Biraj's Notes

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 pretty good 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. 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 Pencillin     8 8 Blaze     9 9 Royals     10 10 Lummerland     11 1 Sweetwater Gold Medals $55 12 2 Shake'n Bake Silver Medals   13 3 BTR $50   14 4 BasketCases     15 5 Dynasty $50   16 6 Jamma $50   17 7 Badgers     18 8 RV     19 9 Truckin Eh!     20 10 Benchwarmers     21 1 MP Ballerz Gold Medals $50 22 2 Raptors Silver Medals   23 3 Suns $50   24 4 FCV     25 5 Tenacious D $50   26 6 Jumping Beans $50   27 7 Hornets     28 8 Got Game     29 9 Rain     30 10 Gnarls       We've come to the end of another good season.  The three Division structure seems to have worked well in that players seem to have liked the games being more evenly matched.  We'll likely retain the current structure next season, but we'll have to see how many teams register.  Registration will start early next season, likely Aug. 1st.  Thanks to the following for a great season: 1) All captains for all the extra work they do to keep their teams together. 2) All players.  We had many new players this season, and these players integrated well with the veteran players who seem to have established themselves in this league 3) Thanks to Brian for his efforts on the website - as always. 4) Thanks to the Kerrisdale, Kits, and Sunset Community Centers for facilitating this league.  Jody at Kerrisdale, Lorelei at Kits, and Kari at Sunset.  Also, thanks to Shelley for managing the rosters at Kerrisdale, and to Ellen for managing the rosters at Kits. 5) Thanks to all the monitoring effort.  Similar to the captain's effort, this effort is invaluable to the league. 6) Thanks to Brian on Blaze for his refreshing prizes 7) Thanks to Malones for their ongoing sponsorship. Have a great summer and see you in Sept.  Biraj

 

Registration will begin shortly - to be announced - details are being worked out with the community centers.  I will approve each roster one by one and let you know which community center to register with.   Captains (or team rep) can proceed to make payment (can do in person or by phone - see Contact).  Please be ready to register quickly.  The cost will likely be $510 + $100 damage deposit for all teams - to be confirmed.  This year, Div. 1 will mostly play at Kits, and Div. 2 mostly at Kerrisdale.  There may be some games at Sunset, but that is yet TBD.  Biraj