Advantage Disadvantage (14 page)

“Next, Jamal was scheduled to visit the Eastern
Pennsylvania State campus in the next 24 days. The date was already
committed. This is an important trip to help him decide if he can
handle going there to play ball – but team rules will punish him
for missing a day or two of practice. Third, my side of the family,
the Handelairs, is supposed to go to a beach house in Michiana
Shores during your summer camp. I would like Jamal to spend a week
at the beach with us instead of camp. That is the three of them,
Scott.”

“I want to take the non-court considerations away
from Jamal so that he can perform his best during games. If you
think it will help, I will allow him to wear his Kerbes if that
solves the shoe problem.”

“Will that cost you money?” she asked.

“Not this year, but if my star player doesn’t wear
Voles they probably won’t renew my contact.”

“I’d feel terrible about that,” she said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll try to convince Kerbe to sign us
up if I’m still here!” he joked.

“Where would you go?”

“I’m hoping at some point to coach a college team.
Hey maybe I’ll get to Coach Jamal next year somewhere. EPSU has an
opening – you never know. So anyway, I’ll tell Jamal to wear
whichever shoes he wants.”

The second and third requests involved authorized
time away from camp for Jamal. Coach Venturi was a stickler about
this. She expected rejection on her last two requests. Scott rolled
through the possibilities in his head, considering all angles. He
reasoned that if EPSU wanted Jamal on campus, Scott should not be
the roadblock. He did not want to do anything to jeopardize
his
job candidacy at EPSU.

“Elizabeth, it’s so important for Jamal that he
checks out the EPSU campus. He should keep his date with the
university.”

“And what about Michiana?” she asked.

“I’m sorry. You grab some shoe laces and an airplane
ride, and next you want him to miss one-fifth of the summer camp. I
can’t let him do that – it would hurt him and team morale,” he said
apologetically.

“That’s ok. Jamal hates Michiana anyway,” she
replied.

“I can’t help but feel I’ve been had. You are a
great salesperson, Elizabeth. You asked for the moon, but really
wanted a few Earthly things.”

They both laughed. Scott said, “Look, I’ll help
Jamal reconnect with you without letting on that we have talked. I
can keep a secret.”

As she was leaving he said, “Hey, I’ve got something
for you.” Scott tossed her the quarterback’s towel.

“Thanks, Coach,” she said as she offered another
hug. As they clutched each other both had thoughts of where this
might go.

Scott thought Elizabeth was a beautiful and bright
woman. He felt a spark fly between them. His conscience questioned
the propriety of getting involved with a player’s mom and an
assistant coach’s wife.

Elizabeth struggled not with her conscience. She was
interested.

Chapter Nineteen. Jamal’s Girlfriend

Jamal never dated until basketball season ended
during his junior year. He did not have time for girls for most of
high school; at least that is how he rationalized it. The truth was
that he struggled with his racial identity. While he was
sorting-out his mixed origins, his school peers decided that he was
black. Many of the white girls rebuffed him even for friendships
and he was not interested in dealing with personal issues.

He met Andrea Allen in one of his classes during
their junior year. In many ways, she was the antithesis of Jamal.
Andrea was a unique black kid not interested in sports. She did not
run with the in-crowd, populated by jocks, cheerleaders, and select
chosen people. Andrea was interested in fine arts, literature, and
politics. Jamal liked her partly because of her rebellious
disposition. Andrea experimented with smoking marijuana. It calmed
her down from her high-strung moments. She usually got high before
seeing Jamal because it offered cover for letting her personality
blossom out.

In the short off-season between the end of
basketball playoffs and the summer league, Jamal began to spend
increasing amounts of time with Andrea. He began to stay out late
during weekdays and instead of rising early for his pre-school
training runs, he was sleeping-in. Elizabeth had to wake him up
nearly every day. In addition, before Andrea, Jamal was spending
many evenings watching instruction tapes or conference game films
with Marcus. He was more than willing to forgo his time with his
dad to hang out with Andrea.

Andrea had her own agenda with Jamal. First, he was
a handsome athletic boy who was willing to date a black girl. Next,
she felt like she could manipulate his priorities into her world.
Perhaps he would stay around Chicago for college because she was
going to attend the Art Institute. She had worked Jamal away from
his jock friends and demanded nearly all of his attention.

She was well mannered to adults, but like Eddy
Haskell in “Leave It to Beaver”, she was an over-the-top,
exaggerated parental suck up. Marcus cringed when she came
around.

“Hi, Mr. Imari,” she would call out to Marcus when
he was around. “You’re looking sharp, Mr. Imari.”

Jamal had a tough first week at the summer camp
league. He was one-step behind, and became winded easily. Neither
Coach Venturi nor Marcus could figure out what was happening. They
thought recruiting had gone to his head. They knew something
happened. – Marcus was dogging it. Maybe he lost interest in
basketball. None of it made sense. Therefore, they stepped up the
intensity of the coaching.

Little did they know that Jamal was getting high
with his girlfriend. She taught Jamal how to roll joints, use bongs
and smoke endless amounts of pot. He was acting like the burnout
she had become. A week had gone by when Coach called a team meeting
during a morning practice session.

“A few updates to the rules, boys. First, being a
captain has responsibilities. I am going to expect Jamal to solve
some team problems as they arise. You should expect Jamal to be a
conduit between you and me. That means he is going to take a lot of
shit from everyone,” the coach paused as the team laughed.

“So, he needs some perks. The first one is his
option to wear a different shoe. Vole has designed a different
basketball style that I’m calling the ‘Captain’s Shoe’. So does
Kerbe. Jamal, you can choose to wear this Vole shoe, or for that
matter you can pick any shoe that pleases you – as long as it is
the same color as the team uses.”

The relief of Jamal’s face was immediately apparent.
No kid should feel pressure from adults trying to make money from
shoe contracts.

“Next, I want to talk to you about the importance of
women in your lives. You guys need to get your priorities in place.
If we are to have a long run this year, if you want to play well
into March in the IIAA tournament, and if you want to become state
champions you cannot let your girlfriends distract you during our
working camp. Look, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have a
girlfriend. I had a girlfriend throughout high school and I
eventually married her.”

“How’d that work out for you, Coach” cracked the
team’s wise guy. The whole team broke out laughing.

“You’re going give me fifteen minutes of suicides
for that,” Scott shot back, but then smiled. “Never mind about the
suicides-that actually was funny.”

The coach continued, “So if you’re going to have a
girlfriend, and you want to be committed to being the best we can
be – tell her you won’t see her until August. And, once basketball
starts in November, you won’t spend much time until April.”

The boys were a little shell-shocked.

“On the same topic… I have met most of your parents.
Y’all are lucky to have them and the sacrifices they make for you.
Every one of you played travelling and NAU ball. That cost your
folk’s money and lots of time. It is probably easy to relate to
your dads, brothers or other men in your lives. However, your moms
lose out. You can be competitive on the hardwood court or tough on
the gridiron and still pay attention and respect your mothers. You
should invite your mothers to our summer camp games. In addition,
if they come, you should thank them as soon as our post game
meetings conclude. Gentleman, you are maturing quickly. Teenagers
always want to be treated as adults. OK, so men, here it is. Think
about your parents and especially your mothers – have you thanked
them for the fun they allowed you to have? They deserve to share in
your joy too.”

On the way home for dinner that night, Jamal asked
Marcus, “Dad, do you think he was talking to me?”

“Son, he was talking to everybody on the team,
including you. Your mom could use some attention from you
immediately.”

“Are you going to get back together with Mom?”

“I sure hope so. She performed a miracle in her life
– she had you!”

After the next league game at Olgesby High School,
Jamal went to his mother’s house. He had a long serious talk with
her for the first time in a few years. They talked about lots of
topics including the sad state of Jamal parents’ marriage, and her
pessimistic view of it ever working out again. They talked about
his dreams and fears. He talked about his respect for Coach
Venturi, and she marveled at Jamal’s insight about him. Elizabeth
was surprised to find out about Jamal’s serious view of basketball.
He was not a stereotypical jock. He had an appreciation for the
rhythm and orchestration of team basketball. He was an artist. He
loved the game, and wanted to play in college. She felt guilty that
she never understood how important this sport had become to Jamal,
and she wanted to be a part of it. She asked if she could start
coming to summer league games, and he instantly invited her to come
whenever she could.

The conversation ended with a long discussion about
Andrea. He never admitted that he smoked too, but Elizabeth figured
it out. The Coach had complained of Jamal’s sudden lethargic summer
play.

“Jamal, how can you square up the time you spend
with Andrea and your desire to be the best possible player you can
become? You are working against yourself. She may be interesting,
but is she good for you? With all that you have at stake, how does
she fit in your life?”

The conversation ended with differing conclusions:
Jamal and his mother grew closer, Andrea’s days were numbered, and
Elizabeth could not wait to see Scott to thank him privately.

“When was that next booster club meeting?” she
wondered.

Chapter Twenty. The Booster’s Shot

By now, Billy Rechter was working as a paid referee
camp observer at Oglesby during the summer. He had grown from a raw
beginning official with a lack of prescribed mechanics to a
certified state observer. Remembering how unsupervised he felt at
his first camp, he took his assignment seriously and did not want
to shortchange any of the referee campers. He moved from court to
court, shouting advice and encouragement to the paying camp
participants. Billy philosophized that he could not teach good
judgment to referees. Instead, he focused on getting the striped
shirts positioned properly and viewing correct angles. Basketball
officials process incredible amounts of information during a game.
These questions cycle through the referee’s mind every five
seconds:

Am I in the right position given the location of the
ball or do I need to move?

Am I looking at my assigned area?

Are the players in my area violating any infraction
rules?

Are the players in my area violating any contact
rules?

If there are violations or fouls, did it cause a
change in Advantage/Disadvantage?

If I am calling a foul or violation, what is the
correct sequence to signal my call?

There is a lot more to this avocation than meets
most eyes. Coaches want to win, but if officials are consistent and
understand the rules, coaches will cut them slack if their judgment
temporarily fails. Penalties for players disrespecting officials
are severe – if they eject out of a game, they miss the next game
according to IIAA’s guidelines. Usually the parents caused the most
problems.

Billy developed great expectations for the fall. He
had worked a Super Sectional Final game the prior year. The state
certified him to observe other officials by IIAA, and he was sure
he the state would choose him for a state final series assignment.
The state had an evaluation system whereby coaches and other
officials rated referees. Associations tried to rig the result by
voting top ratings to their fellow members and downgrading
non-members. The system was not bad, but certainly not perfect.

Athletic directors hired assigners to supply
referees matched in quality to the degree of difficulty of the
games; new officials worked freshman ball until they earned their
way through sophomore and finally varsity assignments. In other
words, assigners had many headaches: referee no shows, athletic
directors’ complaints, and unhappy officials. Despite these
negatives, assignors gained concrete benefits. First, he usually
got ten percent of the game fees paid to officials by the home
team. Second, when an official became an assigner, it is amazing
how many varsity games he could get in other conferences. These
people were no fools. Since many assigners would not work a game in
their own conference, they traded games with each other.

One well-known local assigner once said, “I didn’t
realize what a great official I was until I was hired by my
conference to book referees. As soon as word got out, I was deluged
with offers to work in other conferences - as long as I would
reciprocate my games to the other assigners”.

Billy was working the floor at Olgesby helping two
young referees achieve and maintain proper positioning. At
halftime, he discussed all of the mistakes he observed. He was so
critical; they wondered if they did anything right. Most casual
fans of basketball do not realize the importance of working the
“mechanics” properly. Nearly all referees knew the rulebook fairly
well. Small variances separated a varsity official from a state
finalist. The difference between mediocre and excellent came down
to positioning, mechanics, and hustle.