Palky's 500th Game

As this is ostensibly a blog run by me - from time to time (see; all the time) I will hijack it for my own personal musings about the basketball club and where I fit inside it. It will border on self serving but people always say "be yourself" and I am naturally self serving ... so I would not be being myself and I would not be doing what people asked of me ... and I would hate to go against all your wishes, so here is a self serving piece of prose that I put forth to you good sir.

This Saturday I will be playing my 500th "recorded" game of basketball for the Prince Alfred Old Collegians Basketball Club. I joined the club in 1995 but we didn't start keeping stats until 1999 so we lost some of those first seasons. Let me tell you - I used to be able to shoot the piss out of and I used to cherry pick like no ones business ... can't imagine that right? This week is the 500th game of basketball for the Old Reds during the winter season - since 1999. I am the first to reach this milestone so it is something I am quite proud of if no one else is.

We don't really celebrate milestones like footy clubs and netball clubs ... which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I am taking this more as an opportunity to reflect on the good times, my personal successes, the great teams and games in the club and the many friendships I have forged over my 19 years in the club.

In 1995, I was in the C's (we only had 3 teams) with a bunch of 1st year guys (much like this year's D's and G's) - it was the first year for me, Mark "Lenny" Waters, Guy "Flair" Collins (this is where Flair became Flair), Ben Christie, Matthew Scott, Doug Cooke, Hamish Saunders and Martin "The Superstar" Vandenburg (there were a few others but I can't remember). Four of us (me, Lenny, Flair and Ben) have gone on to be life members of the club.

We were an ok team but we were all really learning the game back then - I could always shoot - but didn't do much else (so much has changed). I used to talk alot of trash back in the day - if you can imagine Phil Harford (except funny). We were super scrappy - Saunders and Martin were both great players and we did well enough to finish 4th and make the elimination final.

The Elimination Final was at Modbury High - we were playing early in the day and I remember the whole club coming out and supporting us - probably 20 guys (we were pretty small club back then). We played ok but were down 5 in the last 30 seconds. Saunders hit a jumper to cut it to 3 with 10 seconds left and we fouled to put our opponent on the line. They missed both and Saunders got the rebound. With 5 seconds left they fouled him - they were in the penalty - dumb foul. Saunders went to the line - he hits the first. I went up to him and said to him to make the second and we will foul again. He says "yep ... no probs". He then gets to the line and chucks the ball as hard as he can at the front of the ring - it hits on the perfect spot on the ring ... before anyone can react the ball has bounced straight back to him. He grabs the rebound and quickly turns and flicks it to Scotty. Scotty has to shoot it immediately - he has two guys charging at him - Scotty hoists it high in the air under immense pressure ... the buzzer goes as the ball is in the air ... swish!

In the 19 years I have been in a club, I have never seen the raw emotion reaction since - the whole club ran on the court, screaming as loud as we could, hugging Scotty and Saunders. It was a memory that will stay with me forever. The game went to OT - I hit three 3's in the first 3 possessions and we won. We didn't go on to win the flag but that game was movie worthy.

In 1997, I remember the A's made a Grand Final - they won the year before and were going for back to back. Darshan Vigneswaran had one of the best games ever played in a Reds jersey - he scored 27 points and channelled his inner Barkley - hitting the craziest fadeway jumpers. I remember to finish the game Andrew "Big A" Williams and Nick Holden (both centres) hit 3 pointers just to rub it in.

In 1999, I was playing with our Wednesday social team at Mars - a team made up of me, A, "The Bandit" Chris Mann, Matt Trim, Dave Cahill, Chris Woodrow (his rookie year) and Saunders. This was one of my favourite ever teams - we had 17 wins and 3 losses that year. It was the year when everything came together - A was playing at the height of his powers (averaged 15 points a game), Bandit won Club Champ this year, Kobe was super crafty, Trimmy and I were shooting well and DC and Saunders were the glue. We used to move the ball so well - we would always hit the open man, always make the extra pass - we were the 86 Celtics of fat white man social ball. For years I would say this was the best team I ever played on. We won the title that year and we were "Crazy". To this day we are still called "Crazy Wednesdays" but we now play on Thursday.  

In 2000, I joined the A's and in 2001 we got into a GF. I didn't play a lot that year - I probably got 5-10 minutes a game - it was very tough but I tried not to let it impact on how I was on the bench with the team. I told this story last year at club lunch (the story that made me overly emotional) but I think it is worth sharing again.

In the semi final I didn't get on the court, I remember being upset after the game but we won and we were going into the Grand Final the next week, so I tried to be upbeat. In the group at the end we put our hands in to do the "REDS" thing - Tom "Lunny" Lunn announced "it is bullshit that Palky didn't play today ... next week he can have my minutes". I'm not even sure if Lunny remembers this but I have always been touched by this gesture. We went on to win the next week, Lunny slammed their best player in the first couple of minutes and he broke his elbow. I got 28 seconds playing time in that game - Jimmy Jones called a sub and said "put Palky in". It was the last 28 seconds of the first half - we had been down big all half but had come back and we were now only down 2. The ball swung around the top, went inside to "The Wildman" Dan Garrett, he drove and found me in the corner. I shot a 3 and made it. I watched the video back a few weeks ago (I copied it from video to DVD) - everyone on the bench was stoked for me and the team. We blew it out in the 2nd half and won easily.

In 2002 I got ejected in the A's Grand Final ... as a spectator ... by Leo! Worth noting.

2003 I was in the D's - we only had 5 players all year - me, Trimmy, Flair and 2 young kids Sasha and McGuffog. Three things I remember from this year:

1. Trimmy had a 36 point game and only hit 2 threes - the rest was him just posting up.

2. We had to just lose the last game to get the 1 Premiership point to make the finals - but Trimmy didn't turn up - so we forfeited and got 0 Premiership points - we missed the finals. Side note - Trimmy went on and won Club Champion that year. He was the first player to ever win Club Champion and not be in the A's ... I wonder who the second was?

3. We had this old guy who was supposedly Captain of Basketball in 85 and 86 come and join the team mid season. Sean said he was good, "he can really shoot". He came out and was 33 years old ... we started calling him "Old Man". This old man could shoot like no ones business - one of the best shooters that has played in the basketball club. After a few games he said to me "I don't like being called Old Man can you call me something else?" So we started calling him Madman. "Madman" Matt Williams joined the A's the next year and became a Life Member of the club last year.  

Also in 2003 I went out and watched the C's in their Grand Final. They had been playing at a different stadium so I hadn't seen them all year. They had two guys who didn't train so I didn't know them. When we watched ,it became apparent these two dudes were guns ... it was Matt "Rough Justice" Just and Mark "Max Power" Powell. The game was close. Down 1 with 3 seconds left - Max drove to the basket and was fouled with no time left on the clock. Two free throws - he made them both. C's win! I remember thinking - I am playing with those two next year.

The next year I appointed myself Captain of the B's (as you do) and I put together a squad - me, Max, Rough, Brad Daniel, Phil Motteram, Ben Foran and Tim "BB" Wong. We had an ok season and were 8-5 going into the last game. We had to beat the 4th place team to make the finals and knock them out. We won - I remember Roughie had 10+ steals - he was incredible. We were in the finals - but would needed to win all 3 games.

We won the Elimination Final. In the Prelim I remember starting and being on court and just not being into the game - I wasn't in the right headspace. I subbed myself out after a minute. About 10 minutes later I did a quick sub when I saw we had a sidelines out of bounds - I came on hit a 3. We got a quick foul and I subbed myself back out. Then 1 minute later I subbed back in and hit 2 more 3's. Then the 2nd half opened and I hit two more 3's. Phil Motteram had 16 points that day and it was the best game I ever saw him play. We won and were in the GF.

I remember turning up to the Final and seeing Aldgate - when they saw us they looked shocked - they had assumed that Henley would have beaten us and they would be playing them again. No dice. I was so nervous - at the start of the game I got a tip in off a 3 and then hit back to back threes. Matt Just made two threes in the first half - to that point in the season he was 0 of 25 from the three point line. I have watched this game 20 times over the years - Phil, Brad and Ben dominated this game. I top scored with 11 - when I hit my final 3 I did the most ridiculous "gun fingers". We had to win our last 4 games of the season to win the title - and we did.

2005 was a bit of a shift in the club culture - we had arguably the best recruiting year based on talent in the club's history - we recruited Nic Blair, Chris Donaldson, Sam Eley, James Baker, Chris Browne, Jon Hanzalik and one "Dangerous" Stu MacDonald. Stu was a mate of A's and mine - we knew he played basketball ... we didn't know that he would become one of the best 5 players to ever play for the club. Stu, Sam and I played in the B's together. Eley was an incredible shooter - if I was to rank best 3 point shooters ever in the club Eley would be first, Brad Altmann second and Stu would be third. Guy Collins would be near the bottom. On court it was fun - we made the GF but lost to Saints and Eley took a silly shot in Intercol when we were up 2 with the ball and only 10 seconds left on the clock (but we all do that sometimes) and we lost.

This year was special because this is when the club became more "social" and that was because of Stu. We started to hang around after the games, support the other teams, have a drink and a laugh and bond as teams and as a club. I infamously said at the Club Lunch about Stu "he has changed my life". It was in reference to the fact that he changed the club for the better but I was drunk and it came out wrong.

2005 was the year Sean's D's went 19-1 and won the title - they had an averaging winning margin of 32 points and beat a team 103-3 ... good times!

2007 I played in the C's - we went 15-3 in the regular season - we lost twice to a team that had 17 year old Mike Hill. I remember thinking that he was a smug little shit. We made the Qualifying Final (me, Flair, Brad, Mark "Hendo" Henderson and Cliff Hurburg) - we only had 5. Jay Nguyen (our best player) and Matt "Diamond" Will were away. We were up against Mike's team (Seaton) but he was injured. We only scored 26 points for the game - I had 18. Seaton were down 8 with a minute to go - Kerwin (who played for Seaton) was 0 of 1000 during the game but hit two late 3's. We called a timeout, up 2 with 10 seconds left. We drew up the "Palk Play" - all line up in a row - 3 people go one way, 1 goes the other and all the defenders will follow the 3 players. It worked perfectly and Brad had an open uncontested layup ... but he chose not to lay it up and run to the corner like a soccer player. They caught up and fouled him. He went to the line and missed both. Kerwin got a good look at it but missed. We won.

My main lasting memory from the game was Cliff came and thought they game was at 6.30 but it was 7.30. He had made plans to meet his future in-laws that night for the first time. His Mrs was busting his balls telling him he couldn't play because they had dinner reservations at 8pm. If he didn't play we would have forfeited. I told his Mrs that she would just need to move dinner till 9pm and she could "get f'd" cos Cliff was playing. I'm not sure she ever spoke to me again.  
In the GF - we played Golden Grove. Jay was back and had an amazing game (hit five 3's and scored 20 points), Flair knocked some guy on his ass and hit a 3, Hendo blocked the shit out of someone. We won by 25. I watched the video of the game last year - Golden Groves 2 best players went a combined 1 of 25 from 3. That is Moorfoot bad.

2007 was also the year that the call went out to save the E's. The E's were 5-8 and looking like folding as they only had 5 players (BB, Spangles, Udit, Macca and Tom Murdoch). The call went out if someone knew any guys who would help out. Hendo worked with this guy called "Brownie" and he knew a guy who might be keen. So I get the scoresheets each week and I see these Brown and Yates characters are scoring 15 points here, 20 points there ... and the E's start to roll.

They make the finals and then they make the Grand Final. They are up against this young Beaumont team who has this massive kid with red hair ... he looked like a bloodnut Andrew Williams - so we called him "Big Red A". The E's are up by heaps but Beaumont come back when Brown fouls out. Down 1, Beaumont get to the line with 5 seconds on the clock - they start celebrating like it is all over. They miss both free throws - Yates is boxing out Big Red A and he slams into him on the miss - foul called. Beaumont in the penalty - Yates to the line ... calmly makes both. E's win. I remember this kid for Beaumont cried and I couldn't have been happier. Their coach wore a suit and had a clipboard. Yates has now gone on to be one of my best mates ... and the butt of 50% of my jokes ...the rest is made up of Flair 20% Orks 10% Moorfoot 10% and Baker 10%.  

2008 - two words ... TOOOOOOT TOOOOOOT! The C Train was born. This was Jack Harford and Josh Orken's first year. Jack had come out to the first training and he twisted his ankle in the first 5 minutes. He was out for 6 weeks. I remember people telling me he was good - but he didn't look that good in the 5 minutes I saw. We had to put him in the C's because we just couldn't tell ... how was I to know that he would become my favourite ever player. Joining Orks and The Captain was Loky Griffths, his mate Altmann (who I was told could shoot) and Yates. As happened at the time Flair, BB and I always played together - we were the role players that filled in the gaps in a few teams.

"The C Train" was and is the best team I have ever played on. We won 19 games in a row (one off the perfect regular season). Won through to the GF easily and won the final after starting 18-0 ... the other team came back but we were way too good. It was a good league but we just killed teams. We could have finished Top 4 in A Grade that year.

2008 was also the first year the A's won the A Grade title. They had been in the final the three previous seasons but just couldn't get over the line. The was the first year they got the balance right ... a balance that has seen them go on to win five A Grade titles in a row. Every A's title has been different but this one was special - this was Blair and Stu's team. This was also the year that Tim "Purge" Purgacz joined the club - he bought the value of hardwork and hustle to the club ... and again has become one of my great mates. We met online in a basketball forum ... I'm not kidding.

2009 was my favourite ever A's team - Blair at the height of his powers, Liam and Stu as the 2nd and 3rd scoring option, Jack assuming control of the team, Purge and Goody as the heart and A and Madman as the soul. They won games by an average of 15 points - no one could stay with them. The worst Grand Final ever ... 49 fouls! One of my favourite things in the club is when Liam Golding gets made and gets knocked over ... he kicks people. He has the crazy legs. You can almost see him do it in this video when he gets knocked down.

In 2010 I went into the E's - I had my best ever year on court and won a Players' Players medal. I averaged 15 points a game that year. In the Prelim Final I played my best ever game and hit seven 3's in a row (I had hit more 3's and scored more than that before but never in such an important game). I remember going crazy with each one I hit - after the 7th I looked like a crazy man waving my arms around like a lunatic. We lost the GF - I only got a couple of shots up ... I just couldn't get the ball.

I lost 4 Grand Finals in a row - 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. 2011 was the hardest - I was the team's leading scorer - we were in a tough league ... we played a great Prelim and I played really well. In the Grand Final they came out in man and we choked ... I choked.

2011 was the year of my favourite A's game ever. The A's were playing in the Qualifying Final to go directly into their 7th straight Grand Final. They were playing Saints (at Saints). They had lost the Intercol to Saints, got pumped by 20 by Saints during the season, lost the game to Saints the week before finals ... and now they were facing a team that had the wood on them all season. And to compound that the Reds only had 5 players. Goody was away, Leo couldn't play and Stu had blown his knee a couple of months before and was out for at least a year. Side note - the game Stu blew his knee he has 21 points in the 1st half against Knightsbridge, he had 25 a couple of minutes into the 2nd half ... and then his knee gave way. It was the most on fire any Old Red had ever been ... he would have scored 40 that day.

In the last game of the season - the A's were down 20 and Saints were laughing and joking around. The Reds made a couple of key changes only lost by 2. Thing was, they rattled Saints by coming back ... much like when Rocky cut Ivan Drago in Rocky 4. 

In the Grand Final, using the confidence they gained from the week before, the A's played an excellent Saints team and won in an absolute dog fight - it was the best case of seeing one team wanting it more. And to do it with only 5 was incredible.
   
At the time I wrote "Saints would have been thinking that the result was a formality – especially when they saw the A’s only had 5. As I have been saying for the last 3 weeks – the A’s are the champs for a reason. Saints need to learn to win these games – I hope this destroys any and all confidence they have. Amazing game and for the people there who saw it – it was and still is headshakingly good"

Two weeks later they beat Saints again in the Grand Final. I remember it is the only time I have seen Jack get truly mad an opponent. He was yelling "this isn't high school basketball now". I'm guessing that feud may have been going on a while.

And that brings us up to last year. At the start of the year I was clocking in a 97kgs and thought I only had one or two years left. I wanted to coach and play in the B's one last time. I put together a plan to lose some weight. By May I was 81kgs - it was the first time I had the fitness and improved speed to actually play defence in the 20 years I had been playing. I played well in my Thursday night league - I won the Lowbrown award which was the 10th year we had awarded it. Before that I had only ever finished in the Top 3 once and that was in the 1st year we did it. I set a club record for most 3's for a single team (65 in 18 games).

I played really well in the B's Intercol - I top scored hitting five 3's - we won. At the Club Lunch I won the Sean Heylen Medal for best player in the Intercols.

But the B's is where we really had fun. As has been the case for the last 6 years our B's are in the A Grade with our A's. In those 6 years the B's had only made the top 4 once ... and that was the year Saints were terrible. Coming down to the final game of the season we were 4th - the B's were playing Saints and the A's were playing Gateway - the team that was 5th. If the B's won - they were into the finals, if the B's lost and Gateway won then the B's were out. The B's hadn't beaten Saints in 5 years. We won by 10 ... lucky cos the A's lost. Gateway had assumed we lost ... it was fun telling them after the game that they didn't get in.

In the Elimination Final we were up against Saints again - without our main scorer. I played one of the best games I have ever played and we won by 15. Lachy Campbell was an absolute beast that day. We lost the next week to our A's by 9 ... I have never wanted to win a game more in my life. 

In 2012 I hit a truckload of 3's - 114 in total breaking the 8 year old record of 89. I was awarded the Club Champion trophy ... basically by default I think cos the A's are so team orientated that no one else really stood out. Doesn't matter, name is on the trophy. I am the oldest guy to win it. I cried when I got it ... Yates has recently told me he cried when I got it. So there is that.

At some point I was President of the club - I loved being president - I did it for 4 or 5 years. I hope I did an ok job, I think I did. I hope I always put the club first ahead of my interests. I think the club is my interest so I think they go hand in hand. I still take a hand in the running of the club - sometimes probably too much - I can't envisage a time in my life where I won't be involved in running some part of the club. I think it is pretty much my lot in life ... poor Megan.

I will end with a story I told at the 20 Year Dinner (which was a tops night) - in 1995 I joined the club - we had about 25 people, 5 teams - A's, B's, C's + Wednesday and Thursday nights. At the Club Lunch (which is still to this day one of the best days of the year) Sean Heylen (who was president at the time) was handing out awards - each team got 3 awards + the Club Champ. So 16 awards ... there were 16 people at the lunch. I remember we got to Thursday night team (which Sean ran) and he started handing out the awards - it was Most Improved. He then said my name. Now everyone that day got an award (like junior footy ... my mate Jono once got "Best Position Maker") but I was stoked. It was the first time that I had ever truly felt included in something that was bigger than me. That I belonged in a group, that I was part of something. I will always appreciate that Sean made that effort with me and I hope that is how the young guys who come in now feel that I treat them.

We have 60 guys in the club this year but I always hope that I make everyone feel that they belong in what we have. It is no more my club than it is anyone else's, so I hope everyone feels welcome. Damien Brown once said to me "Palky it doesn't matter if you are the A's or the E's - you treat everyone the same".

I hope I do.

I would be remiss in not thanking other guys not mentioned above -  the guys who I have been through the club with. Obvious one is Big A - he joined the club a year earlier than me (it is his 20th year this year) and we have been part of running the club together for that time. We have played Crazies together for 19 of those year - he is still a rock ... doesn't shoot much these days. Simon Miller has been with me the whole time too - Sime worked so hard with me when I took over the presidency and he still has a major hand in everything we do in the club. In 19 years, I think we have been in the same team twice ... which is weird for a team slut like me. I think we play the same position and we run teams so it is hard for us to be in the same squad. Also Liam who has been the longest serving president - I probably stole his thunder - he let's me run with my stupid ideas and never seems to pissed off. Other guys who I could wax lyrical about are Sean, Flair, Purge, Lenny, Bandit, DC, BB, Trimmy, Madman, Yates, Manners, Orks, Purge, Captain, G, Mike, Lambert, Magic James, Lunny, Baker, Blair, Dangerous and plenty of others ... but I don't have the time and you don't have the patience. I can't remember any times in the club when any one guy has truly disliked another guy ... how can you have 200 guys through a club and never have a fight or a vicious word? Just lucky I guess.  

Happy 500th to me!