will qualify for the respective Divisional Championships.  The other teams will be divided into Pools of 4, except in Div. 2 and Div. 3 where the last two teams will play a one game playoff to see who stays out of the bottom.  -- The reason for Pools of 4 is that we must put emphasis on the regular season and not on the playoffs.  An 8 team "title" playoff doesn't put enough emphasis on the regular season with only 10 or 12 teams in each Division Games Div. 1 One upset with Lummer losing a close one to R-Town.  There seemed to be a great game between Lomas/Triple Threat with Lomas squeezing by historical champs TT.   It's very early in the season, but each game is important for the playoffs. Div. 2 A few terrific games.  Hoosier Daddy and Butta had a great one.  Injuries didn't seem to make a significant difference to Butta who won.  The Badgers/Tenacious D game was an intense one.  Badgers were down most of the game, but edged back slowly near the end of the game.  There were a lot of fouls and contests in this game, and I don't like saying this, but some of the calls were not very good from both teams.  We have to be reasonable with calling fouls and contests, and consider our tone when making these calls - generally, we have to be generous or more generous - it's hard to think this way in an intense game, but things usually even out, and it's better that things even out in an atmosphere of generosity than in a parsimonious (stingy, tight,....) one - excuse my english - I had to throw this word in.  Nevertheless, it was a terrific effort by both teams.  Tenacious D had a chance at winning the game in regulation, but a Badgers player completed a layup to tie the game.  The 5 second rule was in effect, however, the Badger's player got the ball at about the 8.5 second mark, negating the need for the 5 second rule.  The layup sent the game into OT.  In OT, the same Badgers player made another last second layup to win the game - this second layup was a tough underhand scoop a short distance from the hoop.  Credit for the win goes to a great team effort by the Badgers, and credit for an exciting game with an exciting finish goes to both teams.....    There was another tight game that came down to the wire.   Benchwarmers had a foul shot to tie the game against Plenty of Swish with 1.9 seconds left, but the shot missed.  Benchwarmers still had 1.9 seconds, but Plenty of Swish hung on.  There were some issues in this game, but the issues were discussed after the game, and the relevant players have been asked to adjust their play.  The issues were mainly illegal use of arms, along with players not in the play making calls - general league issues that we need to keep in mind as we move through the season. Div. 3 Rim Touchers/Nashty/MP Ballerz/Brook City are off to great starts.  Div. 3 looks pretty strong for Div. 3, so let's see how the season unfolds. Defaults - please - no defaults this season.  Call or email me if you think you're going to be short players, and we'll figure out something.  At the very least, every game must be played. Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj             12 March 2011 Don't forget Daylight Savings Time this Sunday.  No bball problems with last week's games.  A couple of side issues I need to deal with.   Thanks for R-Town and Usual Suspects for their very helpful cleanup assistance at Kerrisdale last week.  Cleanup help at Kerrisdale is very helpful as it allows me to get to Kits to monitor the end of the last game there and cleanup Kits as well. For those interested in playoff structure for this season, we will definitely do Pools of 4 in Div. 1, and possibly, 8 team playoffs in Divs. 2 and 3 - we'll see how the standings unfold and how our timing is - we'll make this decision after the halfway mark of this season. Thanks.  See you Sunday.  Biraj   01 March 2011 Final standings are up on the Notice Board, along with the prize distribution - I still have to get some certificates to a couple of teams.   Since my last posting, I learned that a couple of the Sunset games were pretty rough.  I'm sorry to hear that.  Unfortunately, I cannot be at all the games, so I rely on the captains, and generally, all the players to make adjustments to ensure a smooth game - it can't be much fun at the end of a rough game?  The games at Kerrisdale certainly went well, and I don't think there were any issues at Kits.  BTR/Usual Suspects had a terrific game at Kits.   Another good one was the Badgers/Royals game.  So overall, we ended the season in good fashion.  Rosters were great, and there was a lot of good basketball.  Congratulations to the winners in each Pool.  For those wondering about playoff formats, we will remain with the 4 team Pool format.  We have to stick to this format to help ensure a solid regular season and also because we just don't have the weeks to add another week. A couple of historical notes: 1) Triple Threat finished 3rd in the league for a record 8th time. 2) Jesse on Triple Threat missed out on her 11th KBL championship.  If she had stayed with Lummer, she would have won it!  Nevertheless, she holds the record for most KBL championships.  This is a tough record to beat, and it's going to be around for a while. Regarding the basketball, here are a few things to keep in mind as we start our Spring season this Sunday: 1) Bring out at least 8 players - you need them to have a good game 2) Watch the illegal D 3) Players cannot drive into the lane looking for a foul.  In this league, you cannot drive through a keyhole; you must have a clear lane!  If a large enough opening isn't there, do something else - you have four other team-mates waiting for the ball. 4) Great job monitoring - excellent this season.  Please keep it up. 5) Always remember to clean up after each game 6) Enjoy the basketball.   NBA and college playoffs are coming up, and don't forget to watch the Canadian Final Fours. We've done well this season, and I need to thank a few people: 1) All the players for playing more or less within the spirit of this league 2) Certainly the captains.  Players should be treating you. 3) Brian on Mud Hens for posting my info. 4) Randi on Lummer and Brian from Blaze for their spiritual prize donations. 5) The respective community center programmers: Cathy (Kits), Erik (Kerrisdale), Eva (Sunset).  I also need to thank the building supervisors: Tony/Joe (Kerrisdale), Jay/Randy (Kits), Sunset. 6) Thanks to Corey and Ceilis for their gift certificates. Thanks everyone for a great season.  Spring season starts this Sunday - no breaks.  Get ready.  Biraj   28 February 2011 Congratulations to Lummer for winning the league Championships and the KBL Cup.  This is their 6th championships, and I think we can call this a dynasty!  It was a great team effort by Lummer.  Navi played his usual great game, but if it is wasn't for the team effort, particularly big Nick and one of the girls on Lummer, this game would have been Hoop Dreams'.  Congratulations to Hoop Dreams for their second place finish.  It was a terrific game with a lot of intensity.  Fouls were a bit of an issue, but nothing that couldn't be resolved.  It was a treat to watch the game, which stayed close for pretty much the whole game. Congratulations to Sputnik for winning the Div. 2 championships.  This is their first title, and it's quite a swing from the bottom of the league finishes they were used to in the past.  Great job by their two captains, Duncan and Diana.  The game got a bit testy in the middle, but I'll save that discussion for another day.  Wild Rice played well, but they didn't have their normal great shooting day.  But both teams played with great intensity, and it was impressive to see their effort.  Also, we had a great crowd at the game.  Thanks to Kate, Duncan, and Diana for making the Div. 2 final a memorable one. More to come in the next few days. Biraj 21 February 2011 A mixture of games in the semi final playoff matchup.   Most games were good, but some weren't that great.  But we made it through without excessive craziness.  Scores and playoff matchups are posted, however, the schedule will take until tomorrow morning.  The competitive wasn't surprising as it is the playoffs.  But a couple of the games got a bit crazy.   I've spoken to a few of the captains, so hopefully there will be some adjustments next week.  The majority of players continue to play smooth ball, so please continue to do so and do not get drawn into situations created by difficult players.  The difficult players need to adjust tone more than anything, and my sense is that with a bit of adjustment, mainly with the leadership of the captains, it would be better for everyone.  Watch things like: a) overaggressive fouls, b) leaning into other players on drives looking for contact, c) sustained arguments on Contests, and d) chatter.  Just play. The league finals look like great matchups.  Lummer will play Hoop Dreams to see who gets the KBL Cup.  These are two great teams with solid all round basketball including great 3 point shooting.  Lummer is looking to reclaim the cup after an absence from the league for a few seasons.  Hoop Dreams, I think, are looking for their first ever KBL Cup.  It should be exciting.  Try and come out to watch.  In the Div. 2 final, Sputnik will play Wild Rice, and a victory for either team will be a first.  In some opinions, arguably, the top two seeds in each Division are playing each other for the respective titles. The other Pool championships should also be great games.   Red Truck/R-Town, Triple Threat/Lomas, and Hoop-la/Wolverines are three notable matchups. There will be a few prizes to give out to the Pool Winners and Runners Up.  We don't have sponsors in this league, but we do have a few groups/individuals that contribute prizes.  Thanks to Ceilis, Brian on Blaze, and Sleeman (Randi). Please note that most games on Sunday will be shortened to 55 minutes with the finals and the games at Sunset the usual 60 minutes.   This is to allow optimum scheduling of the league finals, and also to allow the league to finish a bit earlier than usual on our last Sunday this season. The schedule for the final games should be up sometime tomorrow.   Please try and support the league by watching any of the games, particularly the two final games.  The more we support other teams, the more spirit we generate within the league.  Have a great week and see you Sunday - don't forget to register for next season ASAP.   Thanks. Biraj       13 February 2011 Welcome back after a Superbowl weekend off.  Games were pretty competitive this week as the playoff atmosphere has kicked into gear.  Game scores and final regular season standings are now posted.  Please have a look.  If there are no issues with the standings, I'll schedule the matches, hopefully, by late Tues. evening.  A few general notes before I comment on the respective Divisions: 1) Gym cleanup.  Please make sure you pickup your garbage and recycles after each game.  The last two teams are responsible for all the garbage and recycles that are left.  It's a bit of a dirty job.  I don't like doing it, but I have to ensure it gets done.  So same goes to all of you.  Once a month doesn't work.  Let's get on the weekly schedule just like the city regular garbage and recycle pickup. 2) Overall, the games have a pretty good tone to them, however, there are a few players that tend to be overly aggressive - girls & guys - try and enjoy the games more.  Captains, please corral these players to play like the rest of the league.  Thanks. 3) For the playoffs, we'll split into 4 Pools of 4 teams in each Division (1A,1B,1C,1D & 2A,2B,2C,2D).  The 17th place team in each Division is out of the playoffs.  Some of you have reasonably requested that the top 8 teams be included in the Divisional Championship playoffs, however, there are several reasons for only including the top 4 teams in the "Championship Rounds": a) 8 team playoff would add an extra week, and we're a bit tight on weeks. b) Since we've had such a lengthy season with ample opportunity for teams to climb into the top 4 spots, it just makes more sense to only include the top 4 teams in the respective Divisional Championships. c) There is a large Won/Loss discrepancy between the top team and the 8th place teams in each Division.  For example, in Div. 1, Lummer finishes with a PCT of .938 while Usual Suspects finishes in 8th spot with a PCT of .500.  Similarly in Div. 2. 4) The playoff matchups will be posted on the Notice Board before the playoff schedule is posted. Divisional Notes Div. 1 Congratulations to Lummer for finishing on top of the league.  This is a terrific team, and they are going to be hard to beat - they've got their eyes on the KBL Cup.  Hoop Dreams finishes a very commendable second.  The next two spots came down to Win/Loss records, with Triple Threat and Lomas grabbing the last two spots.  R-Town lost a tough one today to Lummer, which knocked R-Town out of the top 4.  As we move down the standings, the Win/Loss records gradually decrease, with the records reasonably reflecting the relative strengths of the teams.  This should make for some great matchups, which should make the Pool B, C, & D playoffs just as exciting as the Pool A playoffs. Game comment from Sam from Red Truck regarding the game between Red Truck/Rain "The Red Truck Squad hit 29x 3 pointers ( Yes 29!)yesterday in a victory over a very skilled Rain team that had no Bench players.  Fatigue definately played a factor as the Red Truck team used the D'antoni Strategy to put up as many shots as possible against the larger Rain squad"   Div. 2 A major congratulations to Sputnik for finishing on top of Div. 2.  Sputnik has done a complete turnaround from their perennial finishes near the bottom of the league.  Diana & Duncan have done a great job turning this team around.  Wild Rice also have done a bit of a turnaround by finishing in second spot.  Junior Bacons and TD round out the top 4.  TD had a big win today against Sweet, which pushed TD into the top 4 and pushed Butta out - Butta are not going to be happy about this.  From this point down the standings, for the most part, as in Div. 1, the standings reflect the relative strengths of the teams.  However, the lower teams in Div. 2, don't seem as far away in strength to the upper teams in Div. 2 compared to Div. 1 - Div. 2 seems more even.  Anyway, like Div. 1, Div. 2 will also split into 4 pools of 4 with Smashbrothers being knocked out of the playoffs because of their multiple defaults. So, as soon as I have confirmation of the standings, I'll post the schedule.  In the meantime, please do not hesitate to send any comments prior to the playoffs.  We've had a great regular season, and we should have a terrific two weeks of playoffs.  More to come in the next couple of days. Biraj     31 January 2011 Good set of games.  We're down to only one game left for most of the league, with two teams having already completed their season this week (one in each Division).  We're off next week for Superbowl, and we return the following week for our last set of games.  The playoff matchups are almost set, with a few key games in our final week to settle the final standings. Teams returning for the Spring season, don't forget to register, or at least let me know your status as soon as possible.  The plan is to go to three Divisions, primarily to shrink the round robin in a shortened season. Div. 1 Looks like Lummerland has locked up top spot in the league - congratulations to Randi and her squad.  The next three positions are up in the air with the fourth spot up for grabs between four teams.  Reminder that only the top four teams can compete for the KBL Cup.  Should be very interesting to see who finally ends up in the four spots.  Lummer and Hoop Dreams have two of the spots locked up, but the other two are open.  Further down the standings, it looks like the top 12 spots are taken, while 13th to 16th spots are open.   Note that the top 12 teams will form the new Div. 1 in the Spring season, while the next 5 teams will form the upper half of the new Div.2.  Also, Hoosier Daddy will be the only team that misses the playoffs (17th place). Div. 2 Div. 2 looks also interesting at the top with Sputnik and Wild Rice (play each other next week in a possible Div. 2 finals preview) having locked up two of the top four spots, while Butta, TD, and JB battle for the last two spots.   At the other end, a very consistent and competitive team, Hoop-La, will miss the playoffs in Div.2. ------------------------------------------------- Overall, games have gone fairly smoothly.  A couple of reminders. 1) Please do not drive looking for a foul, especially by initiating, or trying to initiate contact.  This doesn't work in this league, and almost always creates an arguable situation.  If you don't have a clear lane, look for other ways to score. 2) Careful playing safety in the key.  This is not allowed.  A few of the women sometimes tend to hang out in the key to help their team-mates - no no! 3) Please make sure you show up for monitoring as monitoring is going to be more important through the homestretch. Enjoy the Superbowl next week, and see you in two weeks for our final week in the regular season.  Biraj     24 January 2011 All the scores from yesterday's games, except for the scores from a couple of the Sunset games, are posted.  I'm just waiting on the remaining Sunset scores before posting the updated standings.  Please note that many teams are forgetting to report the Sunset scores, as sometimes it takes me 2 or 3 days to chase down the scores.  Going forward, the last monitor at Sunset must report the scores to me via telephone or email. While I await the scores, I should mention that there was a terrific game at Kerrisdale yesterday between Rim Touchers and Wild Rice.  The game was back and forth throughout with WR maintaining a few points lead through the bulk of the game.  At times, when it looked like WR might pull ahead, RT players would take turns making great shots to stay close.  With RT making a key foul shot late in the game, the game went into overtime where WR led by 3 points with 22.7 seconds.  With the shot clock between 20 and 30 seconds, the 5 second rule was now in effect.  With 9 seconds left, WR had a chance to put the game away with a foul shot, but they missed.  WR then put up a shot with about 6.5 seconds left, which missed, and RT got the rebound with 2.9 seconds left.  The shot clock was reset to 5 seconds, and RT came up with a play in the ensuing timeout.  Unfortunately for RT, there were no heroics, however, RT almost hit a desperate last second 3 pointer.  It was a terrific, captivating game - really well played by both teams.   21 January 2011 Great games last Sunday.  Please keep in mind that no new players at all can come into the league at this point.  If you're short players, please contact me about subs.  Please do not show up short players.  We need to ensure that every game has decent rosters on both sides. Thanks Katie for reporting the Sunset scores again. Spring Registration.   The registration information is out to the captains.  Here is the summary info: 1)       Season starts 06 March 2011 and ends 05 June 2011 2)       Registration opens on Jan. 24th at all three centers. 3)       All returning teams will register at the same center they previously registered at. 4)       Cost is $560, HST and community center registration included.  New teams will pay an additional $100 deposit. 5)       Teams will need to send me their updated rosters, preferably before registering, however, teams are okay to make their payments to hold their spots and then send me their roster. 6)       The sooner we can get teams registered, the sooner I can draft up a Spring schedule.  We have time, but let’s aim to get returning teams registered by mid. Feb. at the latest. 7)       If you are not returning, please let me know as soon as possible. Let's keep things rolling.  We've got three weeks of regular season left with some great matchups in each Division.   It will be interesting to see who the top four teams in each Division are.   Have a great weekend and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   13 January 2011 Sorry for the delay in the scores.  It took a while to get the Sunset scores.  Captains/monitors please make sure to either email or call in the scores if your team is monitoring the last game at Sunset.  Otherwise, it ends up being a bit of a chase. Games went very well for the first week back after a long break.  Scores were still high, so that was a good sign.  We're only four games away from playoffs, so we're on the home stretch.  Please check the standings to make sure that your respective win/loss records are correct. Games continue to be competitive, but more importantly, the games continue to be well played.  No major technical issues.  One reminder on picks for players to remain stationary and maintain a proper position, i.e., men must have their arms down, while women can have their arms at chest height, however, they cannot push forward. Standings in both Divisions are finally establishing themselves.  In Div. 1, there is an interesting battle for fourth spot with Red Truck and Triple Threat vying for that spot.  Also, the game between Lummer and Hoop Dreams next week looks to be a potential decider for the Div. 1 title.   At the other end, Hoosier Daddy have perhaps one or two chances to get themselves out of the cellar and into a playoff position.   .... In Div. 2, Sputnik has a slim hold on the Div. 2 lead with a couple of teams right there.  Butta will be battling to get themselves into the fourth spot.  At the other end, Smashbrothers are out of the playoffs with their defaults, so they'll play a spoiler role - this team has been rebuilt by myself with replacements for the balance of the season.  This will put Hoop-la into a playoff spot regardless of their final win/loss record. Registration for Spring 2011 will begin Jan. 24th at the same center you registered at last year.  Cost is $560, so please try and register as early as you can after Jan. 24th.  Early registration will allow me to set the league size for the Spring, and therefore the league schedule. Have a great rest of the week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   01 January 2011 Happy New Year!  Hope all of you had a great holiday (and continue to enjoy the holidays). Just a short update since I've been away for nearly a month (in India).  Thanks to the many players who helped look after the games and scoresheets on Dec. 12th, including Diana (Sputnik), Katie (Wild Rice), Lomas, and Brian (MP Ballerz).  Thanks to Brian also for posting the scores. The standings are now up.  Please have a look.  We're 5 weeks away from playoffs, which means that no new players can come into the league at this point.  Teams must play with players on their set roster.  If a team needs subs, please check with me.  Teams running with unregistered or borrowed players will automatically default that game. For playoffs, we'll split into groups of 4 in each Division, with the 17th place team in each Division being eliminated from playoffs.  The top 4 teams in each Division will vie for the respective Division championship.  So teams have the next 5 weeks to see if they can push themselves up to the top 4.   There will be prizes in each group of 4 teams (winners), with the bulk of the prizes allocated to the top 4 teams in each Division.  And ofcourse, the coveted KBL Silver Cup is there for the top team in the league. In Div. 1, it seems like the top 3 spots may be locked up, with only the 4th spot up for grabs?  In Div. 2, it appears a bit more wide open with Sputnik and Wild Rice comfortably in the top 4 - at the moment anyway.  At the other end of the standings, Hoosier Daddy still can dig themselves out of the basement of Div. 1, while Smashbrothers are resigned to a spoiler role in Div. 2. Standings carryover into the Spring season.  It is expected that the Spring season will be 3 Divisions of 11 or 12 teams each.  This means that the top 11 or 12 teams in the current Div. 1 will stay in Div. 1 in the Spring season.  The next 11 or 12 teams including the top teams in the current Div. 2, will form the new Div. 2.  The rest of the teams will form the new Div. 3. Spring 2011 season.  Registration info for the Spring 2011 season will be out shortly.   The Spring season will be a noticeably shorter season than the current Fall/Winter season.  Start date for the spring season is 06 March 2011 and the finish date is 05 June 2011. Have a great weekend and week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   30 Nov. 2010 Games continue to go well, and most games are still pretty close, although the point spreads seemed to be larger this week than usual.  We avoided injuries this week, which is good news. There was one notable game issue.  Several players have brought up the issue of is "And One" considered a foul?, or how is "And One" considered in this league?  "And One" situations are tricky because of the dynamic nature of the situation, partly because the foul, or perceived foul, usually occurs very quickly, and partly because the play situation reverses with the play going back up the other way.  There is no easy way to assess this situation.  Therefore, we've tried to keep it simple, recognizing that we may lose some accuracy with any self-administered rule.   Generally, "And One" foul situations are similar to any foul situation in this league where a player called for the foul may contest the call.   However, because of the dynamic nature of the situation, it seems the only player verbalizing anything is the player calling the "And One", and it is unclear as to who the foul was on, or whether the player being called for a foul even had a chance to contest the call.   We certainly do not mark a foul just because an offensive player just scored and felt that a "And One" foul should be marked as well.   Usually, if the basket scores, there is no "And One".  But if an "And One" is called, and the defender agrees to the call, then we can mark a foul.  The defender has to have a clear opportunity to Contest the call.  If the defender says nothing, and the play goes back up the other way, we don't mark the foul.  If the defensive player volunteers the foul call, then it's easy to mark the foul.   One thing that does need to change is the motioning of the offensive player to the scorer's desk claiming "And One", expecting the scorer to mark the foul.  Scorer's should ignore these players, and captains need to explain the "And One" situations to them.  Basically, there is no "And One" in this league unless the defender volunteers a foul call or if the defender clearly has an opportunity to contest the original "And One" foul call and indicates a foul indeed did occur.  Div. 1 Red Truck won a big game on Sunday against the premier Lummerland team.  This moves Red Truck one big step closer to the top few teams in the league.  The other big notable was the Royals big first win of the season - congratulations.  This win was over Hoosier Daddy who themselves were looking for their first win.  The other Div. 1 games seemed to not change the standings. Div. 2 Smashbrothers won their second game with a good win over Rim Touchers.  Junior Bacons continue to hold top spot with a good win over Down By 50 who put in a terrific effort.  Junior Bacons were just too good on the offensive boards. Overall, the games are great, so we'll just continue to roll as we approach the Xmas break and then onto playoff position juggling.  Have a great week, and see you on Sunday.  Biraj 22 Nov. 2010 A very cold Sunday, especially at Kerrisdale, but we made it through.  Great games again.  No serious injuries to report.  We're more than half way through the season, and the standings are now getting more and more attention as we start thinking about playoffs  Thanks to Butta/Hoop-la/Sputnik/Wolverines/BTR/Royals for their cleanup help. Just a quick mention that Corey from O-Yes is trying to pull together a pub get together for Dec. 12, so please keep an eye out for this info from your captains.  Div. 1 In a battle of past champs, Lummer outlasted Triple Threat in more than likely a terrific game - I didn't see it, but I wished I could have seen it.  Lummer retains top spot, but R-Town has crept right up there.  Usual Suspects are not too far behind with their good win over O-Yes.  The rest of the standings are clustered with Royals and Hoosier Daddy still looking for their first win.   Note from the monitor for the BTR/Royals game...... "Good game between BTR/Royals --  mulitple lead changes, great effort defensively by Royals but too much slashing and inside play by BTR proved impossible to stop. Great play by the Royals ladies kept game close for a while but scoring ran dry...." I noticed Jamma won a one point game against Abusement Park.  I have no details, but I assume it was a good finish. Div. 2 Very exciting battles in this Division.  TD won a tightly contested game against Plenty of Swish.  Great basketball with balanced play between the guys & gals.  Sputnik outshot Wolverines from the 3 pt. line to win a good one.  Seemed like the 3pt shot, especially a bunch from one player from NBA range, withstood a tenacious Wolverines challenge.  Mud Hens won a good one against MP Ballerz, and Butta put in a pretty solid team effort to distance a good Hoop-la team. Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   16 Nov. 2010 Great games continue.   BTR player hit a 3 pointer with 3.3 seconds to go, off an inbound, to win a great one over Red Truck.  Reminder that teams get an extra timeout if the game is within 6 points in the last 3 minutes.  The 6 point spread is a key reference in this league as it also determines whether a foul shot should be taken in a bonus situation, or whether the single point is given automatically.  So we've got a 5 second rule and a 6 point rule. We're now halfway through the season.   Standings are pretty steady, except in the middle of Div. 2 where standings continue to shuffle each week.  Congrats to Lummer and Wild Rice for being the only two undefeated teams so far.   Three good teams: Royals, Hoosier Daddy, and Hoop-la are working hard to get their first win. Games continue to be very competitive, but I noticed that a few of the games are more physical than earlier in the season.  Perhaps this coincides with the NBA season being underway?  - not sure.  It's important that we maintain a good spirit through the games.  Our rules encourage a more running and shooting game.  The inside game is a tough type of game to regulate in this league so players are encouraged to be more creative and use team work and ball skills rather than the physical to get to the hoop.  No specific comments at this point, but a general encouragement to simply run and play. Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   09 Nov. 2010 Great games again.  Looks like we made it through the tight schedule reasonably smoothly.  Thanks to Butta, Benchwarmers, and Junior Bacons for cleaning up at Kits as I wasn't able to get there from Kerrisdale. One serious injury to a player on Wild Rice.  Player sprained his ankle badly.  The player's ankle was immobilized, and the player was taken by his team-mates to Urgent Care at UBC.  The player is now on crutches, and it looks like he will be out for a while.  Thanks to the Wild Rice team for taking their team-mate quickly to UBC. Games are going well.  Many games are within 5 to 10 points, and there always seem to be at least a couple of games within two points.  On Sunday, there were three games in a row within two points.  Please make sure you understand how the 5 second rule works as it seems likely that most teams will find themselves in this situation. No issues with dunking on Sunday. The standings for both Divisions are starting to take shape as we gradually make our way through the second half of the season.  Please check the standings to make sure that they are correct for your respective team.   Div. 1 On Sunday, I was reminded why Lummerland is so good, and possibly the team to beat.  I watched the bulk of their game against Abusement Park, and it was impressive.  This team shoots an endless number of 3's, but more importantly, their shooting percentage is way up there - 60%?  This includes 3's and 2's from both the guys and the gals.  Abusement Park put up a great challenge, but they were no match for the Lummer shooting.        In a matchup of two veteran teams, Jamma won a tight game against Blaze.  Other games were a bit one sided, although, based on the score, it looks like Hoop Dreams had a good win over Lomas Div. 2 Benchwarmers handed Junior Bacons their first loss in a one point game, while Wild Rice remained the only unbeaten team in Div.2 with their easy win over a very shorthanded Wolverines team.   I witnessed one very exciting finish yesterday between MP and Smashbrothers.  Smash was up by 2 points with about 20 secs or so to go (can't remember exactly).  Smash fouled with about 13 seconds to go putting one of the MP women on the foul line (Kim).  Kim missed the shot, so MP got the ball on the side.  MP players passed the ball around well, trying to get a good look for one of the guys on the team.  But Smash played solid defense.  With about 2 seconds left and desperation time, one of the guys noticed Kim (same Kim who missed the foul shot) open at the 3 point line as Smash seemed to be focused on preventing a shot from one of the guys.  Kim put it up, and guess what - bank shot 3 pointer to end the game and sink Smash who played a terrific game - great win and an exciting finish.  ---- Butta, Sputnik, and Patrick Chewing held on to their spots in the upper tiers of Div. 2 with good wins.  In my mind, this Division is still very much of a toss up because of the number of new players and the evenness of the teams. Don't forget to recognize Remembrance Day this week.  Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   02 Nov 2010 Games seemed to go well again, however, I need to bring up the dunking issue - shown a bit later in this update.  The games themselves were great again.  Most games continue to be close with a couple of teams needing to adjust their rosters to stay competitive.  We seem to be approaching the half way mark as a couple of teams have already played 7 games in a 16 game season.  For the most part, we seem to be taking care of things like monitoring, garbage pickup, on court calls, etc.., so let's take a closer look at the games.  Actually, I should remind players that next week is a bit odd in that there are no games at Sunset, the Kits games are shortened to 54 minutes, and one extra game has been added to Kerrisdale.  Regarding the games: Div. 1 Hoop Dreams took their first loss in a clear victory by Red Truck who seem to be rolling right along with a great running/shooting team, both guys and gals.  Hoop Dreams were a bit short staffed, but nevertheless, Red Truck looked like they would have been pretty hard to beat.   Royals nearly earned their first win with a better than usual bench, but they fell a bit short against Usual Suspects.   R-Town and Lummer won very lopsided games, although Blaze seemed to be holding off Lummer from running away for the early part of the game.  Hoosier Daddy need some Hoosier help, which I will help them with.  Barrage won their second game after 4 straight losses - a good win for a top Div. 2 team finding their way through the Div. 1 maze.   Abusement Park won their second game as well.  So it looks like at least a couple of the lower teams may be starting to turn things around, which is a good sign. So Div. 1 looks pretty healthy with historical league champs Lummer at the top of the heap.  But there are a bunch of pretty solid teams right behind them.  Seems like speed and 3 point shooting are the keys to winning - let's see. Div. 2 Very evenly matched Division.  The standings are all mixed up compared to last year as the standings seem unrelated to last season's standings.  Junior Bacons, who seemed to dwell near the bottom quarter of the league for a while in past seasons, are cruising at the top of Div. 2.  This is a terrific turnaround for a very energetic team.  Wild Rice and Sputnik, two other teams that seemed to bring up the other end of the standings in the past are now right up there.  After that, the standings suggest unpredictability - everyone has a chance.  This is a great Division, and it will be exciting to see how the standings develop over the next few weeks.  Very enjoyable games to watch.  There was a terrific matchup yesterday between White Rice and Down By 50 - sort of like watching Boston play Miami - well, let's stick with White Rice and Down By 50.  Great game.  Great speed.  Great energy, and great bench support.  I really enjoy watching games like these.  The game also seemed to catch the attention of a few spectators.  One notable yesterday was Smashbrother's first win of the season.  It's taken a bit of time for this new team to pull together, but they've been improving steadily, and with their first win, they're now in the pack of Div. 2 teams, just like all the other teams.  I should mention that Patrick Chewing quietly cruised to a large margin victory over a pretty strong Mud Hens.  I watched this game for a while, and it really was deceptive as to how well PC played.  The other Div. 2 games were pretty close. If players wish me to post game summaries, please do not hesitate to send them to me, preferably the same day or the next day after the game. Now, back to the dunking issue.  I've sent an email off to the captains, so hopefully, they'll communicate the email to the respective players.  The email was as follows: "Hello Captains.  It looks like we’ve got quite a few guys hanging off the rims.  I’m not sure why the captains and team-mates are not stopping this stuff, but we’ve got to stop this stuff at every community center – Sunset is the source of most complaints.  I’ve been getting complaints from every center.  Our dunking rules are pretty clear - players cannot touch the rim regardless.  Our penalties are pretty stiff, however, they only apply if a rim comes down.  Therefore, I’m going to add a new penalty to the existing ones.  If I see a player grabbing a rim, or if I get a complaint from a player about a player hanging onto the rim, that team will lose 10 bucks off their deposit.  In addition to the 10 bucks, that player gets to sit out a game or more at my discretion.  Some of you may not like this, but I get tired of seeing people joy ride the rims.  If you object to this rule, please let me know.  If I get more than 17 rejections, then I won’t implement it – otherwise, this rule will be in play.  The amount of money is secondary – I can go with 5 bucks, or 15 or 20?  - or take the money part right out.  Biraj" Dunking, unfortunately, is an issue.  We cannot afford to pay for rims that come down - we've already had to do this twice, and it seriously hurts our budget if we have to pay - $1500 each time. The issue is mainly the weakness of the rims, particularly at Kerrisdale.   I wish the rims, like most new rims nowadays, could take the joy riding.  But our rims cannot - at all three centers.  Therefore, please stay away from the rims (air dunks are okay), and please stop anyone you see doing it.  We have to develop a "no dunk" culture in the league - or an "air dunk" culture. Great Sunday.   Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Note the different game times at Kits.  Biraj     31 Oct. 2010 My apologies for not sending an update last week - pulled in too many directions.  However, I did want to mention that the games went very well last week.   There was a great game between Red Truck and Usual Suspects with Usual Suspects winning by 2.  Lummerland won a one sided victory against Jamma, however, it was a great game, enjoyed by both teams.  Another great game was the Div. 2 game between MP and TD - tough game throughout with MP pulling out a well earned victory against a very competitive opponent. I'll update today's games later tonight or sometime on Monday.  Happy Halloween.  Biraj   19 Oct. 2010 Games went pretty well on Sunday.   No injuries reported.   No major administrative items.  A couple of notes though: 1) Please see rule revision regarding "illegal defence", item 3, section 5.  The language has yet to be finalized, but the rule has been changed slightly. 2) At Kits, please make sure teams use the bench areas at the ends of the gym, particularly the bench area at the South end (near the doors leading to the vending machines).  I often see teams near the scorer's desk area, which is near mid court.  To get fair substitutions, a team's bench area has to be clearly in the team's defensive end. 3) Thanks to BTR and Blaze for their cleanup help at Kerrisdale - much appreciated.  However, there are a few teams, names who I won't mention, who are not doing their part with cleanup.  We need to get everyone cleaning up after every game.  This includes not only one's own recyclables and garbage, but whatever may be lying around in that bench area - thanks. Games -- Majority of the games were very closely matched.   There are a few one sided scores, but only one or two here and there.  There was a terrific game at Kerrisdale between Lomas and Red Truck in which Lomas won.  This game was close right from the start with Red Truck ahead.  But Lomas tightened it up as the game went along, and then pulled ahead to stay.  The game was fast with a lot of good shooting - a lot of 3 pointers.  Really enjoyable game to watch.  Well played. Another well played game was the one between Wolverines and Plenty of Swish.  Wolverines made a valiant comeback with about 8 minutes to go, closing what appeared to be an impossible 20+ point spread down to about 8.  But one key 3 pointer in the last few minutes quickly deflated the comeback effort.  Great game. Since I only see a few games over the course of a Sunday, please do not hesitate to send me some commentary or a narrative of your games.  I'm happy to post. Thanks to Vince for reporting the Sunset scores: Usual Suspects won a tight game at Sunset over TT.  Very good game with TT taking the lead early with nifty passwork and ball movement. Jeff from Usual Suspects got the hot hand in the middle 20 minutes and turned a 15 point deficit into a six point lead. Usual Suspects managed to hang on for the win. Another close game was the one between Rain/Abusement Park - Rain won by 4.  Rain ran out of the gate with a 20-2 lead before the Abusement Parkers managed to shake off the cobwebs from the night before. This was an entertaining game with sweet shotmaking at both ends. Rain never gave up the lead and took this one with a four point margin. Great basketball so far.  Please keep up your rosters.  Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj     06 Oct. 2010 Please see notes at end of Oct. 05 notes. 05 Oct. 2010 Very competitive games yesterday.  Injuries - three serious ones.  One player from O-Yes tore his ACL and was taken to UBC Urgent Care (good place to go).  Another player (Chad from MP) appeared to break his finger - hopefully, it's not too serious.  A third player (girl from Jamma) badly sprained her ankle.  Hopefully, all of these players will fully recover and will be back playing in good time. Injuries are unpredictable and unfortunate, but we should do our best to prevent them as much as possible, including proper footwear, good warm-up (before you get to the gym), player control on the court, etc... When injuries do happen, please go quickly to the respective reception to grab ice.  Also, players with first aid training, please help out.   It's always best to be cautious and go to emergency (UBC, VGH, or SPH) if the injury appears serious and/or uncertain. Generally, games were very good yesterday.  I'm still waiting for one of the scores to complete the standings. Captains - please check that the scores are recorded properly on the scoresheet before you leave the gym after your game.  Often, there are missing or incorrectly reported scores on the scoresheet. Cleanup - excellent yesterday.  At Kerrisdale, BTR and Jamma players did a terrific job with cleanup.  I got a lot of help from both teams, so I was able to shut down quickly and relieve the monitors at Kits and cleanup there - thanks.  Please continue to cleanup regularly after every game - it just makes things a lot easier at the end of the evening during final cleanup. I've had a couple of complaints from players about game issues, so I'll discuss them here. 1) One of the women mentioned that guys were setting screens/picks with their arms up.  Also, I've noticed this here and there as well.  Guys cannot do this.  Guys can only set picks with their arms at their side.  Only women can put their arms to their chest when setting screens.  In all picks, players cannot push forward into a player when setting the pick - this happens much too often.  Picks must be stationary - statuesque!.  Also, the pick needs to be set early.  Please avoid "blind picks" above the key - these are dangerous.  And of course, moving picks are out of the question.  Generally, if you see any player doing any of these things, please politely bring this up with the captains - good idea to always speak with both captains at the same time.  You can also bring this up with me at the games if I'm present, and I will follow up with the captains.  2) Aggressive post play.   Apparently a few guys are getting too aggressive in one-on-one situations near the hoop.  One of the captains reported that there is too much bumping between the players involved.  Although we see this kind of play in the NBA and other big league ball, this kind of play is not allowed in this league because it doesn't work.  Aggressive play like this disrupts the flow of the games in this league, and it also increases the risk of injury.  There are lots of ways to play the post, but the heavy duty straight up bumping is out.  Please find another way to score - my suggestion is to think quickly and use your team-mates. More notes to come once I update the scores and standings.  Players playing Thanksgiving Monday, please ensure you have enough players.  Let me know if you're going to be short.  Biraj Oct. 06 --- Standings are up.  Div. 1 Terrific games so far.  The Red Truck/Royals game went right down to the wire, and the TT/Lomas game was a solid competitive effort from both teams.  The standings are now starting to take shape, and it looks like the usual leaders are at the top of the standings and the previous Div.2 teams are meeting their match in Div. 1.  Don't forget to use the 5 sec rule if the game is very close - within 3 points. Div. 2 Great games here as well.  The first game last week so very exciting.  The 5 sec. rule gave Benchwarmers a chance to tie.  The ball was in bounded at half court with about 6 secs left, and a great play gave a Benchwarmers player a layup to tie.  But the ball rimmed out, like many balls that day.  So it was too bad as the game was really well played by both teams and an overtime would have been good.   But a good win for Wild Rice. The MP/Nashty game had a great finish as well.  With Nashty down by 3 points, a Nashty player threw up a long 3 pointer and scored - great shot.  In OT, MP pulled away.  But a terrific game between a veteran team and a new team. Standings are interesting this year in Div. 2 as it looks like it's anybody's Division.  I think the games are likely going to be close throughout the season.  Please make sure you know how the 5 sec. rule works, as the rule seems to work.  You might even want to come prepared with a play in case the situation arises. So overall, we're in great shape.  For teams playing this coming Monday, please make sure you have enough players. Have a great rest of the week, and I'll see some of you on Monday. Biraj   23 Sept. 2010 Just wanted to pass on some fantastic news.  Vince, long time captain of frequent KBL champs Triple Threat, along with Jessica (a TT member), welcomed their second daughter on Sept. 19th.  Vince has been in this league for about 10 years and has brought a wonderful level of enthusiasm and energy to this league.  Therefore, it's very exciting for me to be able to pass on this news to you. There are some other key members in this league who have had additions to their families.  Apologies for not posting this previous information, but I will try and post in the future.  The introduction of these additional family members is certainly a dimension of the league that was not on my radar when we started.  Biraj 20 Sept. 2010 Great start yesterday.  Some terrific games.  All the basketball that I watched looked well organized and very well played.   No real issues, but a few reminders: 1) Please ensure each player reads the rules on the websites.  Sometimes captains are recruiting players without explaining the rules to the individuals.  It's very important that every player understands the rules.  This allows us all to be on the same page, which helps ensure a smooth game.  This was noticeable in the Lomas/Barrage game yesterday where the two captains understood the rules very well, which allowed for a smooth finish in a tight game.  The 5 sec. rule seemed to work well - feedback appreciated. 2) No dribbling basketballs on the sidelines.  Often captains and players who understand this rule very well are not doing anything about it.  We need to change this because as a rule, it seems to work well. 3) Scorer's desk - HOME is always white (direction of play is irrelevant) 4) Always remember to clean up after your respective game.  Last two Kerrisdale teams did a terrific job last night.  The help was appreciated. 5) Last monitor at Sunset, please remember to phone in the scores from Sunset.  Thanks to Diana from Sputnik for the scores yesterday. 6) Warm-up music at Kerrisdale - there is a stereo.  I will see if I can make arrangements to use the CD/DVD player. Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   21 June 2010 Well, we did it.  Most of the games went very well yesterday, particularly the Divisional finals.  We had a few defaults, but considering how late we are into June, we did well to finish as strong as we did.   Terrific league final between Lomas/Hoop Dreams as the last game of the season - great finish to a great season.  The final standings are posted on the Notice Board. All three Divisional finals were very competitive and exciting.  Starting with the KBL League Championships, congratulations to Lomas for their first ever KBL Cup victory after many years in the league.  Special congratulations to Sam for her captainship of a team that has "hung around" the upper echelons of the league for many seasons.   The game itself was competitive from beginning to end.  Hoop Dreams started off well with some great shooting and inside scoring.  But some counter 3 pt. shooting, and the depth of the Lomas team gradually turned the game in Lomas' favour.  Lomas begin to rebound better at their defensive end, which led to more offensive opportunities and more timely 3 pt. shooting.  Thanks to Vince from Triple Threat for monitoring the game.  Vince commented that this was one of the better finals he had seen, and from my perspective, it certainly was - perhaps the best one in a while.  Vince presented the silver KBL cup to Sam.  Perhaps this was a sign that Triple Threat was finally relinquishing its crown for seasons to come - or more accurately - finally having to relinquish the KBL cup for seasons to come?  Great final and congratulations to all the players who participated, particularly the two captains (Sam and Theo).  Hoop Dreams are to be commended for their effort this season, and in the final game.  Until the last 40 seconds or so, Hoop Dreams never let Lomas believe that the cup was theirs.  In addition to the KBL Cup, Lomas received limited edition KBL shirts, gold medals, and a certificate to Ceilis.  Hoop Dreams received certificates to Ceilis. The Div. 2 final was won by Barrage over Abusement Park.  This game was a bit slower than the Div. 1 final because it seemed to be predominantly an inside game.  In the end, it appeared that Barrage's size on the offensive and defensive rebounds made the difference.  Abusement Park were not able to penetrate the Barrage defense, and were thus limited to difficult shots.  Both teams played very tough.  Nothing came easily, and no player was able to score or rebound easily.   Congratulations to Mer and Barrage for a great season and a great victory.   Along with Tshirts and medals, Barrage won the first ever Div. 2 KBL Cup.  AB won certificates to Ceilis.  Thanks to Sean for a terrific job organizing his team throughout the season. The Div. 3 final was won by Rim Touchers over TD.  This game started slowly, but intensified as the game progressed.  The score stayed relatively even for quite a while, and then Rim Touchers started to edge ahead in their play with great passing, rebounding, and team play.  TD tried to pull ahead, but this wasn't their shooting day.  TD did hit some timely 3 pt. shots, but generally, their shooting percentage and lack of offensive rebounding hurt them.  Rim Touchers shot and rebounded better, thus giving them their win.  Congratulations to Rim Touchers - they won tshirts and a certificate to Ceilis - TD won a certificate to Ceilis.  It's worth noting the defensive play of one of the girls on TD who kept TD close with steals and tireless all court defense.   This was another great final - the game certainly felt like a championship game.  In fact, all three championship games felt like true championship games. Congratulations to all the players in the final games, and thanks to all the players that made it out to their respective playoff games yesterday.  As mentioned, rosters have been a challenge as many players have moved onto their summer sports.  Nevertheless, many remained to finish off a great season.  Thanks to everyone. We've come to the end of our 12th year (I have to double check, but I think it's the 12th) and, I think, the 24th season.  In the world of local basketball, this is a bit of a success story, and the success goes mainly to all the players who enjoy playing in this league.   There are many veterans who are a big part of this success with their continued support and enjoyment of the league.  As we continue forward, the membership into the KBL veteran community grows larger, which encourages more participation from new players and continued participation of recent players.  The league is now at 34 teams, with potentially four more teams joining the league in the Fall.  Gym time is not so easy to acquire these days, so we will see where we are as we approach our Fall start date in Sept.  In the meantime, we owe a big thanks to the three community centers - Kerrisdale, Kits, and Sunset for their continued support of this league.  I also need to thank Brian Van Sickle for his timely support of the KBL website.  Most of all, as with any activity involving a large group, the success is a direct result of the membership - in our case, the players.  There is no doubt that it is the character of the players in this league that makes this league work.  Not everyone can operate within the spirit of our "Contests"; not everyone can be as flexible in the flow of the game; and not everyone is as cooperative and competitive within the bounds of a set of rules - (on second thought.... ).  Well, we're not perfect, but we've done well enough to thoroughly enjoy the game of basketball, which was the original intent.  The Fall season will begin Sept. 12 with two large Divisions.  So enjoy the summer break, and get ready to register yourselves in early August.  Personally, I'm looking forward to the break, and I'm looking forward to some free Sundays for a while.  As challenging as the weekly rigour of organizing KBL is, I thoroughly enjoy facilitating and watching the games.  So my final note is a thanks to all the players, especially the many veterans who frequently remind me of how far we've come, and continue to feed me ideas on where this league can go........  Enjoy the summer, and thanks again.  Biraj --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------     14 June 2010 Great set of semi finals - a few terrific games.  Almost all games were very close.  Playoff standings are posted on the Notice Board.  Draft schedule for the finals has been circulated to the captains for review.  Thanks to Rim Touchers and Wild Rice for their cleanup help at Kerrisdale - it sure makes things easy. Game notes as follows: Div. 1 Big news - Established league champs Triple Threat lost a great game to Hoop Dreams who were on a mission to make it to the league finals.  Notes from Vince (TT): "Perennial contenders Hoop Dreams knocked off Triple Threat 93-82 to reach the KBL finals. Led by scoring machine Jason Hubbs, Hoop Dreams was aggressive from the start and took it to the former champs. TT stayed close the entire game behind Carrie Watson's fantastic shooting, but had no answer to the offensive rebounding and overall hustle exhibited by the Hoop Dreams forwards. Congratulations to Hoop Dreams for reaching the final." The other big news was the close win by Lomas over Sleeman.  Apparently this game came down to the last 10 seconds.  One major disappointment in this game was the missed monitoring by Plenty of Swish, which would have provided a neutral objective. Div. 2 Important note - FCV missed their monitoring, which didn't allow me to attend to other games.  Teams must ensure they make their monitoring - it's very important to the smooth operation of the league.  Thanks to the Benchwarmers for taking over in the last 10 minutes. Abusement Park and Barrage won terrific games to advance to the Div. 2 finals.  This should be a great matchup, and it might even be a rematch.  In Pool B, O-Yes and Magic won exciting games.  In the O-Yes/Benchwarmers game, Benchwarmers had 6 seconds to try win the game.  With a well organized in bounds, they got themselves one good shot and two put backs, but all missed.  Great game.  Magic won over an excellent Rain team, who finally showed what looked like their full roster.  In Pool C, Jamma won a good one over FCV, and Plenty of Swish disappointed with their default and missed monitoring - no penalty can make up for this. Div. 3 Big win by Tenacious D over Butta.  TD is a long standing team in this league, and they sure earned their victory over an excellent Butta team.  The game was close all the way with some spirited effort throughout.  Rim Touchers are back in a final looking to earn some more hardware.  Junior Bacons played a Div. 1 type game with great three point shooting to easily win over Toledo who played well, but couldn't match the three point shooting. Well, we're down to the last week, and I look forward to all the finals.  There are a few prizes for the winners and finalists in each Division, along with the league "silver Kerrisdale cup" for the Div. 1 winners.  Hopefully we have a great set of games before we break for the summer.  Thanks to all the players who support this league for hanging in there so late into summer.  Normally, we're done by the end of May, but the Olympics pushed us into late June, which hasn't been easy for some teams.  But we're almost there.  Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   09 June 2010 Playoff schedule is up.  Playoff structure is posted on Notice Board page.  Hope everything works out.  Let's have a great set of playoffs. Biraj   08 June 2010 Standings are up.  Please check.  Some key notes: 1) Recent defaults have shifted the standings noticeably. 2) Hoop-la is moved to bottom of Div. 3 because of 3 NMs (missed monitoring was costly) and 1 Default. 3) Shake'n Bake and Hoop-la eliminated from playoffs because of last places finishes in Div. 1 and Div. 3 respectively. 4) Down By 50/Wolverines and Red Truck/Sweetwater will play a one game playoff next week for 9th spot in their respective Divisions. 5) Each Division divided into 3 Pools.  For example, Div. 1 has Pools A, B, and C with Pool A consisting of teams 1 to 4, Pool B consisting of teams 5-8, and Pool C consisting of teams 9-10.  Similarly for Div. 3.  Div. 2 is almost the same, except Pool C has four teams. 6) All "four team" pools will play semis next week with finals and consolations the following week.  The only teams that don't return on June 20 are all teams finishing 9th and lower in all Divisions. 7) Playoff schedule will be out to the captains shortly.   31 May 2010 Great social on Sat., and some great games on Sunday, but also a rash of defaults - 3 of them.  Interestingly, none of the teams that defaulted made it to the social on Sat.  Teams that did make it to the social were:  Triple Threat (Vince and most of his squad), Lomas (Julie), BTR (Mike, Chris, Malcolm, Gabby), Barrage (Mer, Troy, Ayr, Jerome), Wild Rice (Katie and her crew), Abusement Park (Sean and his crew), O-Yes (Corey, Rob, Heather).   All in all, there were about 50 people at the social.  Thanks to all who came.  We'll try and break a 100 on the next one.  Thanks to Corey again for making this happen.  There's a lot of history to this league, and the socials are a personal reminder of how we started and where we've come.  There are quite a few players who have been with this league for 10 years - pretty amazing!   Believe  it or not, we started 12 years ago in the False Creek Elementary gym with 6 players - friends of mine from my office.  Then a few key players came along, and we started a league - players like Mark, Bonnie (not playing any more - she was the key person who initiated the co-ed aspect of the league, Chris (BTR), Brian (Blaze), and several others.  We'll try and put a video and/or slide show for the next social.  Corey and Mer have already begun organizing. We continue to have injuries, which is very unusual.  I cannot remember a year where we had this many injuries - just bad luck.  Reminder with injuries to let the front desk know right away if I'm not around.  Otherwise, please find me so that I can guide the management by getting the appropriate people involved.  Regardless of your personal qualification - your level of First Aid, license to practice Medicine, etc.., you must find me or inform me as the ultimate responsibility lies with me.  Sometimes, the injuries require treatment right away - only people with First Aid qualification should attend. We're down to the last week next week, and then we're into two weeks of playoffs.  The standings have almost determined who will play for the respective Divisional championships with some key games next week.  As mentioned previously, the standings will be split up into groups of 4, with Divs. 1 and 3 having a group of 3 at the bottom of their Division. A few basketball notes: 1) When a player calls "And one" (personally, I can't stand this call), the monitor will mark the foul, but only if two things occur - a) the player who got fouled makes the call, and b) the player who might have caused the foul is given a chance to contest.  Often in the heat of the turnaround, the only voice heard is someone yelling "And one", and often, it's not the player who got fouled, but a team-mate who should not be making the call.  In a bonus situation, if the call is deemed legitimate, the bonus will be applied.  Key point with this call is that both sides should have a say. 2) Players must have played three games to play in the playoffs.  Teams cannot bring in a new player into any of the last three games unless that player was previously on the roster.  If a player is discovered to have played when he/she shouldn't have, whether on the day of the game, or after the fact, the game will be a default for that team. 3) Please review the 5 sec rule.  I'm sure we're going to see it a few times over the next three weeks. Gym cleanup - well done yesterday.  Thanks especially to Rain and MP for their help at Kerrisdale - much appreciated. Just a quick thanks to the captains - some a bigger thanks than others, but to all - a big thanks.  We've done well this year, and the captains have been a big reason for the success.  Players should be treating their captains! Div. 1 Triple Threat have again locked up first place in Div. 1 with a key win over Sleeman yesterday.  I would have liked to have seen this game.  Comments from Vince: "After a late night carousing at the KBL Social, Triple Threat still managed to bring its A-game to the Div 1 showdown with Sleeman. Hung over or not, TT used its size advantage to generate points in the paint, while Sleeman used its blistering speed to get to the rim in the open court. Sleeman scoring ace and TT killer Navi Sekhon was unstoppable, going off for 36.  Dominant inside play and a complete team effort carried TT to a narrow four point margin." Royals won a good one over Sweetwater.  Comments from Vince: "In Game 3 at Sunset, speed trumped size as the Royals beat Sweetwater 72-62. Royals had it going for the full 60 minutes, with different players stepping up to make big shots. None were bigger than Andi's back-to-back three pointers with two minutes left. Like KB24's with his last two jumpers on Saturday night, she single-handedly snuffed the Sweetwater comeback."   Lomas won a key game over BTR to lock up a spot in the top 4.   Div. 2 Badgers are still holding top spot, even with their loss to O-Yes yesterday who played a terrific game to pull off an upset - I'm sure attending the social was the difference!  Blaze lost a key game yesterday against a very good FCV team (I'm sure Brian from Blaze not being able to attend the social was a factor in Blaze's loss!).   Abusement Park won a great game against Magic who may have just missed out on the top four with the loss.  Barrage won a key game yesterday, and it should be interesting to see if they can hold onto the fourth spot next week.  The other end of the Div. 2 standings is a bit of a surprise with two key previous Div. 1 teams in the lower spots - Jamma and MP - both teams lost key games yesterday. Div. 3 Looks like TD will finish in first, however, their missed monitoring last week taints their status a bit.  The other three spots in the top four are still open, so we should have an exciting finish next week.  Congratulations to Sputnik for their second win - a good one over Sweet.  Toledo luckily won a default game, which keeps them a chance at 4th spot.  Hoop-la will likely go to bottom of Div. 3 because of their three NMs - to be finalized. So we're all set for a great finish next week.  Have a great week, and let's end the regular season with a great set of games next week - please -- no defaults!  Thanks. Biraj       22 May 2010 Sorry for the delayed update, but here it is.  We had one serious injury last week - bad ankle sprain - Lindsay on Butta - she'll be fine.  --- We only have two more weeks left in the regular season with many teams having only one game left.  The season has gone by fast, but we've done well, and it looks like we should have a great set of playoffs.  Continued thanks to everyone for remembering to cleanup at each gym - we need to keep it up. The standings in each Division seem to be fairly stable, which means that we have a pretty good idea already of where most teams will finish.  For the playoffs, the top four teams in each Division will play for the respective Divisional championship.  The next four teams in each Division will play for Pool B honours.  In Div. 1 and Div.3, the 9th and 10th place teams will play a Pool C final, while in Div. 2, the 9th to 12th place teams will play for Pool C honours.  The 11th place teams in Div. 1 and Div. 3 will miss the playoffs.  One interesting note - there are no unbeaten teams this season.  I think it's been a while since this happened.  All we need now is for Shake'n Bake to win one, and there won't be any zeros in the standings. Div. 1 Looks like the top four may be set, but there are a couple of key games next week.  Sleeman are a new face in the top four, with some KBL veterans.  Should be a good finish. Div. 2 The top three teams are almost set, but fourth place is up for grabs with four or five teams in the hunt.  Benchwarmers won a big game last week. Div. 3. Other than top spot, this Division is a bit more open than the others.  Looks like we won't know the top four until the games are all played.  Big win by Sputnik last week. Drop in at Sunset this Sunday. The KBL social is next Saturday, so please try and make it.  Corey from O-Yes has been running around selling tickets.  If you haven't bought a ticket, and you would still like to come, please just show up - better if you let Corey know.  Hope to see you next Sat.  Biraj   12 May 2010 Reminder about the social, coming up very quickly.  Info as follows: Saturday May 29th, 2010, 7:30PM  Ceili’s Irish Pub & Restaurant  Third Floor  Good for No Line, No Cover until 9:30PM Cost: $15.00                                                        Between 7:30-9:00pm bring your  ticket stub to the bartender for a  Free Drink & appetizers!  This ticket is your Food Voucher -  Please do not throw out.   Please contact Corey (adamscj1@hotmail.com) for tickets.  ASAP.  We need to get tickets sold.  Thanks.  Biraj   10 May 2010 Great set of games.  All teams seemed to make it through the roster challenges of Mother's Day.  As mentioned, no defaults will be applied for yesterday's games.  Happily, there were no serious injuries, as we seemed to have had a rash of them over the past couple of months.  In terms of schedule, some teams have only 3 games left in the season, while others have 4.  So we're not that far away from the end of the regular season.  Thanks to the teams at all centers for their cleanup, particularly, the last two teams at each gym.  Thanks to Diana on Sputnik for phoning in the scores from Sunset yesterday. Div. 1 I got my first look at the new Sleeman team, and they're going to be tough to beat.  They won easily over a short handed Royals team.  The standings are tight, with a pretty good battle for the top four spots.  At the other end, Shake'n Bake have their work cut out for them to avoid the bottom spot - they've had very close games though. Div. 2 Standings pretty tight here.  Only one previous Div. 1 team, Blaze, near the top.  Very close games every week in this Div.  Abusement Park won a very tight game against Jamma.   In another tight game, Badgers won over FCV -- from Cody on Badgers -- "In what can only be described as a low-energy, mother's day affair, FCV found themselves down by 20 at about the 48 min. mark.  That's when the badgers decided to call it a day and FCV decided they wanted to win.  A furious comeback ensued in a stretch that saw the badgers hit only two shots and one of them was a bank three which proved to be enough as FCV came up a bit short. On a side note: Badgers may have broken the league record for turnovers if we kept track of that sort of thing". Div. 3 Nice to see TD, a long standing KBL team, at the top.  Nice also to see a couple of teams near the top who are usually at the other end.  Terrific game between White Rice and Rim Touchers.  RT hit a 3 pointer with 10 secs left to put them up by 3.  WR had 5 seconds to tie, but it was too tough.  Good game with great intensity.  Butta won a good one against Toledo -- condolences to one of the players on Butta who lost a family member recently - best wishes from all 400 players in the league.  All looks good, except it's not great to see Sputnik back at the bottom.  This is always a fun team who have beefed up their roster a bit this season, but they're still falling a bit short - no worries - games are great. So all's well.  Come ready for a competitive week next week.  The standings should start to solidify next week.  Have a great week - there's some exciting NHL playoff hockey and NBA basketball ongoing - enjoy them.  See you Sunday.  Biraj     04 May 2010 Quick update today as I fractured my arm in a cycling accident yesterday.  One serious injury on Sunday - Vanessa on Down by 50 fractured her ankle in a terrific game against the Wolverines.  Best wishes for a healthy and speedy recovery.  Thanks to the Rim Touchers and Butta for their cleanup help at Kerrisdale after a terrific game.  Butta had a chance to tie with 10 seconds left, but they could not get a shot off.  Hoop Dreams and Lomas had a terrific game yesterday. Sorry - can't type anymore.  See you next Sunday.  Have a great week.   Biraj 26 April 2010 Thanks to all the players at Kits for keeping the irregular schedule on track as much as possible.  Thanks especially to Sean, captain of Abusement Park, for reporting the scores and ensuring cleanup of the Kits gym at the end of the evening.  This was a huge help as I was too late getting out of Kerrisdale with the extra game there - thanks to most of the players at Kerrisdale for the cleanup help - one day, I hope to get everyone pitching in.  Thanks also to Katie on Wild Rice for reporting the Sunset scores. Thanks to the captains who have consciously maintained their rosters by updating new information as new players are added.   One point to note is that players cannot play on two teams.  There is a new player on Magic who played for Plenty of Swish yesterday.  Penalty for subsequent occurrence is a default.  Div. 1 and 2 teams may borrow subs from the Div. 3 team that has a Bye, but otherwise, teams must bring their own players. Games all seemed to go well, except for the default by Rain - could be costly. In all three Divisions, the standings are tight, with no teams obviously outmatched in any Division.  Play is very tight in each Division as evidenced by the scores each week.  Additionally, no team is unbeaten, which is rare.   Looking at the upper portion of each Division standings, it's quite possible that the league may see three totally new winners, which would be a first.  But ofcourse, the regular winners like Triple Threat and Abusement Park aren't about to allow an easy changing of the guard. Within the basketball, there are only one or two isolated issues.  In one case, one player at Kerrisdale was a bit too aggressive on defense, and in another case, a player was too verbal.  If I'm around, I can deal with things quickly.  But if I'm not around, opposing captains should get together and deal with things before they get out of hand.  But generally, no worries.  Things are going well - the basketball is great, and it's a pleasure to see some good running basketball.  Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj       19 April 2010 Games are moving right along, but some administrative items require more attention.  Last week, emails were sent out to captains regarding cleanup, rosters, and monitoring.  We have to deal with these items, or we'll have to call a captain's meeting to sort out how to deal with the various issues - I hesitate to impose any penalties unless we've had a chance to review everything as a group - or with reasonable representation.  Fortunately, most teams are taking care, but there are still some rogue teams.  Before I summarize the games, here are a few key administrative notes: 1) Cleanup.  Cleanup is a huge issue with the centers, and we risk losing gym time or gyms if we do not deal with this very simple item - everyone should be picking up after themselves - if you do not pickup, someone else has to.  Thanks to the last teams at Sunset (Jude and others) for cleaning up after the last game.  Kerrisdale was left in a mess.  Although a few players on TD and Sweet did pick up water bottles and garbage, some items were still left behind - empty and full water bottles, garbage including first aid remnants, wet paper towels, food wrappers, etc.  Kits was okay, but players are still not picking up - I end up having to pick up most of the stuff.  Captains - you've got to do a better job of communicating with your players about this stuff - I really do not want to get into penalties as it's going to create an unhappy situation. 2) Monitoring - Pretty good - just a couple of problem teams  - Hoop-la - you've been warned! - twice!.  Monitors - please do not hesitate to assert yourself with game issues and with cleanup. 3) Rosters - great response to my email last week. Of course, I cannot track every player and every team, so please ensure that all players are registered. 4) Sideline activity - seems to be okay for now. Games Div. 1 Very exciting to see BTR at the top of the heap.  This is a team that has been in the league a long time.  Perennially, they've been a top Div. 2/low Div. 1 team, but lately, they seem to be headed to Vince's house to grab that cup.  The new team, Sleeman, is causing some shuffling at the top with Hoop Dreams and Triple Threat still in the top four. Div. 2 There is some great competition in this Division as all the games seem to be contested very closely.  Badgers are leading this group with some familiar teams close behind.  Blaze is the only previous Div. 1 team that is near the top.  Abusement Park had a great game against O-Yes yesterday - they got a lot of offensive rebounds and snuck out a win against a very good O-Yes team.  Magic also won a great game against Benchwarmers.  Barrage had a great game against Plenty of Swish by outmatching their 3s with a better inside game. Div. 3 Looks like no team is going to run away in this Division.  The standings and the games are very tight.  Wild Rice must be pleased to see themselves at the top - Katie has assembled a good group of players who shoot and run well.  It's hard to call this Division as the standings could invert themselves pretty quickly. Please keep up the great basketball.  If only we could take care of some of the administrative items, we'd be in great shape.  A quick note that Corey will start selling tickets to the upcoming social, planned for 29th May.  As usual, she's doing a great job.  Have a great week, and come prepared to pickup some water bottles and garbage next week.  Thanks. Biraj       31 March 2010 Great games this past Sunday.  Sorry for the delay in the updates as it took a while to get the scores for the Sunset games - please do not forget to phone in the scores if you're monitoring the last game at Sunset. Some terrific games.  Don't forget that we're off next weekend, however, there is drop-in at Kits from 2 to 5 pm - please bring your own bballs.  Drop-in only for league players. Div. 1 Very tight standings this season with only one undefeated team - Hoop Dreams.  Hoop Dreams won a thriller against Usual Suspects with a last minute win - there was some great individual effort both ways.  BTR also won a thriller against R-Town.  R-Town had the ball out of bounds with about 11 secs on the clock, but their two 3 pt. attempts missed - great game.  BTR played one of their best games to win against a newly established top Div. 1 team.  The 5 sec. rule was in effect in the last 20-30 secs. -- Sweetwater upset TT.  This is a big win for Sweetwater, and it could be a big loss for TT - maybe they'll finally have to hand the trophy over! Div. 2 Unlike Div. 1, Div. 2 standings are quite polarized with four undefeated teams and three teams without wins.  Previous Div. 1 teams don't appear to be stronger than previous Div. 2 teams as Jamma, O-Yes, and MP Ballerz have yet to win a game.  Rain and Benchwarmer are surprise leaders in Div. 2 so far. Div. 3 Like Div. 1, Div. 3 is very tight with the Division wide open at the moment.  Toledo had their winning ways snapped by a good Wild Rice team.  Butta won easily over Sputnik, but credit to both teams for bringing fantastic rosters - maybe a bit too many, but great to see.  Looks like Junior Bacons won a good one against Wolverines. No real issues with any of the games.  Let's keep going.  US College Final Four should be exciting this weekend - we'll get down to our Final Fours in June. Have a great Easter weekend, and see some of you at drop-in this Sunday.  Biraj     22 March 2010 Great games on Sunday.  Before we proceed, please ensure that you've registered and sent your rosters to me.  Generally, games continue to go well.  We've got a great start, and all indications with this short season are that we'll have a great finish, including a great set of finals in each Division.  Hopefully, we can get a good crowd for these finals - I will be encouraging these finals all season. One note:  Some of the teams did not bring enough players where teams brought either 5 or 6 players.  You must bring more players, partly because it helps ensure a good running game, and also because of very tight default rules (see rules).  Teams should be bringing out at least 8 players - a good game roster is 10 - more is better for spirit. One important note about children.  As much as I'd like to have children around the games, the centers generally do not allow children to be present in adult programs.  However, for this league, it is okay for children to be present as long as they are with a non playing adult.  But the children absolutely cannot be playing or moving around the sidelines.  Yesterday, this happened in a couple of games at Kerrisdale.  If you cannot seat your kids for the duration of the games and if there is no non playing adult with them, please do not bring children to the games.  The potential for problems is much too high, and the centers just don't allow kids around adult programs.  Thanks. Div. 1 All good games.  Hoop Dreams vs. Royals -- "Very entertaining game between two teams that played at a break-neck pace. Royals stayed close for 50 minutes but couldn't shoot a high enough percentage to overcome the precision passing of the Dreamers." Triple Threat vs. Lomas  "Triple Threat used its size and muscle inside to overpower a short-handed Lomas squad." It's hard to predict this Division as we it's anyone's for the taking.  Ofcourse Triple Threat are the favourites, but my sense is that they're going to get a pretty good run for the money. Div. 2 This Division is more unpredictable than Div. 1.  Already, a couple of previous Div. 2 teams have upset previous Div. 1 teams.  In fact, the Div. 1 teams are clustered at the bottom at the moment.   Rain, Blaze, Badgers, and Benchwarmers are off to a great start.  Badgers have had two good wins under their belt so far.  Same with the other three teams.  Rain surprised O-Yes yesterday who couldn't  match the Rain scoring machine. Div. 3 Toledo is the surprise of this Division as they've gone from the basement of Div. 2 last season to the top of Div. 3 so far.  Wolverines are also a nice surprise near the top.  But it looks like all the Div. 3 games are going to be closely contested.  So we are off to a great start.  Don't forget that this is a very short season, so each game is significant for playing time and standings.  A reminder that our big social at Ceilis is on May 29th where our goal is get 100 or more people out.  More on this social to come from our elite KBL social coordinator Corey. Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   16 March 2010 Welcome back to KBL Spring 2010.  Terrific games yesterday.  One team missed the start.  Please ensure that all players check the website regularly for game times and updates.  Players, please do not rely solely on your captains for game times - please check the website schedule yourselves. A couple of teams have still not registered - the community centers will not allow these teams on court this Sunday unless they register by this Wed.  As well, all teams must send their rosters by this Thurs.  Thanks to all the teams that have registered and sent me their rosters. Welcome to the two new teams, Sleeman and Magic (previously Tropical).  We had one team drop out at the last minute due to injuries (BasketCases).  Otherwise, we're maxed out with teams as there wasn't enough gym time to add new teams. Looking at the scores from this past Sunday, with so many tight games, we should have a terrific season.  Other than two one-sided wins, just about every game was contested till the end. Thanks to Ally for phoning in the Sunset scores. Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   08 March 2010 Great set of semis and finals yesterday.  Congratulations to Triple Threat for winning the KBL Championships in a terrific game against R-Town.  I think this is their fourth in a row and their fifth overall.  Vince has captained all these wins.  One impressive highlight is that it was the 10th championship for one of the women - Jesse.  Jesse has now won Championships with three teams, a very significant accomplishment, and I think unmatched in the NBA!  Congratulations to R-Town on an impressive season and great final.  They came very close, with a chance to tie the final game with about 22 seconds left. Congratulations to Abusement Park for winning Div. 2 over Barrage.  This game was a matchup of two of the top Div. 2 teams.  Abusement Park played one of the best games I've seen a team play in the finals.  They shot the 3's extremely well, rebounded really well on offense, and above all, got contribution for everyone on court, with as good a balance as you'll see between the guys and gals.  Great game.  Barrage played a good game, but this just wasn't their day.  Credit to Mer and her team for trying to come back until the end, but it was just too tough to match Abusement Park's shooting percentage.  Great final from both teams. Congratulations to Wild Rice for winning the 2B finals.  This team has come a long way, and it was exciting to watch their energy and spirit in the semis and finals. Note that the 2B semis were both won by one point with dramatic finishes in both games.  Congratulations to all four teams. Congratulations to BTR for winning the 1B finals.  I'll try and get an update on this game later today. Congratulations to everyone for a terrific season.  Although it was a bit of a challenge to get through all the playoff games with the many conflicting major events like the Olympics and Superbowl, we made it!  We're now ready to begin the Spring season next week.  A draft schedule has been sent to the captains, which should get finalized by Tues. or Wed. this week.  Note that we set a league record this season with 34 teams, and we're going to break this record with 35 teams in the Spring session.  There were two or three more teams wanting to play this season, but there just wasn't any more gym time.  I will try to get more gym time for the Fall 2010 season.  The interest in this league is a reflection of the spirit of the players in this league - thanks. As always, there are many people to thank for a terrific season. 1) All the captains for doing a great job managing their respective teams.  Players please treat your respective captain as he/she really deserves a lot of credit.  They have made it easier for me, and essentially allowed this league to run. 2) Brian Van Sickle on Toledo for updating the website structure as needed. 3) Brian Hansford on Blaze for his donation of quenching liquids for the KBL Championships. 4) Ceilis for their support of this league through gift certificates (we purchase them at a reasonable price) and their donation of the pub certificates.  Thanks to Ceilis also for hosting our socials.  This is much appreciated.  Please try and support Ceilis whenever you can.   Thanks to Corey for her energy with the socials - she has been terrific. 5) Thanks to the three community centers - Kerrisdale, Sunset, and Kits for their support of this league.  Thanks particularly to the center programmers - Kari (Sunset), Jody (Kerr), and Cathy (Kits).  Thanks also to all the support staff such as desk clerks and building supervisors who support this league. 6) Finally, thanks to all the players.  This league cannot operate without a group of players who play with the spirit and attitude that really is needed to make this league work.  It's amazing sometimes to walk into a gym and see a game running under control with only the players controlling the game.  Many observers have commented on the spirit of our games.  Thanks again. Thanks again everyone, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj     07 March 2010 Big day today - Playoffs and Finals.  Please come.  Also, the draft schedule for the Spring season will be out either late tonight or tomorrow.  Biraj 01 March 2010 Hope all of you enjoyed the Olympics, particularly, the final hockey game - yesterday had to be one of the best sports days in this country. --  Welcome back.  From a KBL schedule point of view, we've had a tough stretch as only a few playoff games got played.  We needed three weeks to finish the playoffs, with the original plan to finish on Feb. 28th.  Because of the Olympics, we will finish the "Fall 2009" season on 07 March 2010.  Even with this extension, we have to compromise the playoffs, particularly the consolation games.  With this in mind, I've setup the final week's schedule as shown on the Schedule page, based on the following: 1) Outstanding semi final games in the "winners brackets" are all 35 minutes long, with winners returning to play the final the same day. 2) Outstanding consolation semi final winners were based on regular season standings (see Notice Board) - there isn't enough time to play a semi as well as a final. A couple of notes for next week. 1) Game times for next week are not negotiable as there just isn't time to do that. 2) The league finals for Div. 1 will take place at 5:30 pm and the Div. 2 finals will take place at 7 pm (both games at Kits).  Please come out and support these two finals. I apologize for the compromises, but there really isn't any time to play all the "winners brackets" and consolation games, so something had to give.  The goal now is to get fair championship games for both Div. 1 and Div. 2, and then get the Spring 2010 season rolling as soon as possible. SPRING 2010 season There are still a few teams yet to register.  I cannot draft a schedule until I know the exact number of teams, so teams only have until wed. to register.  After that, I don't have much choice, but to draft a schedule based on the registered teams.  At the moment, I think I'm at about 25 teams, so there are still 5 to 10 teams yet to register.   Please register or contact me ASAP.   Thanks.  Biraj   15 February 2010 Great games for the most part.  A bit of tension in a couple of them, but the games all ended well.  Please see scores as well as playoff summary on Notice Board.  Captains - please ensure your players are looking at the info on the website as a number of players seem to be unaware of the playoff structure.  Because of the key hockey game next week between Canada/USA, we will try and schedule around it.  We will try and play some of the key games before the hockey game, and perhaps complete a couple of the consolation games later.  I will send out a draft schedule to the captains for review before finalizing next Sunday's schedules.  Rescheduling games is nearly impossible mainly because we're at least a week behind already.  However, it is the Olympics, so we will adjust accordingly and go later into the summer if I can get extra gym time.  Stay tuned.  Biraj   06 February 2010 Drop-in bball for league players only at Kits this Sunday, Feb. 07, from 1 pm to 4pm.  Could the last group of players please ensure the gym and stand area are free of garbage and water bottles before you leave - important.  I'll be there from about 1 to 2 pm only.  Thanks.  Biraj   03 February 2010 Great finish to the season on Sunday.  The final standings are up.  Please have a look.  I will post the playoff schedule once I confirm the final standings.  I used the following guidelines to finalize the standings: a) In case of a two way tie, the record between the teams determined who finished ahead b) In case of a three way tie, it was the record between the teams first.  If all teams had a 1 win/1 loss record, then it was points for/against between all three teams.  There were several occurrences - MP/Jamma/Blaze,   Abusement Park/Barrage/Badgers,   Wolverines/Sputnik/Toledo c) In case of a two way tie where one team had a default, the other team finished ahead.   Div. 1 Congratulations to Hoop Dreams for finishing atop the standings.  They had to win over some very good teams to finish the season with only one loss.  Thanks to Tropical for filling in midway through the season.  They competed well, but will be excluded from the playoffs as they finished 17th. Div. 2 There was a real battle here for first place in the last couple of weeks.  Abusement Park won the three way tie to finish first.  There was also a real battle to see who would avoid the 17th spot.  Wolverines and Sputnik got they last two playoff spots.  Congratulations to everyone. ----------------------------------- Spring registration is underway.  Please register as soon as possible so that I have a count of the number of teams for Spring 2010. Stay tuned for the playoff schedule. Thanks everyone for a great season.  As a league, it was one of the better seasons as the games seemed to run quite smoothly throughout.  We're off for Superbowl next Sunday, but we're back for the first week of playoffs the following week.  Biraj     18 January 2010 A good Sunday of games.  A rash of minor injuries near the end of the evening at Kerrisdale - all were managed - band aids, gauze pads, and ice. Happy Birthday Kalisha  - Usual Suspects celebrated Kalisha's (captain) birthday at Kits at the end of their game on Sunday with some cake with family and friends - nice to see.  I must thank the players and family members for their cleanup of the gym area - as thorough a job as I've ever seen - thanks.  One family member commented that the Kits gym used to be a roller skating rink with the entrance near the storage area - things change. We're approaching the end of the regular season with only two weeks left.  As mentioned earlier in the season, we will split up into two groups of 8 in each Division, with the 17th place team in each Division sitting out the playoffs.   Within each group of 8, we will play 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5 to start with, and then continue on to finals, both in the main section and in consolation.  More details to come. Rosters - It's important to keep the rules in mind for rosters.  A player must have played 6 games to play in the playoffs.  Also, if a player cannot reach 6 games in the next two games, they cannot play the next two games.  These rules are just to make the standings fair for everyone. Div. 1 -- The top 5 or 6 teams seem to be set, but the eight spot seems open.  The names in the top 8 are familiar, although the positioning has shuffled a bit.  Playoffs should be a lot of fun.  The lower half of Div.1 also has familiar teams, but with some shuffling.  At the moment, this lower group looks like a previous Div. 2 Division, so the playoffs should be a lot of fun as well. Div. 2 - This Division has several new names, but the names at the top are still familiar.  Abusement Park and Barrage have yet to play their "big game", which could be a prelude to a final.  The new teams like Plenty of Swish, Junior Bacons, Butta.... are interspersed among the veteran teams.  It's harder to gauge this Division than Div. 1 because of the number of new players in this Div.  The games so far have been terrific, and the game rosters continue to top the Div. 1 rosters, making for very spirited games - the energy on the benches is terrific - really makes the games! Spring Season will tentatively start 07 March with registration likely to begin next Monday.  Registration details should be out later this week. Have a great week and see you next Sunday. Biraj     13 January 2010 Welcome back! We're off to an energetic start.  There were a couple of terrific games at Kerrisdale, both in Div. 2.  Rain came from about 25 points down to squeak a 1 pt. victory over Toledo, and Butta won a one point game over Wolverines.  Generally, though, there were more lopsided scores than usual.  There was one long standing league record that was broken - a record that no one wants - lowest score.  One of the teams was held to 24 points; the record is 36.  But nevertheless, I saw the game, and there was pretty good flow and energy - just bad luck at the hoop. We're gradually approaching playoffs with only three weeks left to go.  Please note that teams cannot add any new players.  Also, players must have played 6 games to play in the playoffs.  Penalties are retroactive, meaning, if a team was found to have used new players "after the fact", penalties such as defaults still apply.  So stick with the rules.  Also, players must be registered in the community center systems. The playoff structure will be two groups of 8 in each Division.  Unfortunately, the 17th place team in Div. 1 and 2 will sit out the playoffs.  Within the 8 team groups, we will play 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 5 vs. 4 to start with, and then move forward. Schedule - the plan, based on feedback received so far, is as per the current schedule - we will skip Superbowl Sunday, and play through the Olympics. Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj       16 December 2009 Great finish to the 2009 portion of our "Fall" season.  There were many close games with a few great ones.  Thanks to O-Yes and BasketCases for cleaning up at Kerrisdale after their last game on Sunday.  Thanks especially to Carol Comfort (previous league player) who dropped by and ended up helping me a huge amount as I had to clear the whole gym (mats and everything) in preparation for floor varnishing the next day - Carol gets a KBL gift bag.  I couldn't have finished the cleanup in time to get to Kits without Carol's help. Social:  Corey has made a change to our Social Fundraiser date.  It is now Saturday, March 6th.  Ticket prices have also changed (better).  It is now $15 for pub entry, burger, and beer.  The league gets $5 from each ticket to be used towards the league social in late May 2010, so please plan to come out and enjoy the social as well as support the league.  The Socials have been a good hit the past couple of years, so please plan to make it.  Ongoing thanks to Corey for her tremendous energy with the social. Div. 1 FCV had a terrific win over R-Town on Sunday and Lomas won a one pt. victory over Tropical, the new team that is playing right there with the good teams in Div. 1, but still looking for their first win.  Thanks to John for pulling this team together; it has certainly helped the league, otherwise, we might have been looking at double byes each week. Congrats to Hoop Dreams for leading Div. 1 so far.  However, the standings are pretty tight with a number of teams very close behind.  Looks like Red Truck and Triple Threat have crawled their way back near the top, which is not good news for any team looking to finish in the top 8.  Interesting records at the other end as well with some pretty good teams trying to stay out of the 17th and elimination spot. Div. 2 Congrats to Barrage and Abusement Park for remaining undefeated so far.  The big game is yet to be played.  Standings are more bunched up in the middle and at the bottom.  Most, if not all teams, are playing very well, making it difficult for any team to win a game.  The Butta won another one, and Plenty of Swish won a great game against Rain in a match of two upper level teams.  This game had some great back and forth shooting with great balance between the men and women on both teams.  I quite enjoyed watching this game. Anyway, we're now off for almost a whole month, when we start again on Jan. 10th. 2010.  We have four weeks left in our "Fall" season, and we're then into our playoffs.  Captains, please check your rosters, and please make sure that all players will have played at least six games to qualify for playoffs.  With four weeks left, teams may not bring in any new players.  If this leaves a team short players, please contact me, and I will negotiate a fair arrangement.  The balance of the season should be a lot fun.  Also, I will begin organizing registration for the Spring 2010 season as soon as we get back.  Have a wonderful holiday season, and best wishes to all of you.  See you next year.  Biraj       07 December 2009 Some pretty good games, but a few issues as well.  There was one very serious injury to Kerry (guy) in the Sweet/Toledo game.  Kerry dislocated his ankle badly.  We called 911 right away.  Hopefully, his injuries are limited.  I will follow up.  In all the years of running this league, this is the first year we've had a couple of serious incidental injuries mid-season.  Incidental injuries are tough to guard against, but we can take a few precautions -- wear good bball shoes - some of you look like you're picking up footwear from the Lost and Found - good bball shoes go a long way with preventing injuries -- make sure you stretch before you play -- make sure you're fit to play - many of you use the games to get fit - I think you might want put the "fit" before the game - and ofcourse, if you see the floor is dirty or if there is liquid on the court, please clean it, or get someone at the respective center to clean it -- hopefully, we're done with the serious injuries. Next Sunday is our last Sunday of 2009 - we've had a great season so far.  There have been a lot of great games, with mostly scattered issues here and there.   But we can do better - we have to get our rosters updated - there are some unregistered players on the court - a team with unregistered players can technically be defaulted, and I may start doing this to be fair to the teams that have everyone registered.  Game issues are minimal these days -- the more we keep the game moving, the lesser the issues.  If you're working hard, you won't have any energy to initiate issues - many of you have done the Sun Run - there is one stretch through the woods in Stanley Park where all you hear are "feet" - hundreds of them - there are no voices.  If you run and run in your games, we might approach this "dynamic silence" - on second thought, probably not! Social - Corey on O-Yes has been working hard trying to get our social organized.  At the moment, the plan is to first have a get together/social fundraiser on Jan. 31st (we may change the date if this date doesn't work for most).  This social will be at Ceilis downtown, and it will likely be 10 bucks door - the league gets 5 and Ceilis gets 5.  A separate 10 for beer and burger.  We will then do our big social sometime in April or early May.  More info to come.  Stay tuned. Defaults - we had one yesterday - Sweet - no girls. No monitors - Jamma missed their monitoring duty yesterday.  This caused a lot of problems.  Jamma - you owe a monitoring. Gym cleanups - I have to commend the teams for their effort over the past few weeks.  It's been terrific.  Please keep it up.  The last two teams at Kerrisdale and Kits are doing a great job with cleanup.  The only thing left is for each team playing the earlier games to pick up after their game.  Even though we pick up the garbage at the end of the evening, there is too much being left behind after the earlier games. Some of the great games yesterday were Red Truck/Sweetwater, Rim Touchers/Plenty of Swish, Royals/Tropical, Butta/Down by 50.  Comments below from Patrick on Plenty of Swish. "Great 2nd half to this game: Rim Touchers were in control for the first 40 minutes - but Plenty of Swish fought back from a double digit deficit, and each team missed a chance in the final seconds of regulation to put it away. Both teams made it to bonus so clutch free throws were a factor, although the game was quite clean/free of conflict. Overtime was just as exciting, with lead changes after every basket but PoS managed to come through with the final two hoops to steal the W." Some issues in the TD/Benchwarmers game.  Not having the monitor from Jamma caused most of the problem.  Here is a comment from a Benchwarmers player: "..our players double teamed a ball handler. The ball handler had nowhere to go, and he used his forearm and blatantly one-arm shoved one of our girls (that was double-teaming him) out of the way. She fell straight back on to the floor. She called a foul, and the ball handler started yelling aloud that it wasn’t a foul. He just passed the ball, and the game continued. She was very frustrated that, at the least, he didn’t just contest and take the ball on the side. He just yelled, ignored her call, and played on. She didn’t want the matter to escalate, so she continued playing."   The above happens here and there - unfortunately, I'm not at every game.  If I had witnessed the above, that guy would have been out of the game (ejection) with a firm warning from me.  Please, we don't want that kind of behaviour on our courts.  Captains, if you see your players behaving this way, please pull them off.  Often they can go back in, but sometimes, it's better to keep them off. Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj 01 December 2009 Some great games.  One serious injury - Tyler on Butta fractured his arm - incidental - out for 6 weeks. Div. 1 Good games all round - see comments below from some of the captains: From Vince on TT's win over Sweetwater  -- "TT ran its winning streak to six games with a spirited 100-76 win over a skilled Sweetwater team. It was a fast-paced game on the big court at Sunset characterized by acrobatic layups and gorgeous pass work. Both squads were subbing early and often. TT welcomed back injured regulars James Anderson and Amanda Beers, who both looked to be in mid-season form. Sweetwater stayed within striking distance for 50 minutes with its hustle, aggressive inside play, and timely three point shooting. In the end, it was the TT women who closed the door on the Sweetwater rally with back to back three-pointers at the 51 minute mark."   From Sam on Red Truck on their double digit win over Tropical "Game was fun, other team athletic and energetic, very fast.  Bad matchup as red truck size dominated boards and post game. RT got hot from 3 point land late, fun game." From Mike on BTR on their one point loss in OT against Lomas "... went to OT with a 3 point buzzer beater by the Lomas and then the Lomas score the only basket in OT to win by 2. Good game all around. Extremely hard fought on both ends." Jude on MP over Blaze "........Good game, well played, a fair number of fouls but in my opinion a good tone to the game and the fouls came mostly from us being too small and trying to defend the posts." Div. 2 Good games as well, but probably take second place to the quality of the Div. 1 games this week.  Rain had a great game against Rim Touchers.  Barrage won easily over a spirited Sputnik team.  Abusement Park won a terrific game against Benchwarmers.  This game had some great flow - lots of speed, great individual play, and great balance between the men and women - Benchwarmers threatened a spirited comeback from about 12 down in the last 6 minutes or so, but fell short.   Plenty of Swish had a good win over Sweet.  Comment from Patrick "Although physically outsized, Plenty of Swish rode their hot outside shooting (and took advantage of Sweet's short bench) to take their biggest victory of the season."  ........ In a low scoring affair, Butta won over Wild Rice. There was one nasty incident - it happened in the game between Down By 50 vs. Junior Bacons.  One of the guys on D By 50 forcefully kicked the ball out of frustration - twice.  He was ejected from the game and the gymnasium, and in addition, I gave him a 2 game suspension with a warning of a league ejection on a similar or equivalent incident.  This incident was unfortunate, and it is not a reflection of the rest of the team who played a fair game throughout - both teams played well, but Junior Bacons just had a bit more energy to win this one. Overall, terrific set of games.  --- Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj       24 November 2009 Mostly good games - a few terrific ones - Div. 1 and 2.  Div. 2 games seem to be running smoothly.  Div. 1 games seem to be a bit testy or a bit charged here and there, but mostly good.  Div. 1 teams might want to put winning in perspective as it's probably not a good idea to compromise the quality of a game for the sake of a win - just not worth it - there are no money prizes and playoffs are just more fun games.  Try and deal with contests quickly (very) and move on - sometimes, you have to give a little - sometimes, you may have to give a lot - don't hesitate - just move on quickly - key word is friendly. A couple of ankle injuries - treated quickly. Thanks for the cleanup at both Kerrisdale and Kits - Sputnik, Wolverines, Butta, and Got Game - terrific. Scheduling - please make sure that each player checks the schedule independently of team-mates.   Captains should not email game times to their players, but rather the link to the website showing the schedule.  Several times, teams have misread the game times - a few Div. 2 teams.   But so far, we're right on schedule, with no scheduling issues. Welcome to Tropical, the new replacement team in Div. 1.  This team is captained by John Pfaff and Eric Kristiansen.  This is a very good team, probably top or mid Div. 1 level.  From a standings perspective, I will likely count this team's standings on a percentage basis, even though they will only have played about half as many games. If I get some feedback on last Sunday's games over the week, I will insert or paraphrase them.  Otherwise, have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   17 November 2009 A mix of games again.  Mostly good.  Reminder to all players to pick up garbage and bottles after your respective games.  Most teams do a great job, and thanks to MP/Sweetwater/Toledo and Badgers for picking up after their respective games last week - Jude asked me to give special mention to Crystal for cleaning up in previous weeks.  Last two teams at each center should do their best to ensure we leave the gyms garbage and bottle free.   Also, as we move through the season, a few teams are adding players.  All players must be registered.  Captains, please send me roster additions.  Games are very competitive, so the "5 sec" rule we put in place last season seems to be coming up more than expected.  One suggestion to remember how this rule is applied is to think in terms of 5 & 20.  The rule only kicks in when there are 20 or more seconds on the final shot clock.  In this case, the team that is up must shoot with at least 5 seconds on the clock, and the team that is down will get 5 seconds regardless of whether the clock goes below 5 seconds - monitor will reset the clock - so, please get familiar with how to reset the clocks.  I heard there might have been an issue with how this rule was applied in the BTR/Red Truck game - hopefully, players found a fair resolution. Div. 1 Standings are a bit polarized with Hoop Dreams/R-Town/Sweetwater leading the pack.  However, there is still a way to go.  Usual Suspects/Hoop Dreams had a great game.  Lomas/BasketCases was a good game with minor issues.  MP/Sweetwater was a good game, but both teams need to adjust - both teams need to step back and put more effort into helping the tone of their games.  There is a way to make a point without putting a negative tone to the game.  It's hard to explain this, but please try to put a positive spin on all game situations, for example, how one contests, how one makes a point about a call, how one hands the ball to the other team on an out of bounds - these points are not specific to these teams, but general to everyone.  Please note that SS Ballers have unfortunately dropped out, so the standings are based on 16 teams, and all SS Ballers games won/lost have been removed.  I'm trying to get a team together to play teams who would normally have played SS Ballers so that we avoid a second BYE.  If this is not possible, then I will likely schedule the BYE teams to play an exhibition game the rest of the way. Div. 2 Barrage continue their dominance, but several teams are not too far behind.  Congrats to Wolverines for winning their first game.  I'm not hearing too many issues with the Div. 2 games, so please continue with the spirited games.  I did see one game yesterday where Rim won over Sweet.  This game could have been a bit smoother.  Part of the issue was the number of new players on Sweet.  Sweet need to send me these player additions - and Laura - please explain the rules to your players - roster looks great though. Overall, we're half way through and the standings are starting to take shape.  As the games get more and more competitive, please remember to keep the spirit.  It's a good feeling to walk away from an enjoyable game, and we should aim for this.  Try and change contentious to excitement, controversy to resolution, argument to acceptance, and noise to calm - sorry to be a bit yogic about this, but I'm just trying give some guidance on how to keep the spirit in the games.  Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   09 November 2009 A mix of games this Sunday.  Thanks to the monitors for their effort as some of the games are getting a bit challenging to monitor.  But for the most part, games are going well with the monitors mainly maintaining the score.  A couple of minor injuries only.  I should compliment Sputnik for bringing a sizeable roster to help turn their team around - I think they had 13 players out. Thanks to the players that helped clean up at Kerrisdale and at Kits.  So far, these centers have been happy with the cleanups.  No complaints from Sunset as well.  Don't forget to recycle your bottles and pick up your garbage after each game. There is one league issue that has come up, and it's regarding subs from other teams.  Please remember that this is a league, and to be a league, teams need to be distinct from each other.  This means that players cannot play on more than one team.  Sometimes, in desperate situations, I allow teams to pick up a player from another team to avoid a default - this means 2 guys/3 gals.  However, it seems that this freedom is being used more liberally than I had hoped.   But before we look at changing the rules, let's try it again.  Teams may only bring in a player from another team if they desperately need to come up with 2 guys/3 gals.  They cannot bring in a player to make 6.  If the sub increases the teams roster to 6 or more, we'll need to default that team.  Div. 1 may borrow from Div. 2 only.   Div. 2 may borrow from within Div. 2.  The main message here is to get your own players and field a distinct team.  I'm willing to help any team as much as I can. Div. 1 Jamma/Blaze had a pretty good game, but Blaze is one of the teams that needs to get their roster together.  Jamma played a great game to win over Blaze.  The other Div. 1 games seemed pretty close.  I would have liked to have seen these games.  I hope they went okay.  It appears that teams ahead in the standings in each respective game won that game.  I did see part of the MP/SS game, and this was not a good one.  We'll resolve things over the week and get back on track for next Sunday.   Div. 2 Down by 50/Sputnik had a pretty good game.  As mentioned, I was quite impressed with the size of the Sputnik roster.  Looks like this team is on the rebound.  Abusement Park/Rain played a tough game as neither team gave much room to the other team.  A very competitive game with Abusement Park coming through with a close win.  Not sure what happened to the Got Game scoring machine against Barrage, but Got Game may have set a new low point scoring record - I'll have to check.  Nevertheless, it was a good game. Overall the games seem to be going well, but there seem to be a few issues with foul calling and contests.  I will watch specific games more closely next week to see if I can help a few players make some adjustments.  So far, most players have adjusted well. Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj     02 November 2009 The good games continue.   We're approaching mid season and teams are starting see their relative strengths in the league.  No major injuries reported last Sunday, which is good news.  An interesting game situation occurred in the game between MP Ballerz & Shake'n Bake in Div. 1.  With just over 30 seconds left, MP had the ball and were down by 4 pts.  On first thought, one would think that MP had no chance to win this game in this league, but they did have a chance as recognized by their team captain Jude.  Jude asked his team to score at least a 2 with 20 secs or more on the clock.  This would have meant that SB would have to have put up a shot with 5 secs left in the game as per the "5 sec rule", thus giving MP a possible chance to tie or win, depending on if SB scored on their possession.  Interesting situation, and one that teams should get familiar with because it is more than likely going to occur for every team. Div. 1 Hoop Dreams and R-Town top the standings.  Both teams had good wins yesterday.  Both games were close.  R-Town had a tough win against SS Ballers as SS Ballers challenged for the win the whole game.  As mentioned above, SB won a good one against MP who remain the only winless team in Div. 1 - they've had several close losses.  The most noticeable point for me in the standings is to see some new teams on top of the leader board with known teams like Red Truck and Triple Threat trying to come by back from a couple of bogeys!   Keep up the good games. Div. 2 Barrage and Abusement Park remain the only two unbeaten teams in Div. 2 and in the league.  Both teams won by comfortable margins yesterday.  Interestingly, the newer teams in the league are in the lower half of the standings, while the upper half seems to be comprised mostly of veteran teams.  This might suggest that as the newer teams adapt to the league, they make start to make a move on the upper teams?  Shooting seems to be key in Div. 2 as teams with good shooting percentages seem to obviously do better than teams that don't, but do other things well like play defense.  Let's see how the season plays out. Monitoring - thanks for the good monitoring and please continue with the good work. Biraj   01 November 2009 Don't forget that clocks are set back one hour (Fall back).   See you later today. Biraj   18 October 2009 Another pretty good Sunday of bball.  Games continue to be very competitive and game rosters are pretty good with many teams fielding 8 to 10 players.  Standings are up.   - Monitors - great job.  Please continue with the good monitoring - thanks. Injuries - we've had a few significant injuries with several players spraining ankles.  Players have done a great job stopping the play, and we've been able to manage the injuries with ice and bandage.  Hopefully, this injury streak won't continue. Div. 1 Great first game at Kerrisdale between Usual Suspects/Red Truck.  Usual Suspects were off to a great start, but it looks like Red Truck came on in the latter part of the game to win this one.  Great balance on both teams between the guys/gals. --- But the story of the season so far is the Triple Threat slide!! - major slide!!  These perennial champs are possibly looking at relegation to a lower Division!.  They lost against a very good Hoop Dreams team.  Comments from TT captain Vince-- "The slide continues as KBL challengers give TT a taste of their own medicine. The sweet shooting of Jason Hubbs, inside dominance of HD women, and the slick passing of Euro-Pro Chris Marsh carved up the former champs. TT got no closer than 7 with a another tough afternoon of shooting" In contrast, a good story is the rise of SS Ballers who now stand in first place.  This is a young, talented team who may have a few more surprises yet.  They're quick and they shoot extremely well. Another great game yesterday saw Lomas try in vain to stay with Royals, but royalty held their ground pretty well.  Royals were just a bit quicker and had a better shooting percentage.  Credit to Lomas for their effort to come from behind.  Great game. And a comment from Vince on the game between Shake'n Bake and Blaze at Sunset. "S&B won an energetic victory over a veteran Blaze squad that ran out of gas in the second half. The big court at Sunset is unforgiving and teams that don't bring enough bodies will definitely feel it." It's too early to make anything of the standings, but if the trend continues, we will start to see who the top 8 are as these are the teams that would vye for the league championship.   Div. 2   Barrage continue their early domination of this Division, but it's still early.  But like Division 1, if the trend continues, we'll start to see the top 8.  The level of basketball in the upper Div. 2 teams is pretty high with shooting seeming to be the big difference.  Teams like Barrage, Abusement Park, Benchwarmers continue to shoot a reasonably good percentage, while the lower teams with possibly near equal foot speed, are shooting at noticeably lower percentages.  If I get a chance to put up the average running scores, this might point out the difference.  Nevertheless, the games are terrific, so keep up the basketball.  There was an overtime game yesterday between The Butta and Rim Touchers with The Butta coming up short - again!  Abusement Park put themselves into overdrive yesterday about a quarter of the way through the game against Tenacious D and left TD wondering - good game though.  Toledo Mudhens won a squeaker against Wolverines.  Apparently, Wolverines had a chance to tie, but missed.   Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.   Please don't hesitate to send any comments.  I'm happy to incorporate any changes to make the league better or work better for you.  Biraj     08 October 2009 Open drop-in for KBL League players only on Sunday, Oct. 11 from 2 pm to 6pm at Kits only.  Bring a dark shirt and a white shirt.  Also, bring your own bballs. Biraj   06 October 2009 Games are generally well played.  Some terrific games.  A couple not so good, but we'll turn it around.  We're off for Thanksgiving next weekend.  Notes as follows: 1) Sometimes, we just have to be friendlier on the court.  Games are pretty competitive.  Let your rules be your guide, and do your part to ensure a good tone within the game.  You control the game, so you dictate whether it's going to be a good one or not.  The issues are only with one or two games and a few players here and there.  97% of the league is just fine. 2) Terrific game between Red Truck and Lomas on Sunday, which Lomas won by two.  Also a great one between Plenty of Swish and Wolverines. 3) Thanks to Vince for reporting the Sunset scores yesterday along with the commentary below (Thanks to Annie from Rain for the scores last week) "Usual Suspects 120 over Triple Threat 109" - Triple Threat didn't know what hit them. Usual Suspects played an incredible game with some unbelievable shooting from the three point line. The entire team played well and it was a clean game with a total of 9 fouls. Usual Suspects are now the team to beat in KBL Division 1. "Basketcases 81 over MP Ballers 60 - After a slow start, Basketcases used their size advantage and ran away with the game during the last 20 minutes with some timely defence and aggressive work on the offensive boards. Nick Vojik had a KBL career game, almost going for a triple double". 4) There was one default - Rain defaulted against Barrage.  Even though this game was defaulted, there were some issues that didn't need to be there.  Often, issues are related to too much talking or with "stuff" that has nothing to do with the game.  Generally, captains should resolve things between themselves in the presence of the monitor - lengthy conversations are unnecessary - save these for your loved ones.  Just refer to the rules and do not instruct or criticize each other - just remind each other of the rules and convey this to your players.  Always ensure the monitor is present.   -- There is no need for trash talking or chatter of any kind. Just play the game and walk away. 5) Dunking issues - here is part of my text sent to the captains this week.  We’re now 4 weeks into our long season, and I think we’ve had a great start.  However, there are some players who are violating our dunking rules, and some captains are not stopping their players from dunking – warm up or during the game.  This is a major problem as it could cost us money, which I don’t want to have to deal with – it’s a very sensitive topic with the centers.  We’ve paid out $3000 in fines already over the past couple of years, and the arrangement is that if we bring down a rim, we pay a minimum $1500 to replace it, along with bearing some responsibility for programs that get cancelled because of the rim.  Also, the community centers have indicated that this would jeopardize our existence in the centers because we’ve already been fined twice – 3 strikes and ….. we’re in trouble.   Basically, our rules allow “air dunking”, which means a player cannot touch the rim.  The usual excuse is that players are trying to protect their fall.  This is not an excuse, and there is no excuse for touching the rim.  If you find yourself having to hang onto the rim because of your “joy ride”, that’s the player’s problem – don’t look for a dunk in the first place.  The guidelines for dunking are as per the rules on the website  Please make sure your players understand the rules about dunking and why we have them.  Captains need to assert themselves.  If there are players that just can’t resist illegal dunks, dump them.  We’ve got too large a league and too many players that enjoy the game to allow a few “joy riders” to jeopardize this league.   Biraj   Have a great Thanksgiving weekend and see you the following week.  Biraj         28 Sept. 2009 Games continue to go well.   Monitors are doing a great job.  Notes as follows: 1) No defaults this week because many players were playing in the WCC tourney in Richmond. 2) Note the new game times for Sunset   --- Games have been moved up 15 minutes because of time overrun issues.  --- Issue with playing over our allotted time yesterday at Sunset.  The last game went into overtime, which resulted in the game finishing at 5:25 pm.  We cannot do this.  We have to be out of the gym by 5:00 pm as it's not fair to the program following us.  Therefore, it's important to start all games on time.  There is about 5 minutes margin per game, but that's about it.  If you find yourselves in a situation where the game start time is late, or if the length of the game because of overtime, injury, or otherwise is such that the game is encroaching on the next game, then the game needs to be shortened.  For example, at Sunset yesterday, although the teams started close to on time (3:50 pm), the game should have been shortened.  The clock controls the game, and not vice versa, where the game controls the clock.  There are several ways to do this: a) run the clock - don't do stop time, b) run the clock in timeouts, c) reset the time - if there are 15 minutes left, and it looks like the game will be too late, simply take 5 minutes off and reset the clock to 10 minutes, and d) do a shortened overtime.  The bottom line is that your games must be finished within your scheduled time window - if it means a 40 minute game, then that's what it has to be.  The Sunset situation is particularly sensitive because another group has the gym at 5 pm.  Worst case, if you're in the middle of your game and it's 5 pm, you must stop and give the gym up - we'll find some other way to resolve the game. 3) Monitors/Captains - Please ensure that scores are reported correctly on the scoresheet.  Many scores are reversed. 4) Standings are starting to separate the teams, although it's still quite early.   New teams need to pick it up a bit and give the veteran teams a bit more of a run.  The upper parts of Div. 1 and Div. 2 could see some change this season. 5) Many games have been quite exciting, but I only find out about them days or more later.  Captains, please feel free to send any commentary on your games, and I will post them. 6) Please help with setup at Kerrisdale.  Sometimes, I may go to Kits first, so please try and get the first game going as close to 1 pm as possible.  The building supervisor usually will do most of the setup, but sometimes they're pulled away.  Thanks. Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   26 Sept. 2009 Great games last week.  No issues.  Many games are close, so please make sure you follow the guidelines for the last 3 minutes.  They're a bit complicated, so I'm open to suggestions to simplify them.  The basics are: 1) Shot clock kicks in only if the game is close - within 18 points 2) Foul shooting only kicks in if the game is really close - 6 points.  Foul shooting only occurs in the last 3 minutes, otherwise the bonus points are added automatically. 3) Bonus points start being awarded at 12 fouls, and every two fouls thereafter. 4) 5 sec rule introduced last year.  Seems to work.  This rule only kicks in if the shot clock is between 20 secs and 30 secs and one team is down by 2 or 3 points and they don't have possession of the ball.   The team that is ahead has until 5 secs to put up the ball.  Regardless of how far the clock runs down after 5 secs, the team that was down gets the ball at half court and 5 seconds.  The idea with this rule was to avoid teams fouling like crazy to get the ball back and thus avoiding dealing with contests and the madness that sometimes goes with it. See you this weekend - Note that no defaults will be applied this Sunday because some players are playing in a big tournament at Richmond this weekend.  Nevertheless teams must field at least 3 guys/2 women to have a chance at a win.  Otherwise, it's an automatic loss, but not a default. Biraj   17 Sept. 2009 Great start on Sunday.  All the games seem to have gone very well.  Some games felt like playoff games already!  New teams adjusted quickly, and the veteran teams did a great job mentoring the new teams.  Notes as follows: 1) Don't forget to locate team benches at your defensive end.  This is to allow easy subbing.  At Kits, please ensure the two hockey nets are moved outside the gym so that the bench is available.  Too often, one team sits too close to mid-court. With the hockey nets removed, subbing would be truly in the defensive end. 2) At each gym, please help get with gym setup before the first game.  Similarly, please help with gym cleanup after the last game.  We're in great stead with the centers at the moment, so let's keep it that way. 3) Thanks to Diana from Team Sputnik for reporting the scores from Sunset. 4) Subs - there are no league subs again this year, however, individuals do email me from time to time to get into the league.  So captains can always email me to see if I have any subs, and I'll see if I can help out.  One thing that is not allowed is for individuals to play on two teams - in the same Division or in different Divisions.  Also, teams may not use players that are not on their roster.  The only subs allowed are subs that come through me.  I'm also working on an arrangement where teams may call captains on teams with a BYE for subs.  This should help avoid defaults.  Since the league is too large for me to check on every game, which I don't want to be doing anyway, if you see teams using subs that they shouldn't be using, just let the captains know, and the captain should then adjust - we've got a great set of captains, so I don't think we're going to have too many issues. 5) League structure.  As you know, we're running two large Divisions.  The tentative plan is to complete the round robin and split each Division into two groups of 8 (Groups A and B), with the 17th place team from each Division either playing exhibition games in the playoffs or just sitting out, depending on scheduling.  The Groups of 8 would then play a three week playoff (1 vs.8, 2 vs. 7, ....) to arrive at the respective Group Champs, which would also result in Div. 1 and Div.2 champs.  The Div. 1 champ would win the KBL Cup (slightly smaller, and with slightly less silver, than the Stanley Cup!), plus some goodies.  For the Spring 2010 season, we will likely run three Divisions.  Fall 2009/Winter 2010 standings will determine Spring 2010 divisional placements. 6) League social planned for late Feb./early March. Have a great week, and see you on Sunday.  Biraj     13 Sept. 2009 League starts today.  Please confirm your game times on the website, and let your players know to do the same.      The rest of the schedule will be posted shortly – hopefully in a day or two.  Please review the rules on the website http://www.kerrisdalebasketballleague.ca/rules.htm   - new teams in particular.   Some key points to keep in mind. 1)       Bring a dark shirt and a white shirt – no grey or light coloured shirts. 2)       Don’t forget to check the monitoring schedule. 3)       When waiting for your game, please do not dribble basketballs on the sidelines.  You should take the time to stretch, and basically park the ball until it’s your turn.  Respect the ongoing game. 4)       No food in any of the gyms.  Monitors – do not bring food to the monitors desk. 5)       Games are 60 minutes continuous with the last 3 minutes stop time. 6)       No touching the rims.  “Air dunks” where you don’t contact the rim are okay. 7)       Guys cannot jump to block women – automatic two points if this happens. 8)       Team to beat is Triple Threat. 9)       League single game scoring record is 177 points. 10)   Bonus kicks in at 12 points. See you later.  Have fun.  Biraj   08 August 2009 Hi Everyone.  Hope you're having a great summer.  It's registration time for KBL.  We're going to start registration a bit earlier this year to get all teams registered before 06 Sept.  Registration details as follows: 1) League starts 13 Sept. 09, with drop-in for new and veteran teams on 06 Sept. 2) Tentative Fall season end date is 31 Jan. 2010, although this will depend on teams registered.  We may also skip some time because of the Olympics 3) Fall season fee is $610, which includes center membership for 13 players.  I’ve left the fee the same as last year even though two of the centers (Kits and Sunset) have noticeably raised their fees.  Please note that there is a $100 damage deposit required as well. 4) Registration opens at all centers on 05 Aug. 09.  Registration process is to first send me your rosters.  Please identify a team captain and the person who will be paying the fees (can be the same person). Once I approve your respective roster, I will let you know which center to register at.  Please do not try and register at any of the centers before I approve your roster.  The centers will simply redirect you to me. 5) Rosters should include Name, Address, Date of Birth, Telephone No., and email (optional – centers don’t require this, but it would help me). 6) Rosters should have at least 10 players – 6 guys/4 gals.  You can add three players for no additional charge at any time through the season.  Additional players beyond 13 must purchase a membership at the center the team is registered at. 7) New team registrations won’t begin until Aug. 26th, so you’ve got a good chunk of time to register before I take on new teams. 8) League structure is TBD, based on no. of teams registered.  We will likely go to 2 large divisions for the Fall (32 teams), and then split to 3 Divisions for the Winter/Spring season.  I’m anticipating between 28 and 34 teams. 9) Captains meeting is TBD.  I look forward to another great season this Fall.  Please do not hesitate to send me any suggestions or comments – feedback is really helpful to make the league better.  Regards.  Biraj     01 June 2009 Great set of finals and consolation finals on Sunday.  (A couple of disappointing defaults - players should have showed up - it was poor spirit to not have shown, especially with the number of subs that I could have pulled.  Last minute calls serve no purpose). Final standings posted on Notice Board. Congratulations to Triple Threat for winning the KBL Championships.  Congratulations also to Protocol for winning Div. 2 and for Raptors for winning Div. 3. Triple Threat won a terrific game against Red Truck who made a run near the end.   This might be Triple Threat's third championship (maybe 4).  Both teams are talented and should continue to challenge each other next Fall.  There were a few people out to watch, which was good to see. Protocol won a "not so smooth" game against Sweetwater to win Div. 2.  There was too much unnecessary activity in this game that diminished the spirit and quality of a KBL championship game.  Nevertheless, both teams did adjust at times, allowing a reasonable finish.  Sweetwater had a chance to win near the end of the game, but missed the shot.  Protocol shot very well, particularly from 3 pt land, and they used the fast break to their advantage often.  But the difference might have been the Protocol defense, which created a number of turnovers.  -- Going forward, both teams will have to adjust to get back into the spirit of this league. Raptors won an exciting game against Rain to win Div. 3.  This was an exciting win for the Raptors as they went from nearly last place in Div. 3 to Champs.  The game itself was very well played by both teams.  Rain did not seem to shoot as well as I've seen them shoot, however, they sure blocked a few shots.  Raptors just put in a great team effort all over the court.  A well deserved congratulations to the Raptors for their win and congratulations to Rain for their effort. Congratulations to the following 3rd pace teams: Div. 1 - Royals Div. 2 - Jamma Div. 3 - Debate Team Congratulations to the following teams for their Pool B wins. Div. 1 - Usual Suspects Div. 2 - Badgers Div. 3 - Benchwarmers Congratulations also to the BasketCases, MP Ballerz, and White Rice for their consolations wins. Prizes were awarded to the two finalists in Pools A & B in each Division.   However, I do have Ceilis pub certificates for every team, which I will have to find a way to distribute.  A summary of the prizes is as follows: Div. 1 Triple Threat -- Custom Chocolate Boxes, Beer, $100 Ceilis Gift Certicate, Ceilis Pub Certificates Red Truck - KBL Bags, $50 Ceilis Gift Certicate, Chocolate Boxes, Ceilis Pub Certificates. Div. 2 Protocol - KBL Bags, Chocolate Medals, $50 Ceilis Gift Certificate, Ceilis Pub Certificate Sweetwater - $75 Ceilis GC, Chocolate Medals, Ceilis Pub Certificate Div. 3 Raptors - KBL Bags, Chocolate Medals, $50 Ceilis GC, Ceilis Pub Certificate, Beer Rain - $75 Ceilis GC, Chocolate Medals, Ceilis Pub Certificate, Beer Unfortunately, I didn't have enough GCs to give out to more teams.  I will try for more next season, but the pubs don't seem as generous as they used to be.  I used to get 2 for 1 from Malones, which was great for many years, but nowadays, you almost have to buy them outright.  So if anyone has ideas for more generous GCs, let me know.  Nevertheless, Ceilis has been very good to us with their Pub Certificates, so let's continue to support Ceilis, and I will  work on them for a better deal on GCs. Well, we've come to an end of a great season, and we've also come to an end to our year of KBL basketball.  A lot has happened over the year in each of our unique lives, but the basketball remains pretty much the same - it's all about the game.  Players come from varying distances, varying backgrounds, and varying careers, but when it comes to the game, we're all the same - we just like to play.  In the honourable tradition of thanking those who make things work, I'd like to thank a number of people. 1) All the captains for all that they have done for their team and for this league.  Players should really treat their captains because without them there is a lot about this league that wouldn't work.  Many names come quickly to mind, but if I started listing them, I would end up listing every captain in the league. 2) Brian from RV for continuing to maintain the structure of the website and allowing me to post the weekly information without any glitches. 3) The three community centers and their staff who week after week ensured that the games could happen.  Special thanks to Sunset for facilitating the games without me having to be there. 4) To all the players who enjoy playing in this league.  These players have made it fun for others and have brought a sense of community to this league. 5) To the veteran players and captains who represent the core of this league and who bring stability and opportunity to the many new players in the league and those looking to join. 6) Thanks to all the monitors 7) Thanks to all the players who helped me with the league and offered help - everything is easy when this happens. 8) Thanks to Brian from Blaze for his liquid prizes and tremendous ongoing support of the league.  Brian is another player in the league with an addition to his family, so congratulations - in a few years there will be enough KBL juniors to start a junior league! Registration for next season will begin in early August at all three centers.  At the moment, if all teams return in the Fall, we will likely go to 34 teams as there are potentially 3-4 new teams. Have a great summer and see you around the city.  I'll be on the tennis courts.  Biraj         30 May 2009 Please see note on HOME page regarding the passing of one of our past players - Marty Basso. 26 May 2009 Great semis on Sunday, except for one default - Money.  We're all set for all the Finals this Sunday including the championship game at Kits between Triple Threat and Red Truck, which I would encourage all of of you to come and watch.  They're both talented and terrific teams.  Vince - don't forget to bring the trophy - someone on Red Truck might want it!.  Please see Notice Board for playoff matchups.  As well, the schedule for the final week is now posted. I would like to congratulate the new teams this season - White Rice, Twenty Three, Debate Team, and Hornets as they made the league better with their presence.  These teams had terrific rosters and played with great spirit - good to have them in the league. One aside note - Anna (Jamma) - guess what! - don't forget that ice pack next week! Also, please see note on Notice Board from Carrie and Kelly from Triple Threat regarding a Breast Cancer Fundraiser at Ceilis. Div. 1 Triple Threat won a close rematch against Lomas.  Lomas redeemed themselves from TT's record breaking scoring performance recently against them.  Here is a summary from Vincent on TT. "TT got off to a slow start and Lomas looked quicker and sharper for the first half. Lomas shooters were hitting from everywhere and Chris Porteous was deadly in the open court. TT was down by as much as 19 with 30 minutes left. We called timeout and BK asked, "Where's Carrie" before he took the game over and went on a personal 25 point run. TT took the lead for good with seven minutes left, but Lomas were in it right until the last two minutes. BK ended with 53 points and shredded every defender sent his way." I didn't see the Red Truck/Royals game, but this was likely a great game considering the narrow 6 pt. margin of victory. In one Pool B game, Hoop Dreams won a close one over BasketCases - didn't see this one.  In the other game, Usual Suspects won by default - too bad this had to happen, particularly at playoff time.  Hopefully, Money will get their act together and field a full team next week. In the Pool C game, BTR also won a good game against Shake'n Bake.   Here is a summary from Vince, the monitor. "Another competitive game that went down to the wire. Shake and Bake was aggressive early, but couldn't stretch the lead beyond a handful of points. Their shot-making dropped off in the second half, as Pat Sponaski challenged shots and controlled every defensive rebound. BTR women played well and played a key role during final 10 minutes." Div. 2 There was a terrific Pool A semi between Protocol/Jamma.  Protocol won by 2 in a contest that was close throughout.  Jamma seemed to lead most of the game with some balanced play from the men and women (great defense by the women), however, Protocol's quickness kept them close until they went ahead by two points with about 25 seconds to go.  Protocol had to put up a shot with 5 seconds left on the clock.  At 6.5 seconds, there was a loose ball at half court and a Jamma player had a good chance at possession, but the ball slipped away before he could call time out - great effort.  Time then ran out. In the other Pool A semi, Sweetwater won over Blaze.  Looks like Blaze will stay in Div. 2, something that by their history in the league, they're not used to. In Pool B, Abusement Park won easily with their quickness over FCV, and Badgers were too much for MP Ballerz. Tenacious D won the Pool C win easily as well over Sweet. Div. 3 In one semi, Rain won a high scoring game against a very good Debate team.  The game seemed to be evenly matched for the first 20 minutes that I watched. In the other semi, Raptors won over RV - only saw part of this game. In Pool B, Got Game and Benchwarmers won terrific games over White Rice and Hornets respectively.  Got Game played a well focused and energized game, while Benchwarmers were just too much of a team - too quick, good shooting, great defense - just a well organized team. Finally, in Pool C, Magic played a great game in their win over Twenty Three. Have a great week, and come ready to play your respective games next Sunday.  Biraj         17 May 2009 Playoff matchups are all set in all Divisions.  The final game in Div. 1 was played this afternoon - thanks to both teams for playing the makeup game.  Royals played a fantastic shooting game to win a good one over Usual Suspects.  Usual Suspects were right in there early on, but couldn't match the Royals' shooting, particularly the 3 pt. shooting.  Minor issue with on court chatter to whoever - take away message is to play the game, especially with the upcoming playoff games, which can be intense.  Keep the fun, and it will all work out fine. We've had a great regular season, and we should have a great set of playoffs.  See you next Sunday. Biraj   14 May 2009 Playoff matchups are posted on the Notice Board.  Playoff schedule is posted on the schedule, with three Div. 1 games pending results from this weekend's game between Royals and Usual Suspects. Div. 1 Triple Threat are the team to beat.  But Lomas, Royals, Red Truck, Hoop Dreams, and Usual Suspects could give them a run if they can shut down their superstar. There was a bit of a physical game between Triple Threat and Shake'n Bake last Sunday.  The game was a bit too physical for the kind of flow this league is about.  Teams will have to adjust.  Usual Suspects won a close one against Money to set themselves up for a shot at the top 4. Div. 2 Protocol went through undefeated - the only undefeated team in the league - congratulations.  The Div. 2 Final Four matchups should make for some great basketball.  The Pool B group are also well matched, so more good basketball there as well.  There are two very good teams in Pool C.  These teams had some untimely issues with rosters, which didn't help them be competitive in Div. 2.  Both these teams will go to Div. 3 next season. Div. 3 Some very exciting matchups in this Division.  There was a terrific game last Sunday between Hornet and Raptors.  Hornets won by two on a very well played game.  The game was close all the way with the game hanging on every possession and on every player.  Both teams had great team contribution with the Hornets getting a broader contribution - really good team effort.  With the game down to about 17 seconds and the Raptors down by 2, Raptors had a chance to equalize.  But good defense by Raptors including a key "low altitude" block by one of the women on Hornets ended Raptors' chances for a win and a first place finish in Div. 3.  Nevertheless, Raptors have a date with Debate Team in one semi to see if they can finish in the top 2 and thus move into Div. 2 next season.   The Pool B matchups are exciting with a couple of new teams - Hornets and White Rice.  In Pool C, Magic and Twenty Three will play to see who stays out of the last place position in the league - nothing wrong with being 30th, but it's a challenge to try and stay out of this spot. I'm working on the prizes at the moment, and it looks like there is enough budget for the top two finishers in Pool A and Pool B in each Division.  I'm also working on getting pub certificates to Ceilis for every team in the league.  And ofcourse, Triple Threat will have to put the league trophy on the scorer's desk for the Finals, as much as Vincent would like to keep it at his house. Have a great long weekend.  Biraj 12 May 2009 Final standings are up, except for Div. 1, where there is one make up game that has to be played before the standings can be finalized.  This game between Usual Suspects and Royals should get played this Sunday.  However, the rest of the playoff schedule should be up by this Friday.  For the playoffs, each Division will split into three Pools.  Pool A will consist of the top 4 teams; Pool B will consist of the 5th place to 8th place teams, and Pool C will consist of the 9th place and 10th place teams.   In Pools A and B, the top team will play the lowest finishing team in one semi final, and the two intermediate teams will play in another semi final.  Pool C teams will play only a one game playoff to see who stays out of bottom spot in each Division.  For Divisional movement, the top two teams after the playoffs will move up, while the bottom two teams (Pool C teams) will move down - this movement of course doesn't apply to the top two teams in Div. 1 and the bottom two teams in Div. 3. For the playoffs, teams may not use any subs at all.  All players must have played 3 games.  If there are exceptional circumstances, please run this by me first.  One team on Sunday used a sub that played for a Div. 1 team making the point that because this person was a sub, they could also play for a Div. 3 team.  I wasn't there through the game, but I heard about this after the game.  Sometimes, you just have to use your sense of fairness.  I do not want to keep extending the rules to capture all situations, otherwise, I'd need another website.  Teams cannot just pull players from wherever and call them subs.  Alls subs must be cleared through me - for exceptional circumstances.  Obviously, a Div. 1 level player should not be subbing for a Div. 3 team - how can this be fair?  To avoid subbing issues for the playoffs, the rules are simply that no team can use any subs at all.  Play with the players that have played through the season, as this is what playoffs are about.  If you can't field a team, then please send whatever players you have, and we'll at least have a game with the team fielding a full team winning by default.  Again, it's the playoffs.  Be fair. More notes to come in the next couple of days.  Biraj 05 May 2009 Good set of games.  We had one major injury.  Julie from Money dislocated a finger on an incidental play.  She went to Emerg quickly.  Looks like she will be out for at least 6 weeks.  Best wishes to Julie for a complete recovery. Most notable bball news from Sunday was the team scoring record set by Triple Threat.  TT scored 177 points against 91 for Lomas - 177 points is about 3 points a minute.  Lummerland held the previous record at 176.   This record seemed unbeatable, but unbelievably, it was beaten yesterday.  Although TT has a fantastic all round team, with exceptionally strong women, they have one guy who is unstoppable and very much a top college/possible NBA player - definitely worth watching. Next week is our last week of regular season play, and then we're into playoffs.  Please note that there is a slight adjustment in the schedule at Kerrisdale with Magic and Hornets playing a double header near the end of the day's schedule. Captains, please keep in mind the 3 game rule - all players must have played 3 games to play in the playoffs.  As well, if they cannot meet the 3 game rule with the last game, they cannot play.  If a player is found in violation of this rule, the team will default the game retroactively - absolutely no excuses, unless cleared through me for exceptional circumstances. From the entire league, special wishes at a difficult time to one of the players. Div. 1 Looks like we might have the same top four as last season, which would be interesting.  However, there may be new matchups in Pool B.  Looks like BTR is going to miss the cutoff for staying in Div. 1 after a long stretch in Div. 1. Div. 2 Protocol remain the only unbeaten team in the league with an easy win over Sweet - great game though - I got a good 20 minutes in myself, which is why Sweet lost!.  Badgers won a close one against Abusement Park.  "Both squads were slightly undermanned which made for a slowpaced defensive battle. Badgers had possession with 16 seconds left but coughed the ball up with 7 seconds to go. Abusement Park called a timeout and pulled off a nice lob for the last play of the game. One of the Badger girls stepped up big and got a piece of the last shot to seal the victory."  Cody. The 2,3,4 spots in Div. 2 are still up in the air.  It's going to come down to the last game. Div. 3 Rain spoiled the Raptors unbeaten season with a good win over them.  The 3 and 4 spots are still TBD.  It should be a good finish.  Got Game has a made a tremendous improvement over last season, and they're right in the thick of the race for the Final Four.  Magic/Hornets will play a key doubleheader to potentially see who makes the top 8. Have a great week and see you on Sunday.  Biraj       27 April 2009 Some great games yesterday.  There are only two more games left in the regular season, and we're then into playoffs.  Although the games are getting better and better, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.  Firstly, a few players, mostly new ones, feel that when they decide that the opposing player has violated a basic bball rule such as travelling, double dribble, over the back, or double dribble, they can gain possession.  Not so.  Possession can only be turned over if the other team agrees to the call.  The other team needs to be assertive in these situations because I've seen a few players just pick up the ball as if they own it and start to move the play forwards.  In a close game, these turnovers can likely be the difference. ---- Secondly -- players need to more clearly indicate to the monitor when there is a foul or contest - no need to be loud - just a simple communication.   Thirdly - only players involved in the foul should say foul or contest.  Other players, including captains, need to stay out of it.   Benches, ofcourse, should not make any comment. Div. 1 Triple Threat continue to lead the pack.  It'll be interesting to see which four teams make up the Final Four.  Royals are making a push to get into the Final Four.  They had a good win against Hoop Dreams. Div. 2 Terrific competition in this Division as every game seems to be within 10 points, just like this past Sunday.   Protocol maintained hold of top spot with a close win over Sweetwater.  Abusement Park won a very exciting game against TD.   TD had a one point lead with about 20 seconds.  AP had the ball.  AP scored with about 4 seconds left, but TD didn't call a time out.  TD were given a chance to call a timeout before the ball was put in play with 20 secs left.   But I think there was a coaching mistake here as TD would have given themselves a chance with a timeout.   Blaze won a good one against Sweet, and FCV won a fairly intense, but good game over Badgers.  Finally, Jamma won a very good game against MP.  Both teams worked hard in this one. Div. 3 Raptors continue to lead the pack here with a one point thriller over Debate Team.  The competition is to see who ends up in the Final Four.  There was one triple OT game, with RV winning over Got Game.  I didn't see this game, but I heard it was a great one.  The 3OT forced a shortened final game at Kits, but only by a few minutes. Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj   24 April 2009 Welcome back after a couple of weeks off.  Games seemed to go reasonably well last Sunday.  Believe it or not, we've only got three games left before we're into playoffs.  No major issues.  One technical point.  In close games, please remember that the the 5 sec. rule only kicks in when there are between 20 and 30 secs left in the game.   Also, thanks to Ally for monitoring the Money/Shake'n Bake game as it looks like Got Game missed their monitoring. Div. 1 Triple Threat continues to lead the way, but with a number of competitive teams close by.  Games seem to be going well.  It'll be interesting to see which teams end up in the top four to compete for the KBL Cup - Triple Threat are not going to want to give up the cup. Div. 2 Congrats to Protocol for being at the top of the standings and also for being undefeated.  Protocol is a Div. 3 team that has done extremely well in Div.2.  This team has a great balance of shooters, speed, and rebounding - well done.   From 2nd place down, anything can happen because the teams are well matched.  The Final Four could look very different in 3 weeks.  One surprise is that Sweet, a perennially strong team, is struggling.  This team has very strong women, so hopefully, the guys can get it together and make this team competitive again. Div. 3 Congrats to Raptors for pulling themselves all the way up from the bottom of Div. 3 last season to the top of Div. 3 this season.   Looks like they may hold this spot through the end of the season.  The four new teams in this Division have adjusted well and are a welcome addition to this league.   Have a great week and see you Sunday.  Biraj 07 April 2009 One injury.  Darcy on Jamma went pretty hard into the West wall at Kerrisdale, but the latest news from her is that she's okay.  I will look at putting some more padding on the end walls.  --- Good improvement in the games.  There was noticeable improvement in the foul calling and contests.  However, there is one additional point I need to bring up.  Often, teams increase their frequency of contests near the end of close games when they find themselves with 12 or more fouls.  I've watched some of these situations, and it does look like players are calling unreasonable contests in these late game situations.  Contests (and fouls calls) should be consistent throughout the game.  If a team suddenly bumps up the frequency of their contests in a close game or any game situation, I will review the situation with the captains and monitors, and assign some sort of penalty to the team - even as far as reversing the win and suspensions.  -- Another point to note is that benches need to stop commenting and calling fouls and contests --  including captains.  There are a couple of teams that do this repeatedly like some kind of a chorus line, and there are individuals who predictably do this, even after they've been warned.  So we're going to have to deal with this as it's affecting the game for many who just continue to just play the game. Believe it or not, we're just over half way through the season! Div. 1 Triple Threat and Hoop Dreams continue to lead the pack, but the standings are pretty tight.  Hoop Dreams are handicapped by their one default.  Games seem very competitive all around. Div. 2 Interestingly, Protocol, last year's Div. 3 winners, are leading Div.2.  This team is playing well with a balanced squad - they look like they're going to stay there.   However, like Div. 1, standings are tight.  Looking at the teams, standings could easily change as the teams seem well matched. Div. 3 Congrats to Raptors for making a big leap in the standings from last season.  Raptors are leading the way, but there are a few teams only steps behind.  Games seem to be going well.  A couple of issues, which I think can be addressed by the general comments I've sent on fouls & contests. We're off next week, so have a great Easter weekend, and see you the following week.  Biraj             01 April 2009 Mostly good games on Sat. and Sun.   We had two serious injuries in the Sweetwater/Abusement Park game on Sunday.  Greg had a serious cut on the top of his head from the impact of an Abusement Park players's tooth - this player lost a tooth, but seemed to be okay.  Greg's injury was controlled, and he was asked to go to Emerg because of the large loss of blood.  I will follow up.  Reminder that with any kind on injury, small or large, serious or not so serious (in appearance), the game stops right away and and follow through is negated.  At Kits and Sunset, First Aid is at front desk.  At Kerrisdale, if I'm not around, then front desk as well. My apologies for having to cancel the first game at Kits between Royals and Usual Suspects.  I seem to be having communication issues with the new programmer at Kits, but I'll work through this - sorry. Games were noticeably improved from last week, but two new teams seem to have trouble - White Rice/Twenty Three.  I will follow up on both these teams. One point to keep in mind is that "Contests" are a normal part of our game.  My guess is that in a "normal" game there would be about 25 foul situations, with about 10 to 12 contests per game and 10 to 15 fouls.  So if you treat Contests as a normal part of our game, you should find that the tone of the Contests improves, as well as the tone of the game.  Often, players take Contests personally, or a player contests in a judgmental, personal way.  It's okay to disagree via Contests, and this is normal.  Tone is important.  Basketball is one of these games where there is no net between two teams, so you're bound to have some contact and disagreements. Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Biraj       24 March 2009 Hi Everyone.  Not sure what's happening, but we seem to be having some problems with a few of the games.  Most of the games are still going very well, but I'm surprised at the number of complaints I've been getting - three or four serious emails each week.  I am almost tempted to call a league meeting of the captains, but let's see if we can get things sorted out first.  If not, we're going to have to have a meeting. Div. 1 Red Truck are off to a good start by winning against a good Lomas team - no issues with this game.  Also no issues with the TT/BasketCases game where TT had too much basketball against a very good BasketCases team who seem to just need some sync to compete with the best.  Hoop Dreams seem to win a good game against Usual Suspects - didn't see any issues.   No issues also with the Royals/Shake'n Bake game.  But I seem to walk into a minefield with the BTR/Money game.  These teams know each other very well, and it should have made for a very good competitive game, but things got a little hot.   I know both teams very well.  My suggestion is that both teams appoint new floor captains for a week and see what happens.  The new temporary captains should be players who have not captained before, and both teams should clearly let their opposing captains know that they're the floor captains next week. Div. 2 Lots of issues with the MP/Badgers game.  The issues seem to be with unfair contests.  I've seen this happen quite a bit lately in several games in all Divisions.  I cannot comment on the fairness of the contests in this game as I wasn't there, but in general, we must play within the spirit of the league. What is the spirit of the league?  Although this is described in the rules, I'll give you a short description.  Basically, we must play honestly and with integrity.  Otherwise, players should not be playing in this league.  If you're contesting because you don't want a foul against your team, or you don't want to admit to a foul, or you're retaliating for a previous call against you, or you don't like the player who called a foul on you, or your shot is off that day, you better get off the court.   This league has no room for players who take advantage of the flexibility and freedom of the league's rules.  This league is meant for players to enjoy a good run and a bit of spirited competition.  It is definitely not about winning and losing.  If you have to pause at this last statement, you need to talk a walk and think about this.  The league will not work if players take advantage of the rules.  The rules are there to help players enjoy a fair and spirited game.  The wins should be fair, and so should the losses.  These wins and losses can be on the scoreboard or anywhere on the court in any situation.  You must play with the sense that if you're not sure about any call, you must give it to the other player.  You must give away these calls!   You will not earn the respect of anyone if you take advantage of the rules.  Many players in this league play with respect, earned from consideration of the spirit of the league, for the game, and for other players on the court.  But some bad habits have been creeping in lately, in all Divisions.  Apparently, based on comments from Div. 3 games, there are issues there as well.  So before you come to play next Sunday, please think about the kind of game you're going to play, and think about your part in helping the spirit of whatever game you'll be playing in.  It's up to all of us. It can't be 98% of the players that play within the spirit of the league, and it can't be playing within the spirit 98% of the time.  It has to be 100% (getting 100% grades is a whole other thing - spirit and grades are completely different - one has a scale and the other one doesn't - shooting 8 out 10 foul shots is great, but calling unfair contests 20% of the time is a league disaster - sometimes we make the wrong call fairly, and that's fine - if you've done it fairly, you should be flexible to change it if necessary).  It may seem like too much, but it's not.  There is no such thing as 98% honesty, or 98% integrity, or 98% respect.  It's either there or it isn't.  We've got to adjust, so let's pull it together starting this Sunday. The other games in Div. 2 seemed to go well, even though they were very close -- all within 4 points. Div. 3 The Rain/Benchwarmers game had issues.   I think the note above applies.  I know these two teams, so I'm very surprised to hear there were problems.  But we have to nip the problems now.  Other Div. 3 games seem to go okay. Have a great week, and please come prepared next Saturday and Sunday to do your part to ensure a fair, friendly, competitive, and enjoyable game.  Biraj       17 March 2009 Spring league is underway.  This should be a good season with just a single round robin in each Division.  Games look very competitive.  We're at 30 teams this season, with 10 teams in each Division.  Therefore, the season will be 11 games per team, including 2 playoff games. We've added 5 new teams this season, and we lost three, likely to be back in the Fall.  Four of the five teams joined Div. 3, with Sweet joining Div. 2. All the games last week seemed to go very well, especially the Div. 3 games, which always seem to be played with a lot of team spirit.  However, there are a couple of teams who better start making adjustments, or players are going to start getting pulled off the court without warning - Div. 1 and Div. 2.  The league has been running really well, and the league doesn't need to be derailed by three or four players.  Sometimes, new players seem to take advantage of the freedom offered on the court in this league.  Most of the time, it's just an adjustment, but sometimes, players don't fit.  I'll be keeping a close eye on these players next week, either directly or through the players.  Captains, please work with your players to encourage the spirit of the league.  The games go so much smoother when this happens, and players are happier.  It's important for everyone to read and understand the rules. Have a great week, and see you Sunday.   08 MARCH 2009.  1 pm to 4:30 pm games at Kits cancelled because of a volleyball tournament.  All other games at Kits, Kerrisdale, and Sunset are on.  My sincere apologies.  Don't forget the time change.  Biraj   08 March 2009 Spring league starts today.  Don't forget that clocks are one hour ahead. Very successful social yesterday.  Thanks to Corey for pulling the social together.  Corey went way beyond to make this work.  Thanks also to Kasia for helping Corey make it happen.  Please thank these two players individually. Special thanks to Brian for his extensive support of the league and for helping me organize the prizes yesterday. We handed out a few prizes yesterday.  Although there were a few more prizes to hand out, it wasn't easy in the pub environment - yes, I should have used a mic.  Anyway, here is a summary of what had been planned: 1) Thanks to all the captains.  I was hoping to recognize each captain. 2) Special mention to historical captains - captains who have been in the league a long time - 7 or more years or around there.  Brian (Blaze), Mark (Money), Jude (MP), Brad (Jamma), Vincent (TT), Mike Oord (BTR). 3) Special mention to historical players in a non captainship role: Alastair (BasketCases), Donna (Blaze), Mike Billings (Blaze), Chris Peerless (Truckin) 4) Congrats to Triple Threat for winning the League championships - they win the first league trophy and a fridge full of beer from Brian. 5) Congrats to Kalisha for winning Div. 2 and Protocol for winning Div. 3 6) League Spirit award nominations were Rain, Magic, Benchwarmers - winner was Rain. 7) League records - non broken this year 8) League MVP male nominations: Alex (Rain), Logan (Truckin eh!), Neil (Jamma), Andrew Fisher (Badgers), Prince (Kalisha), Geoff Lenahan (Magic), Mark (Royals).  Winner - Alex (Rain). 9) League MVP female nominations: Carrie (TT), Anna (Jamma), Sam (Lomas), Taylor (Truckin), Carolyn (FCV), Bettina (Magic), Julie (Money).  Winner Carrie (TT) 10) Best block nominations: Pat (BTR), Allie (Shake'n Bake) - winner Allie. 11) Cleanest dunk: Pat (BTR) 12) Best defensive player: Logan (Truckin) 13) Contribution to the league: Brian (Blaze) Thanks everyone for coming to the social.  If it wasn't for Corey, it wouldn't have happened.  See you all later today.  Biraj   02 March 2009 We had a great finish to the season yesterday.  There were quite a few terrific games, and it looks like we're going to have a good crowd at the social.  Before I go on, I should mention that the player on Sweetwater last week did have a significant injury to his knee - ruptured patellar tendon.  He did have surgery at VGH.  He is expected to be out for about 9 months, and we wish him the best.  Thanks to everyone who looked after him. Regarding the basketball - Congratulations to Triple Threat for capturing the league title again and the first league trophy.  The final was a very good game with the score within 10 much of the game.  Hoop Dreams played well.  Congratulations to Hoop Dreams for reaching the league final for the first time. Congratulations to Kalisha for capturing the Div. 2 title.  This was also a very good game.  Some small bumps, but the game was well played.  Shake'n Bake played well, but they couldn't contain the balance of the Kalisha team who got good contribution from everyone on the court.  There was one notable block in the game that could be called the "highlight of the night".  Special mention to the 18,000 Kalisha fans who watched the game -- sorry, it wasn't 18,000, but it sure sounded like the Kerrisdale palace was full!  The fans were doubly special in that they cleaned up after the game - thanks. Congratulations to The Protocol for their Div. 3 win over Abusement Park.  This was a terrific game and a first time win for The Protocol who have been waiting for this for a while.  The intensity was great throughout as there were good plays after good plays from both sides.  The Protocol ran the court and shot very well.  Abusement Park would have had to have shot a bit better to win this one.  Overall, great game, but there are a few things that need corrrection, and I'll work on these with the appropriate players. Prizes - all prizes shown in spreadsheet below.  Thanks to Ceilis for their sponsorship of the gift certificates.  Notable games: Magic/Rain - this was a "classic" Div. 3 matchup.  I saw the early part of this game, and one could tell that this was gong to be another great Magic/Rain game.  The score suggests this is exactly what happened with Magic winning a close one. BasketCases/Money - this game went into overtime.  Apparently, there was some confusion near the end, but hopefully, it all worked out fairly and all of them went to the same pub. Royals/BTR - no info on this one, but I would have liked to have seen this matchup. Raptors/Gnarls - apparently a great OT game. Barrage/Blaze - Mer's team showed a solid Div. 1 roster against a good Div. 1 team in Blaze.  Not sure what happened to Mer's team during the season, but if she had this roster throughout the season, they might be looking to Div. 1 instead of Div. 3. Anyway, thanks everyone for a wonderful season.  The games seemed to go very well, and I hope all of you enjoyed them.  It was a pleasure watching many of the games, and I know many people, particularly at Kerrisdale, enjoyed watching the games.  There are many people to thank: 1) The captains - the success of the league depends on good captains, and we had great ones.  Players, please treat your captains to drinks, dinner, gifts, etc...  This is a tradition in this league and you must do this.  Captains put in a lot of time and effort, and they should be thanked. 2) Monitors - terrific job by the monitors.  As the league establishes itself, the monitoring seems to get better and better.  Thanks to all who monitored. 3) Brian on MP Ballerz for designing the website, maintaining its structure, and responding to requests promptly. 4) The facilitators at all three community centers - Jody at Kerrisdale, Lorelei at Kits, and Kari at Sunset. 5) The building staff at all three centers.  Many of them just make things enjoyable and easy - one of them gives me grief, but hey - perfection would worry me more. 6) Friends and family of all the players for supporting their players and thus supporting the league. 7) Corey for working endlessly and selflessly to pull off the upcoming social.  Kasia for stepping in and being an invaluable help with the social.  For all the effort that these two have put in, we'll have to make the social more about them and less about the basketball. For the teams returning, please stay tuned regarding scheduling.  Thanks again everyone for making the league a success.  Biraj   Final Standings PRIZES League Div. Team Ceilis Gift Certificate     1 1 Triple Threat $75 Gold Medals/Fridge of Beer Ceilis Pub Cert. 2 2 Hoop Dreams $75 Silver Medals Ceilis Pub Cert. 3 3 Truckin eh! $50   Ceilis Pub Cert. 4 4 Lomas     Ceilis Pub Cert. 5 5 Royals $50   Ceilis Pub Cert. 6 6 BTR $50   Ceilis Pub Cert. 7 7 Money     Ceilis Pub Cert. 8 8 BasketCases     Ceilis Pub Cert. 9 9 Blaze     Ceilis Pub Cert. 10 1 Kalisha KBL Bags Gold Medals  Ceilis Pub Cert. 11 2 Shake'n Bake $75 Silver Medals Ceilis Pub Cert. 12 3 Badgers $50   Ceilis Pub Cert. 13 4 Jamma     Ceilis Pub Cert. 14 5 MP Ballerz $50   Ceilis Pub Cert. 15 6 Dynasty $50   Ceilis Pub Cert. 16 7 Tenacious D     Ceilis Pub Cert. 17 8 FCV     Ceilis Pub Cert. 18 9 Barrage     Ceilis Pub Cert. 19 10 Sweetwater     Ceilis Pub Cert. 20 1 The Protocol $75 Gold Medals Ceilis Pub Cert. 21 2 Abusment Park $75 Silver Medals Ceilis Pub Cert. 22 3 Benchwarmers $50   Ceilis Pub Cert. 23 4 RV     Ceilis Pub Cert. 24 5 Magic $50   Ceilis Pub Cert. 25 6 Rain $50   Ceilis Pub Cert. 26 7 Gnarls     Ceilis Pub Cert. 27 8 Raptors     Ceilis Pub Cert. 28 9 Got Game     Ceilis Pub Cert.       23 Feb. 2009 Good set of playoff games yesterday.  Apparently, there was one serious injury at Sunset where a player had a major injury to his knee.  I'm following up on this one.  The injury was serious enough that the game was cancelled in its initial stages.  Thanks to all the players for their handling of the situation.  This was a good decision, and more importantly, thanks for calling the ambulance and looking after the player. My apologies to all for the late schedule last week, however, it was complicated and I moved as fast as I could.  I know this affected rosters on a few teams, but players need to keep in mind that this is a Sunday league, and players need to be available to play at any time on Sundays between 1 pm and 9pm.  Historically, I have tried to accommodate everyone's schedule, however, with the size of league as it is, teams need to match my ability to accommodate their schedules with team rosters that can accommodate my inability to accommodate individual schedules.  This week, the schedule is already up. Div. 1 Terrific game between Truckin eh! and Triple Threat.  Both teams played well. Congratulations to TT for winning the game and going to another final, and special congratulations to Truckin eh! for almost pulling off one of the major upsets in KBL history against a dominant TT franchise.  Sam and his players played a terrific game with great three point shooting and good rebounding - both teams were slightly short staffed, but the game was great anyway.  In the other 1A semi final, Hoop Dreams won against Lomas - I have no details on this game.  In 1B, looks like Royals squeaked out a win over BasketCases - hope this one went well.    And Money, unfortunately, defaulted their game against BTR.  The finals are all set.  TT will play Hoop Dreams for the championships.  I think this may be Hoop Dreams first trip to the finals.  Truckin will play Lomas for 3rd place, and BTR will play Royals for the 1B honours. Div. 2 Looks like it's Kalisha and Shake'n Bake in the finals.  This should be a good game against two teams with good height.  I saw one of the semis yesterday between Kalisha/Badgers.  This could have been a much better game.  Hopefully, as players develop their play in this league, they will smoothen out their temperament and go with the flow of the rules to play a smoother game.  The talent is unquestionable, but bball is more than talent.   Jamma/Badgers will play for third place.  This should be a terrific game.  In 1B, Dynasty will play MP Ballerz, which should also be a terrific game against two veteran teams.  Dynasty won against TD, which sounded like it was a great game.  And FCV defaulted against MP - too bad, as this would have been a great game. Div. 3 Protocol and Abusement Park, the top two seeds in Div. 3, will play each other in the final - tossup on this one.  Abusement Park won easily over RV in their semi, while Protocol won a reasonable game against a veteran Benchwarmers team who worked hard to try and win their first trip to a final - with that kind of effort, it's just a matter of time.  In 1B, Rain will play Magic in the final.   Magic must have had a great game against Raptors - I wouldn't mind a report on this one.  Rain and Gnarls must have had a great game as well with their high point output. Anyway, overall, we're all set with the various finals and consolation matchups next Sunday.  Also, it's important to ensure you register (pay fee) this week if you plan to return for the Spring.  Since we start on March 08, I will need to draft the schedule the day after we finish this season, unless ofcourse we want to go into June, which I think we want to avoid.  Finally, only a couple of weeks left to buy tickets to the social.  See you next Sunday. Biraj               18 Feb. 2009 It's taken a bit of time to finalize the standings and establish the playoff matchups, but I think we've got it.  The schedule should be up late tonight or tomorrow.  Understandably, there were quite a few questions about the standings and playoff matchups.  The main difficulty was that we played a double round robin with team movement, where the teams that moved played half as many games as the teams that remained.  However, by removing the won/loss record from teams that moved out of any Division, and by using percentages, the playoff matchups seemed to work.  All teams, except for Pool 2C teams, Blaze, and Got Game, will play a semifinal this coming Sunday followed by a final or consolation game next week.  Notes on each Division as follows: Div. 1 Congratulations to Triple Threat for finishing tops in the regular season, although they lost to Lomas yesterday.  Lomas' win put them into the top 4, just squeaking by Royals.  Although Royals did better in the second round robin, Lomas' had a near perfect first round robin, which pulled them into the top 4.  At the other end of standings, Blaze finished 9th because of their lowest win percentage.  If Blaze's win against the two teams in Div. 1 that moved down to Div. 2 had counted, then Blaze would have pulled ahead of BasketCases.  So the overall standings has made a difference in the final standings, as it should; the intention of the first round robin was not only to establish team movement, but also to establish a won/loss record over the long season.  Congratulations to Truckin eh! for doing well in Div. 1 - they will play in one semi final against Triple Threat. Div. 2 Although this Division had quite a bit of movement of teams - 2 from Div.1 and 2 from Div. 2, the standings seemed to work out well in that the teams seemed to be placed according to strength.  Looks like Jamma and Kalisha are the favoured teams.   This Division also has a Pool 2C where Barrage will play Sweetwater to see who finishes 9th in Div. 2. Div. 3 This Division will have some exciting playoff games.  The two pools, 3A and 3B, seem very well matched.  I know Magic had really hoped to compete for the Divisional championship, but they'll have their hands full in 3B. Hope all of you are looking forward to the playoffs.  We've had a long season, and it's come down to the next couple of weeks.  It would have been nice to have had some major sponsors, but nevertheless, we will have some small prizes for winning teams.  Usually, the most exciting bball happens in the first week of playoffs, and it should be no different this season.  Get ready.  It's going to be fun.  See you Sunday.  Biraj             17 Feb. 2009 Scores and standings updated.  Tentative playoff matchups posted on Notice Board.  Please also check all the standings - Round 1, Round 2, and Overall.   Next week's schedule should be posted by Wed. evening, or early Thurs. morning.  More to come.  Biraj   12 Feb. 2009 Playoff structure posted on Notice Board.  Div. 1 playoffs will have 8 teams.  Div. 2 playoffs in Pool A may include a Div. 2 team from Div. 1.  In this case, teams will shuffle down one position, which would give a third Pool in Div. 2 consisting of 3 teams (Pool C).  The last place team from Div. 3 will join this Pool to form an even Pool of 4 teams.   This team will automatically finish 28th in the league.  Div. 3 playoffs will then consist of 8 teams, similar to Div. 1.  The above is the plan, but I'm open to suggestions.  This season was a bit complicated because we played a double round robin.  The round robin seemed to work - it was just difficult trying to figure out who finished where with the movement between Divisions.  But the above structure should work.  Biraj     10 Feb. 2009 Scores and standings are up.  Before I proceed, thanks to the family members on Kalisha's team for cleaning up after the last game at Kerrisdale.  This was very helpful - thanks.  Thanks also to the continuing effort from Kasia and Corey to get the social off the ground.  We're in full swing in tickets, so please think about coming.  I'm working on trying to get us a free drink with each ticket, but we'll have to see - no guarantees. Well, next week is our last week in the regular season, and then we're into two weeks of playoffs.  Note that all teams will play in the playoffs, so don't go to Palm Springs yet.   It's been a long season, but we've done well.  The games have been great.  As in past weeks, I'm not able to give good summaries of the games mainly because I only see part of some games.  Yesterday, the games seemed to go well.  Notes as follows: Div. 1 Triple Threat continue to lead the pack into the playoffs.  They won easily over BTR yesterday who have slipped a bit in the past few weeks.  Truckin eh! continue to impress with a win over Blaze.  Royals won over Money, and Hoop Dreams appear to have their eyes on Triple Threat with a win over Lomas.  So far, playoffs look like it'll be the top 8 teams with the top 4 teams in Pool A and the next 4 teams in Pool B.  Not sure what I'll do with the 9th place team yet - a couple of possibilities. Div. 2 Great competition in this Division.  Kalisha won a good one over MP Ballerz.  Badgers won a tight one over FCV.  Dynasty pulled off a mild upset over Shake'n Bake in a tough game.  And Sweetwater won their first - never too late to win a game.  Playoffs tentatively will be the top 4 teams in Pool A, the next 4 in Pool B, and Pool C consisting of the bottom two or three teams (depending on overall standings) and the last place team from Div. 3.   The top 4 teams may include the BasketCases from Div. 1 based on the overall standings.  I'll post a tentative playoff plan in the next few days.  Either way, it'll be two weeks of playoffs with a semi final and a final. Div. 3 The Protocol continue to lead the way with Abusement Park close behind.  Magic seemed to have pulled themselves into a playoff spot.  Benchwarmers have done well with 5 wins in this latest round robin.  Playoffs will be similar to Div. 1 with the last place team out of the Div. 3 playoffs, but still playing in some type of "combined" playoff. More to come in the next few days.  Stay tuned.  Biraj           26 Jan. 2009 Scores and standings are up.  Please have a look.  We're only a couple of games away from finishing a very lengthy Fall season.  Games were great.  Competition is good.  Don't forget - no games next week because of the Superbowl.  And of course - do not forget the social.  Tickets are out, so please buy them.  We need to have tickets sold to ensure we have enough numbers for the event.  Also, we need one or two people to help Corey - it's only for a couple of weeks, and it'll make a big difference.  Please email me.  Tx. Div. 1 Triple Threat continues to move towards another first place finish.  They won a good one against Royals.  But Lomas lost to Money.   With Truckin eh!'s win over BTR, this opens up the upper Div. 1 standings for the playoffs.  Hoop Dreams is right there with their win over BasketCases.  Not sure what happened to my original BasketCases, but they're winless in Div. 1.   Surprise team this season is certainly Truckin eh! - great team spirit, great team effort, and great bball - guys & gals - ofcourse not bad team captain!   Div. 2 Very good game between Jamma/Kalisha.  Kalisha won putting them in first place in round 2.  FCV edged out MP Ballerz in OT.  Shake'n Bake are cruising right along, moving up slowly in Div. 2.  Badgers are trying to turn things around, and Barrage finally won one! -- it's got to be because Mer is back!   Div. 3 Protocol seem to have staked top spot, but Abusement Park isn't going to let that happen easily.  One very exciting game was between Rain/Magic.  These two teams put on another great game.  It's a lot of fun to watch.  Rain won again - barely.  --- RV are slowly edging up in Div. 3   Enjoy the Superbowl next week and come on back rested for an exciting finish to a long season.  Great job with monitoring and the bball.  Biraj               13 Jan. 2009 Welcome back!  Looked like we were back to regular basketball as there were many competitive, energetic games.  Before I comment on the basketball, I'd like to mention the upcoming league social at Ceilis Irish Pub on Sat. March 07th starting at 7:00 pm.  Corey from Money is putting this together, and she has put in a lot of effort already to make this happen.  As with anything else, we need a group effort to make this work.  Corey was able to arrange a buffet dinner for $25, which sounds good to me.  Tickets will be available from Corey starting Jan. 25th.  If anyone is interested in helping, please let me know.  With a bit of momentum, this could be a fantastic event. Basketball ---- There seemed to be a great game at Kits between FCV and Tenacious D, two Div. 3 transfers who are right up there in Div. 2.  I caught a few minutes of it when I dropped by and FCV were up a few points near the end of the game, and eventually did win the game by a few points.  The basketball level was high, and the game seemed very well played by both teams. At Sunset, here are some comments from Cody on Badgers: Badgers won 64-53.    Benchwarmers won  58-54.   .... "Both games were extremely close with lots of opportunities. A player on Sweetwater partially dislocated his shoulder during the game but in a scene like that of Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon he popped it back in by placing a leg lock on his own arm. Yikes.  He seemed sore but okay at the end of the game.  Badgers finally pulled away with 3 minutes left. As for the second game, Benchwarmers led most of the game with Raptors mounting a furious comeback in the last ten minutes.  Benchwarmers lost three players to rolled ankles and then regained two.  A banked jumper with a minute left sealed the deal for the benchwarmers.  A good game."   At Kerrisdale, Shake'n Bake won a very tight game against MP Ballerz.  This game was really well played, even though shooting percentage was a bit shy.  The game came down to the last minute with MP having a chance to win the game with 12.8 seconds, but no luck. The Kalisha/Barrage game was not so smooth.  With a little bit more control and more synchronicity with the spirit of the league, this could have been a great game.  But a few players just seem to do their own thing, which roughened the game.  I had a chat with both teams afterwards, and hopefully, it will help both teams have better games going forward. League standings: The standings are starting to take shape, and as we approach playoffs, I will have to figure out how we sort out the Divisional winners.  At the moment, the focus is on the Round 2 standings.  But the final standings will consider the overall standings.  I'll comment on this more as we approach playoffs.  Have a great week and see you next Sunday.  Don't forget about the social.  Biraj   18 Dec. 2008 Drop in this Sunday from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm at Kits gym only.  Open to league players and all subs - free. Bring your own bballs.   16 Dec. 2008 Good games - a few great ones. Truckin eh! pulled off a win against Lomas.  This is a big win for a Div.2 transfer into the big leagues.  ---- Shake'n Bake lost a tight one to Jamma - some issues here.  FCV had a good win over Barrage, and MP Ballerz won a good one against TD.  .... I should mention that Triple Threat continue to win easily in Div. 1 with their one sided win over Blaze - some team needs to slow down Triple Threat - a tough task - we may have to put up a league all star team against this team. A couple of game issues.  In one of the games, players complained that the monitors weren't keeping close tabs on the fouls and that it made a difference.  In my experience, monitors have done a great job, however, the monitoring role in the last few minutes can be an issue.  It is important that monitors stay focused near the end of their monitoring shift and not get too chummy with their team-mates who are arriving for their game.  Not an issue in most cases as most monitors do a great job.   --- The other issue that has come up several times is the frequency of contests.  It is true that a few players are abusing the intent of this rule, which is meant to allow a fair agreement on calls.  Some players contest calls in retaliation for poor calls on the other side.  A few players need to get beyond these situations.  Historically, the rules have worked very well, so it's just a matter of players getting with the spirit of the league, especially the newer players.  A slight adjustment from a few and we'll be fine. We've come to the end of the calendar Fall season, however, we still have about 6 weeks to go in our league Fall season.  The standings are starting to take shape as we head down the stretch to the end of the regular season and playoffs.  The playoff structure is still TBD, however, it's likely going to be Pools of 4 in each Division, with the 9th place team in Div. 1 playing an exhibition game with the 9th place team in Div. 3.  Team movement for next season will be based on the overall standings, where the bottom two teams will move down and the top two teams will move up.  More explanation to come later.  But for now, continue to enjoy the games. League social.  Corey is organizing the league social for March 07, 2009, and she will start selling tickets in early Jan.  Tickets are $25, which includes a great dinner.  Social is at Ceilis, and we'd love to get a great turnout.  So talk it over with your team-mates and plan to come on March 07.  Biraj       08 Dec. 2008 Good games.  A couple of issues though.  Dynasty defaulted with no women players, and Sweetwater and Raptors missed their monitoring.  These three teams need to get in sync with the rest.  Generally, if you're stuck for players or cannot line up a monitor, please let me know early so that I can arrange something. Next week is our last week until 11 Jan. 09.  I'll let you know if we'll have drop-in or exhibition games during the break. Some interesting game notes: In Div. 3, Rain dried up for the time being, losing a good game to Abusement Park.  Rain continue their spirit, but Abusement Park are too much of a running team to let individual three point shooting make the difference. In Div. 1, Triple Threat simply outplayed a pretty good Truckin eh! team, possibly making a statement about Div. 1 bball.  Seemed more like a Triple Threat statement as this team is just a solid all round team.  It's hard to see anyone catching them. Good game between Magic and RV.  Magic seemed to have the game in hand, but let it slip away.  Magic jumped out to a pretty comfortable lead, but couldn't sustain their early game dynamic.  RV chipped away and came away with the win. In Div. 2, Shake'n Bake held off a strong FCV team to keep pace with the leaders.  Div. 2 again promises to be a tightly competitive Division with any team being capable of knocking off the other on any given night.  Sweetwater have to get their roster act together to round out a sold Div. 2. Overall, Div. 1 and Div. 2 standings look a bit polarized, and Div. 3 standings look tight. Note the Overall standings along with the current Round Robin standings.  The overall standings will be used primarily for movement next season.  Playoff format is yet to be determined.  It will likely be a combination of current round robin standings and overall standings. Have a great week.   Biraj         29 Nov. 2008 Good turnout for the Pub Night at Ceilis.  About 25 players came from about 7 or 8 teams.  Thanks to Ceilis for their generous support - the drinks and appetizers were much appreciated.  Thanks specifically to Sarah at Ceilis and Corey from Money.   We'll have another one as a warm up to our league social on March 07, 2009.   Enjoy the upcoming the games.  Biraj   27 Nov. 2008 Exhibition games.  Looks like some teams may be taking these games too seriously.  The idea of these games was to have a friendly game rather than giving BYES to the Div. 1 and Div. 3 teams, which have an odd number of teams.  It was intended that teams would mix up their players to have a balanced Exhibition game and get to know the "other" side of the league.  The intention was to bring the polar ends of the league together.   Scores are unimportant, so simply enjoy yourselves and get to know the league a bit better.   Biraj   25 Nov. 2008 Great start to the second round robin.  The balance of the schedule will be up in the next day or two.  Don't forget the "Pub Night" this Thurs. at Ceilis - see Notice Board.  Please come on out and support the league and Ceilis.  One free drink per person and some free appetizers.  Should be good. Great games.  One terrific game, and it was Rain again.  You'd never know Rain was near the bottom of the league - if there was a spirit award right now, they'd win it hands down.  They had an amazing come back against Raptors - one of the best I've seen in the league.  Rain were down by somewhere around 30 points with about 24 minutes left, and they came back and won.  Team spirit was amazing - very exciting.  Although one shooter was literally shooting the Kerrisdale lights out bulb by bulb, the team spirit kept pushing the team forward.  Raptors were trying to hang on, but couldn't counter the Rain momentum and shooting.  It was quite the game, and the second time in as many weeks that Rain have pulled off a dramatic win.  Let's see what happens next week. Other games were pretty steady.  BTR continue to establish themselves in Div. 1 with a great win over Blaze.  Truckin eh! could not pull off their first win in Div. 1 after going through Div. 2 without a loss.  Div. 1 is tough, and definitely a step up from Div. 2.  But it's early in the second round robin. There were some issues with the foul calling in the MP Ballerz/Badger game. Hopefully, the captains recognize the adjustments that need to be made and make them.  Apparently, there were many unreasonable foul calls and contests.  The league relies on player integrity in making these calls, so hopefully, the relevant players will make the adjustments. So keep an eye out for the schedule, and please make sure every player checks the website independently.  And ofcourse, don't forget the pub night this Thurs.  See you then.  Biraj     22 Nov. 2008 I might have dropped a flash drive or memory stick (white) in the Kerrisdale gym or centre last Sunday mid afternoon or later.  If anyone saw this item or knows anyone that might have picked it up, please let me know - 604-738-2333.  Thanks.  See you Sunday.  Biraj   18 Nov. 2008 Good finish to the first round robin.  Scores and standings are updated.  Please check them.   We will begin the second round robin this coming Sunday, and we will play till Feb. 15.  Playoffs will then begin on Feb. 22, 2009, and we will finish the season on 01 March 09.   Schedule for next round robin is currently being developed, and Nov. 23 games should be posted by this Wed. or Thurs. - the rest of the schedule will follow next week.  We will play till Dec. 14th, 2008, and then start again on Jan. 11, 2009.  Divisional movement as follows: Bottom two teams in Div. 1 will move down to Div. 2 (Sweetwater & Shake'n Bake) Top two teams in Div. 2 will move to Div. 1 (Truckin eh! & BasketCases) Bottom two teams in Div. 2 will move to Div. 3 (RV & Raptors) Top two teams in Div. 3 will move to Div. 2 (FCV & Tenacious D) Stay tuned.  It'll take a couple of days to sort out the schedule.  Please send in any schedule requests by tomorrow.  Schedule accommodations on best efforts. Biraj   11 Nov. 2008 League Pub Night at Ceilis.  Thurs. Nov. 27th, starting at 7:30 pm.   Please see Notice Board. Great games again.  Considering the long weekend for some people, rosters were pretty good - for the most part.  Don't forget the pub night.  Try to make it.  Let's try and get some social momentum within the league.  Most players know each other very well within teams, but many are still strangers across teams. A few great games on Sunday.  I popped down to Kits to watch a bit of the Rain/Magic game - a game between two of the lower teams in Div. 3.  The game was amazing!  It was really well played.  There was lots of energy on the court and on the benches, and the intensity was humbling.  It was great to see.  Rain won their first game, but they looked like they just won a championship. Another great game was the game between the Raptors/Badgers.  Raptors played one of their best games ever and almost pulled off an upset against Badgers who were tested the whole game. Not to be overshadowed, there was a major game between the two league giants or titans - Triple Threat and Lomas for first place in Div. 1.  TT won.   The report was that "It was a great game, great intensity and well played. TT didn't shoot particularly well, bricking a ton of shots, but their interior defence, inside play and transition game got them the lead. Lomas shot the lights out, with one of their superstars dropping bombs early and another superstar single-handedly keeping Lomas in the game on an assortment of tricky drives and pull-ups. At one point, the smallest player on the floor, had eight straight baskets and looked like Chris Paul."   Another great game was the upset by BTR over Royals.  Although BTR are a Div. 2 transfer, they are right in the thick of the Div. 1 standings.  Winning over Royals is a great win. In Div. 3, Abusement Park won over previously undefeated FCV in what I hear was a great game.  Abusement Park are a quick team.  Looks like there is a 3 way challenge for the top two spots in Div. 2 with TD scheduled to play against Abusement Park - should be a good one. It's hard not to mention Truckin eh! as they continue to lead the pack in Div. 2, and they could be a tough challenge for the Div. 1 teams when they move up. Next week is our last week in the first round robin.  At the end of this round robin, we'll do our KBL shuffle, and shift the top two teams and the bottom two teams in the appropriate Divisions to their respective Divisions.  Since we have to do a quick changeover, and because there is a lot of scheduling to be done, the schedule for the next round robin will not be up until the following week.  We will only set the schedule for Nov. 23, and this schedule will probably take till next Wed. or Thur. before it's out - I'll aim for Wed. Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj                   04 Nov. 2008 Games continue to go well.  Thanks to Catherine from Benchwarmers for sending players to play for Sweetwater who defaulted.  Thanks also for stepping in to monitor - no show for Sweetwater. One serious injury yesterday.  Player from Got Game tore an achilles.  Game was stopped quickly, and player was driven to UBC Urgent Care Center. A lot of close games.  The 5/20 rule came in to play yesterday in a very interesting/exciting situation.  In a Div. 2 game, Jamma was down by 2 with 20 seconds left against Kalisha.  Kalisha put the ball in play, and one of Kalisha's players was fouled with 7 seconds left.  Clock was stopped.  Kalisha had 2 seconds of possession left.  Kalisha hit a long 3 pointer (about 10 feet behind the arc), which closed out the game.  Although it was a spectacular shot that won the game, this situation does suggest that it's worth defending against the offensive team, even with the realization that that your team will get possession with 5 seconds left.  But ofcourse, not much you can do with spectacular shots.  Great game. A note about defaults.  I had a call from Sweetwater about an hour before league start on Sunday, indicating that they would have only one player at yesterday's game and they suggested calling the game.  Please note that this is not allowed in this league.  The game must go on.  Therefore, I asked Sweetwater to send whoever they had, and I scrambled to contact about 10 players to try and pull together a team as the other team (Royals) were intending on being there.  Not sure what happened, but  I think there was a game - I'll wait for a report.  So basic spirit of this league is to always ensure there is a game, but please try and let me know way in advance.  Although a default applies, it's more important to have a game. Div. 1 Fantastic game between BTR/Blaze.  BTR were ahead in the last few minutes by about 8 points, and Blaze hit three 3 pointers to narrow the game to a point or so within the last minute.  However, BTR scored on a strange situation with about 7 seconds left to win the game.  The situation was strange in that BTR got a rebound and threw a long pass to a breaking player who scored.  But everyone else on court had stopped play, and it appeared a time out had been called.  But not so. The score counted, and that was the game.  But a terrific game.  I monitored the last 10 minutes or so, and it really was a great game with high level flow. Div. 2 Looks like Truckin eh! are the top team in Div. 2 now, with a win over the other undefeated team - BasketCases.  I don't have a report on this game, but I'm guessing it was excellent, knowing the two teams. Div. 3 FCV continue to roll along easily.  Hopefully, someone will challenge them.  But when you've got a good team, you've got your hands full.  The Protocol won easily over Rain in a good spirited game by both teams.  Although the score was lopsided against Rain, I watched a lot of this game and was impressed with the spirit of the Rain players.  Every basket was enjoyed and celebrated, along with every effort and good play.  This is great to see, and it's really the spirit of this league.  Similarly, Tenacious D and Got Game played a lopsided game, but this game was also well played. We're two weeks away from the end of the first round robin.  Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.  Biraj         27 Oct. 2008 Good games again.  Thanks to Julie (Money) for emailing the Sunset scores.  A few close games, and a couple of lopsided ones.  Clarification on the 5 second rule in the last 30 seconds of a game.  The rule should really be called a 5/20 rule, as the rule doesn't kick in unless there is at least 20 seconds left on the shot clock and the game.  If there is less than 20 seconds in the game, the game finishes without any additional rules kicking in.  With 20-30 seconds left, and the team that is up by 2 or 3 points having possession, then that team must shoot before the clock shows 5 seconds.  The other team will get 5 seconds regardless, and a timeout must be taken.  If a team is out of timeouts, then they can't take advantage of the 5 sec. rule.  This may seem a bit to think about, but it seems to have worked so far. Div. 1 Lomas and TT remain undefeated and maintain some separation between themselves and the rest of the Division.  Hopefully, the other teams will catch these two, although they've got more than their hands full against these two top veteran teams.  Shake'n Bake won their first against Sweetwater - the top Div. 2 team from last season. Div.2 Truckin eh! just keep truckin.  But so are the Basketcases.  Like the top Div. 1 teams, these two teams remain undefeated and also maintain some separation from the rest of Div. 2.  RV unfortunately defaulted yesterday, but hopefully, they'll be back to normal next week.  Great game between BasketCases and Badgers yesterday.  This game came right down to the wire after teams traded hoops for quite a while - good game to watch. Div. 3 FCV stand alone at the top with some solid team effort.  I haven't seen this team play, but I hear they run a pretty long bench, which will definitely work.  Not too far behind FCV, there are a couple of teams knocking - Abusement Park & TD. Overall, we're approaching the end of the first round robin.  We may have some prizes for the winners of each round robin.  Remember, the top two from each Div. move up (except Div. 1), and the bottom two from each Div. move down (except Div. 3). League Social - Corey from Money is in the process of pulling together a Social in March.  Stay tuned.  She may need some help pulling this off.  We're in the middle of organizing the venue at the moment. Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.     22 Oct. 2008 Welcome back after a long weekend off.  Great games again.  Thanks to Cody for phoning in the scores from Sunset.  One administrative item - please ensure you clean up your bench area after each game.  Also, please send any commentary on your games. Div. 1 The strong teams keep winning, although not so easily in a couple of cases.  BTR gave Lomas a pretty good run, and Shake'n Bake were within 10 pts. of Money.   There was one really close game with Hoop Dreams winning by a point over Sweetwater - don't have details of this game - hopefully, it had an exciting finish.   Div. 2 Standings keep getting more polarized.  Truckin eh! & BasketCases are headed for a showdown pretty soon for top spot.   Both these teams are carrying great rosters and playing very well.  The lower teams are also playing well and challenging in each game.  This Div. is tough.  Teams are reasonably balanced throughout the Division. Div. 3 Looks like FCV is the team to beat as they are the only undefeated team.  Games continue to go really well in this Division.  Great rosters and great spirit.   Overall, we're rolling along really well.  Captains are doing a great job with their teams.  Players - please continue to always check the website for league updates and game times.  Let's keep going.   Have a great week, and see you next Sunday.   Biraj       07 Oct. 2008 Good games again.  We're about halfway through the first round robin, and about a quarter of the way through the season.  Please note that we're off next weekend for Thanksgiving. Thanks to Vince (TT) for phoning in the scores from Sunset.  This works, so captains, please continue to phone in your scores from Sunset right after your game.  Kits games were reasonably on schedule.  We finished at 9:30 pm, which isn't too bad.  Clean up - we still have a ways to go.  Players must pick up after each game, and ofcourse, we need to ensure that the bench areas are clear after the last game - bottles to recycling bins, and garbage where it belongs.  I am responsible for clean up of Kits & Kerrisdale at the end of the evening. Div. summaries as follows: Div. 1 Standings continue to be polarized with three undefeated teams and two teams without a win.  TT, Lomas, and Royals seem to be dominating their games.  Let's see if the others can challenge them.  It's not going to be easy as these are three really strong teams. Div. 2 The strong competition continues, with less polarization than Div. 1, and three teams undefeated.  Truckin eh! almost met their match in Kalisha by barely scraping a win against them.  Badgers and BasketCases also had close wins, but with some margin.  So it looks like the games are going to be tighter through the remaining games.  There are some good teams in the lower half of the standings.   Basketball is great.  A good example was the BasketCases/Jamma game, which was very enjoyable to watch.  This game had great running and shooting, and a very balanced effort between the men & women.  BasketCases pulled away near the end.  Teams will find that without a balanced effort between the men/women, it'll be tough to win games in this league. Div. 3 Less polarized than the other two Divisions with FCV as the only undefeated team, and a spirited Rain team hanging in there looking for their first win. Overall, we seem to have had a great start.  The basketball spirit is excellent, and it looks like players are enjoying the games.  Let me know if any adjustments need to be made.  Although there are no real issues, it's probably worthwhile to review the rules from time to time, especially the "5 sec" rule as this has come up a couple of times already. Have a great Thanksgiving, and see you the following week. Biraj   01 Oct. 2008 Good games again.  Still having problems getting scores from Sunset.  Captains, please phone in the score right after your game (leave me a message at home at 604-738-2333).   Without the scores, the website updates are delayed.  Also, the Kits games are getting considerably delayed.  Please start your games on time, or as close to as "on time" as possible.  The problem is that the last game is finishing near 9:40pm, which is leaving only a few minutes for cleanup and players to scramble out of the gym.  Also, please remember to always clean up your bench area after your games.  There's no one else to do it, other than us - thanks. Div. 1 Standings starting to get a bit polarized with TT, Lomas, and Royals undefeated, and Blaze and Shake'n Bake yet to win.  Great basketball. Div. 2 Continues to be the most competitive Division, even though standings are equally polarized.  Games are tight.  Each week is interesting.  Keep up the good basketball Div. 3 Great spirit with the games.  Nice to see good benches for most, if not all the games. Overall - so far so good.   Let's keep going.  Biraj       23 Sept. 2008 Good games on Sunday.  A bit late getting the scores from Sunset.  Either captains or monitors from the last game at Sunset should email me the scores and any commentary as soon after the games as possible. Div. 1 The regulars are on top again.  Ofcourse it's too early to tell, but the game scores are suggesting the balance in Div. 1. Div. 2 Very competitive Division.  It'll take a couple more games to see the balance of strength in this Division.  Interesting to see Truckin eh! on top. Badgers are doing well, and BasketCases look like a top contender this year. Div. 3 Too early to tell with the presence of a couple of new teams.  But FCV look awful strong with a couple of one sided score wins. Please stay on top of the monitoring.  So far so good.  Thanks.  Biraj   15 Sept. 2008 Great games yesterday.  Things seemed to go well.  Keep up the good work with the monitoring.  Captains, please return feedback on the draft schedule by today.  A couple of notes: 1) Watch the fouls, especially inside.  If it looks like you cannot defend an offensive player who has a step on you, let them go.  These are unnecessary fouls. 2) In a close game, where a team is up by 2 or 3 points with 20 to 30 seconds left on the shot clock, the offensive team must shoot with 5 secs left.  The team that is down will get 5 seconds regardless of where the monitor ends up stopping the clock.  So please learn to reset the clock to 5 seconds.  This happened once already yesterday, and I think there are going to be many more games like this as the teams are reasonably closely matched in the respective Divisions. 3) One or two teams left to submit rosters. Biraj               Spring Season. 16 June 2008 Good finish to a good season.  Thanks to the few fans that did come to watch.  It was great to have them there.  We'll have to do more to develop this part of the game as some of the public have indicated that they do like watching the games, particularly at Kerrisdale.   Don't forget the social at Downtown Malones starting at 7:30 pm this Thurs., 19 June.  Malones will give us 20% off on our respective bills, which essentially means that gratuity is included in the bill. As seems to be normal in the finals, play was tighter than the regular season, making for slower, lower scoring games.  On the other hand, games were more intense, which can be good - in one or two cases, it wasn't good.  Turnout was very good for most games, except for a couple - great to see.  Some of the consolation games were more spirited than their respective finals.   Scores are updated and final standings are shown on the table in the "Notice Board" page.  Divisional summaries as follows (Prizes shown at end): Div. 1 Congrats to Triple Threat for winning it all.  Although it's been a few seasons since they've been at the top, they're back.  I'm not sure how many they've won, but this could be the second or third championship.  For those new to the league, TT has been around the league for many years - 9 or 10.  They're pretty much a club within the league.  Congrats again.  Lomas put up a great effort, but they couldn't match the overall versatility and strength of the Triple Threat team - both men and women.  The third place matchup was won by Sweet who won a close one over Hoop Dreams. In Pool 3B, Money won over Barrage.  Money finishes in 5th place.  Penicillin took 7th spot with a win in a great game over Blaze.  Congrats to both teams for finishing the season with a great game.   Div. 2 Sweetwater won a hard fought game against Shake'n Bake to win the Div. 2 title.  Early on, it looked like Shake'n Bake were going to hold onto their early lead, but Sweetwater came back with with some steady scoring to narrow the lead and take the game.  Shake'n Bake couldn't maintain a steady scoring effort, which affected their momentum.  Nevertheless, great energy and intensity by both teams - it was a true final.  The third place game was a good one, with BTR squeaking a win over BasketCases.  These teams have played each other before, and it's usually pretty close.  Dynasty won over Jamma to win Pool 2B and earn 5th spot in Div. 2.  Badgers won over RV to get 7th.  And Benchwarmers and Trucking Eh! had a fun game to finish off the season.  Truckin Eh! won, leaving Benchwarmers winless this season, but as mentioned before, Benchwarmers are a great team and played with some good consistency - they kept most of their games very close.   Div. 3 This was probably the best Divisional final of the season with MP Ballerz winning a tight one over the Raptors.  This game had good flow, and it was played with a good competitive spirit.  Raptors had some great 3 pt. shooting to hold a lead through much of the game, but MP chipped away with their two's, and ended up winning by just two.   -- Suns won a reasonable game against FCV.  Tenacious D won over Jumping Beans to earn 5th spot, and Hornets won over Got Game in a very close, well played game.   PRIZES Final Standings PRIZES League Div. Team     1 1 Triple Threat Gold Medals KBL Bags 2 2 Lomas Silver Medals KBL Bags 3 3 Sweet   $50   4 4 Hoop Dreams     5 5 Money $50   6 6 Barrage $50   7 7