Monthly Archives: July 2006

One shining dream

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Alright, basketball withdrawal is painful, apparently. It’s now even invading my dreams.

The other night, amazing detail. I’m sitting courtside in Salem with Rick Seidel, broadcasting the national semifinals. Pretty good crowd on hand. NYU is playing UW-Platteville and Platteville has just taken a three to go up by two with seconds left. NYU pushes the ball up the floor and has it knocked out of bounds with 0.1 seconds left.

So NYU has to go for the tip-in. But their inbounds pass misses everyone and actually hits me in the face. Ouch.

Platteville needs to inbound the ball to advance to the finals. But they throw deep into their frontcourt to avoid the tip-in and they, too, miss everyone. So it’s still 0.1 seconds left, NYU inbounding underneath its own basket again with a chance to tip-in and tie, but Platteville deflects the inbounds pass and time expires.

And there’s still nearly four months to tipoff.

The legend of Jeff Gibbs grows

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Roster inflation is a wonderful thing, seriously. I’ve seen some doozy heights in my time, to be sure.

Jeff Gibbs was one of the biggest recipients of inflated height that I’ve ever seen. The Otterbein center dominated Division III from the low post with his leaping ability and rebounding. But oddly enough, he had different heights on Otterbein’s football and basketball rosters, magically gaining two inches every fall and losing them every winter. (Perhaps the football team measured him in his cleats.)

You see, I know Gibbs was not his listed 6-3. I stood next to him at the Final Four in Salem and he is 6-1 at best. That’s because I’m 6-0 (though I would be listed at 6-2, no doubt).

But apparently Gibbs has grown since graduation. A local newspaper referred to his performance with the Columbus Cyclones and said he was 6-5. Yeah, 6-5. Then later in the piece, the writer says:

He went to some football team camps with the goal of latching on as a tight end in the NFL. But once again, he was told he was too small.

“I got the same thing I’ve heard my whole life,” said Gibbs, whose scored 15 points against Cuyahoga Falls on June 3 in his first game with the Cyclones. “I was told I was too short.”

Thankfully this guy isn’t an NFL scout, because a true 6-5 isn’t too short for an NFL tight end. But it’s too tall for Jeff Gibbs.

Then again, when it comes to Gibbs’ game, size doesn’t matter.