Advantage Disadvantage (15 page)

Billy wanted the officials to work the second half
without him running along on the floor. He had a clipboard and was
writing down notes and comments to review at game’s end. While he
was watching the officials work the game, the ever-present Bobby G.
approached.

“Hey ref. ‘sup?”

“Not much. Are you taking bets on this game too?”
Billy asked sarcastically.

“Rechter, don’t insult me like that. Summer is the
time to connect some players with hungry college recruiters. Unless
you’re talking about the Garfield Park league…that’s money
too.”

“I give you credit, Bobby G. You’ve got a nice
hustle going on,” Billy replied as he remembered his faltering real
estate business. Billy needed as much supplemental income as he
could get.

“Listen Holmes, I’m looking for a partner for a
unique way to make a big score in winter.”

“Get lost, lowlife. I’m trying to go to the finals
this year – you’re the last person I need to be seen talking
to.”

“I’ll leave my card with my phone number on the
scorer’s table in case you change your mind. If you call, ask for
Jack Benny or the call gets killed.”

Bobby G. felt bad about Billy publicly embarrassing
him, but he had people to see and business to conduct. Bobby moved
on to say hello to various people in the gym. He was in his element
because he knew most of the players from his NAU sponsorship. Bobby
G. knew most of the coaches because he helped many players get
scholarships and he knew many of the parents in the gyms. These
homers bet for fun on their sons’ high school team during the
regular season. Bobby took the action from the homers after titling
his odds line against their bets during the school year. Gangs
covered the rest of the action and Bobby G. took in ten percent
juice.

Bobby G. moved on to sit next to Frank Worrell, the
sportswriter. They regularly exchanged information during the
summer, fall, and winter seasons. Bobby G. also was the beneficiary
of Frank’s errant pro football betting losses. Because of Bobby
G.’s connections, Frank’s newspaper column broke many recruit
signing commitments well before the player’s high school coach
knew. Frank had a good eye for talent, and could tell who was
gelling and who was underachieving. Bobby told him that he needed a
partner for his blockbuster plan, signaling that Frank could make a
lot of money back. Frank did not need Bobby G.’s card – he called
him every week to bet on pro football games.

Coaches and referees had a love/hate relationship.
Without referees, there were no games, but they also gave the
coaches
agita
. Coaches developed a list of preferred
officials. At the Varsity level, most coaches could request certain
officials, which they might get twice during the year and
conversely, they could blackball or scratch officials to keep them
off their games. After Billy finished analyzing the assigned
officials, he approached Coach Venturi as his team warmed up.

“How’s the summer treating you Billy?”

“Not bad, Coach. What is going on with your team
this summer? You’re under 500 percent.”

“Well, we are working hard on skill development,”
replied Scott.

“How are your team’s parents handling that?”

“Not too well. I thought I cleared this up before
summer camp started but these parents are something else. They just
want to win, even in summer. They get mad when I pull the starters
in the third quarter. Or if we are losing and we’re working on a
zone defense, they are mad that we aren’t pressing in the
backcourt.”

“I hear you,” said Billy.

“Oh and also…,” Coach Venturi said, “We’ve had a
rash of bad calls by you guys.” He jokingly patted Rechter on his
butt.

“You never miss a chance to tweak me!”

“Hey, Billy. Do you know the two perfect jobs a
basketball coach can get?”

“What’s that, Coach?”

“Coaching orphans and prisoners! No parental
intervention,” he said as they both howled in laughter.

***

The team was off the next night, but the coach had
to come back to East End after dinner. He was hoping that Elizabeth
would show up for the boosters’ club meeting. Officially, they were
supposed to choose t-shirts and practice gear for the team, as well
as apparel to sell to parents and students. Only the president of
the booster club showed up beside Elizabeth and the coach. They
scoured the books for things to order for an hour and a half. After
settling on the quantities and sizes of the basketball apparel for
sale, the group prepared the order for the team to wear. The
president of the booster club had to leave to pick up one of her
sons at a nearby NAU practice. Scott walked her out to the front
doors and watched her get to her car safely.

His heart was pounding as he walked back toward his
office and Elizabeth. She smiled when he entered the room.

“Scott, I wanted to thank you for what you’ve meant
to Jamal. He broke up with his sleazy girlfriend last week.”

“Interesting,” he said, “I think he’s been playing
better since then.”

“And he and I are getting closer. Now I understand
how much basketball means to him and I’m trying to support his
interest.”

“I’ve noticed that you have been attending games
this week. That’s good for all of us.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, Jamal loves to see you there, and so do
I.”

An erotic embrace began. Elizabeth felt alive in
Scott’s arms. She yearned for the intimacy, which Marcus had long
ago abandoned. She gave herself fully to him. Elizabeth was still a
beautiful woman with a runway model’s figure and a European movie
star’s face. Scott was fit and tan. Coaches had used the office
desk to chart out many game plans and schemes, but probably not
ever like this. The coach’s office was hardly the most conducive
place to make love, but it was here that this relationship
consummated.

“We can’t get caught doing this,” said Elizabeth
after they had finished.

“You’re right,” Scott replied.

“That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t see each other
again, does it?” she asked.

“I want to see you tomorrow, and the next day too”,
Scott reassured.

The booster club had taken on a new meaning.

Chapter Twenty-one. Bobby G.’s Plan

The summer league ended. Players welcomed the break
as the heat of the season peaked and scorched the stuffy gyms
across Chicagoland. Coach Venturi and Elizabeth’s secret dalliances
were numerous but undiscovered. She craved his attention. Not
coincidentally, she had become a regular spectator at the Olgesby
summer league. It was hard to tell if she was there to watch her
son or the coach. One summer night she called Scott.

“Hey, hun. How did your interview go at EPSU?”

“Hard to tell, Elizabeth. I do know this – they want
Jamal to play for them very much. It seems like we spent as much
time talking about him as me. I’m not sure what they’re thinking as
far as the coaching job goes.”

“What about the town?”

“It’s in the middle of the mountains in
Pennsylvania. The university dominates the town. We would enjoy
living there,” said Scott. “I spent hours anonymously walking
through campus town, wondering what it would be like to be revered
as a respected member of the community. I toured the neighborhood
where many professors live in hundred-year-old mansions. The
physical education facilities were so impressive: the weight room,
the recruiting war room, the press section of the locker room. It
was overwhelming, and I painted myself in the picture. However, I
do not own the brush – the athletic director and the regents have
to make the call. Therefore, I am trying not to get my hopes up.
There are other candidates.”

“I’d love to be in the same town as Jamal, although
it would be hard not to mettle in his college life. Being around
the two men in my life would be ideal: you and Jamal.”

“Wouldn’t you miss your family?”

“The Handelair clan would be shocked. They think I
am still living with Marcus. Since I have been married, I have lost
so many so-called friends and other than Jamal, I have lost my way.
Marcus has not provided very well for us – he has not been able to
work for years. Scott, you can rescue me from him and the basement
that I seem to be stuck in. This is very exciting to me – to be an
important coach’s wife in a college town and to start over would be
a dream. I’m psyched!”

Coach Venturi said, “Wait a minute, Elizabeth.
Didn’t you put his work jacket in his carry-on with the gun inside?
You partially caused some of his bad luck – are you forgetting
that? I have to tell you that I have grown closer to Marcus, and I
feel guilty about you and me. I do not want to know about whatever
has gone on between the two of you, but I know Marcus – he is a
good man, with some unfortunate life-stifling events. He has been
great for the boys on the team, and if this is my last year at East
End, he will be a key part of it. I am remorseful about being with
you not only because of Jamal, but also I feel like I am betraying
Marcus. Can you understand that?”

“I can and I do. But EPSU is about us – you and me,
and Jamal. Hey, Marcus and I are not living together anymore.
Moreover, I will admit, I am selfish about this - thank God, you
came into my life. Marcus can fend for himself.”

“I’ve got to get back to work. I’m breaking down
some summer league tape tonight,” he replied with a heavy heart.
How could he justify having Elizabeth in his life at this time?

“Scott, stay on the phone. Do not hang up, please.
Talk to me. If I can’t see you tonight, I want to at least hear
your voice.”

Scott began to feel the once-familiar tug-of-war
that led to his divorce in Tolono. If she became too dependent, he
would not be able to dive into his hoped-for college job. He tucked
his worry about her in the back of his mind.

Twenty-five days of allowable contact flew by so
quickly. The East End team did not impress anybody except three
important people.

Coach Venturi never displayed his full arsenal of
players. The win/loss record was of no consequence to him. He tried
different combinations, styles and defensive strategies. One week,
his boys ran the court like an inner-city team. The next four
games, they looked like Iowa farm boys playing very deliberately.
They tried winning quarters of games by exclusively putting-up
‘three’s’ and even the post players were encouraged to shoot from
the perimeter. Other games, he implemented the five pass minimum
rule. Players experimented with ultra-aggressive play some games,
and other times, a touch foul earned them a seat on the bench. Much
to the pleasure of the parents, every boy on the team got serious
minutes in summer ball. The coach had hours of film and he began
developing his winter game plan as soon as the summer league
ended.

Frank Worrell watched enough basketball to discount
the team’s win/loss record in camp. Frank knew about the
recruitment of Jamal Imari by the EPSU recruiter, and he spent many
nights picking the recruiter’s brain during the summer in the
Olgesby gym. Surely, the recruiter wanted to be in many other
places beside the hot Chicagoland gyms, however, he needed to
demonstrate EPSU’s interest in Jamal by watching him play often. He
had seen enough of Jamal’s talents months earlier in the gym and by
watching the last season’s East End game tapes, but the presence of
college recruiters stroked impressionable athletes. He always wore
EPSU paraphernalia when in the gyms and he hated parental pushiness
of not-so talented players. He was there to reel-in Jamal.

Unbeknownst to Scott, the EPSU recruiter was
privately very critical about Venturi’s coaching style. Coach
Venturi’s stock had fallen in EPSU’s book because of his odd,
apparently erratic decisions in the summer. They did not understand
his strategy. However, they strung Venturi along because they
wanted his help in convincing Jamal to play for EPSU. The coach
thought he might be able to structure the coaching job and the
player as a two-for-one deal. In the end, EPSU held all the cards
and did not necessarily assume it was a package deal. Frank had the
big picture: he knew East End was dumping summer games, and he
realized before anyone else that Scott Venturi was not going to the
next EPSU coach. Frank had a good working relationship with most
coaches at Olgesby that summer; he pestered them all with
questions. He had the data organized and was completely ready to go
as soon as fall football concluded.

The third person to rationalize East End’s weak
record, but strengthened team was Bobby G. He was able to cozy-up
to all of the recruiters who paid him introduction money. He tested
his judgment about players, teams, and even referees during the
summer. At least as financially important, he developed a list of
parents who potentially wanted to bet on high school games. He
could not wait for his annual transition from street agent to
in-season bookmaker.

Bobby G. had the perfect setup for orchestrating his
biggest betting scheme ever. The East End team laid the groundwork
by creating super low expectations. However, to insure the value of
the play and to inflate the potential winnings he needed a partner.
Bobby G. was a shrewd judge of character. Many people were
experiencing financial problems.

The evaporating real estate market put pressure on
Billy Rechter’s legal practice and Bobby G. correctly deduced that
the extra games the attorney was working were helping to pay his
bills.

Frank Worrell was dressing better and spending more
money. He bought a new Porsche to replace the beater car he used to
ride. He also racked-up tons of debt, expanded by poor football
betting over the years. Keeping up with a rich, successful mistress
was an expensive proposition as well. His newfound lover often used
her credit cards, but Frank spent his money, paycheck to paycheck.
He was always broke and never happy.