pirate life and red hot chili peppers
“Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” The Dread Pirate Roberts stated somewhat famously in the film, "The Princess Bride" as he argued with his capture after she claimed he mocked her pain surrounding the loss of her love. I won't spoil the obvious twist in the film here, in case you happen to be one of the six people in the world who hasn't seen this classic, but the twist reveals what DPR was saying is that without pain how can one experience love or life at all? At least that's my pseudo-psycho interpretation.The concept that without the dark one cannot see the light, without the sour you can't taste the sweet, and without the scars has one even lived a life? To live a life full of experience and beauty mustn't one step outside their comfort zone and feel something they never have? The risk is pain, the reward is life.
Scar tissue exists as a testament to a life worth living. Whether it's the memory of regret burrowed in the brain to motivate. Or the emotional response to past trauma heightening one's awareness to take action. Or maybe it's just the fibrous collagen adhesions built by your body after surgery to restrict movement and keep your joint safe only to spontaneously release during activity resulting in a pain similar to the very one it was meant to heal and make you think you've re-torn the ligament that you just spent a year rehabbing so you could taste the thrill of pleasure and pain on the basketball court once again even for the briefest of moments? Whatever the case, the point here is to nurture the scar tissue in our life. Appreciate that it exists as a result of our experiences. Our risks and passions played out on a physical plane for us to remember. To ease the scars we must massage and soften the tissue and allow it flexibility in the body so it can return to familiar form. So be thrilled to ice that swollen ankle or stretch that sore hamstring. Only the delusional would believe that pain has no purpose and if anyone says so, they're clearly selling the drama.
Onwards with the week 15 Recap:
The games started with a fun one between Degenerates (4-4) and Crazies (1-7). After a neck and neck first half, Degenerates slowly wore down the lunatics to eventually capture a 67-58 win. "Super Mario" Archuleta was powered up and in his bag all game to avoid the upset and finished with a game high 32 pts, 4 rebs, 2 dimes, 4 thefts and a Mutumbo. Anthony Armijo chipped in 11 pts despite the degenerating ones struggling from deep on 4-32 threes. Crazies used a balanced attack to almost pull off the upset as Eric Henriquez anchored the front court with 17 pts and 11 rebs. His back court counterpart Q Watts got his, with 17 pts and 5 dimes in the loss.
In the 7 o'clock Comp League contest we got extra hoops as Blakes Lotta Buckets (5-4) took Team Nuevo (4-3) to overtime before succumbing 69-76. All five Nuevo starters hit double figures in scoring as Dom Baca and Marcos Aragon inflicted the most damage with 19 pts, 5 dimes and 18 pts, 6 dimes respectively. Luis "Manos" Gutierrez was huge on the glass with 16 rips to go with 14 pts and 2 Mutumbos. Blakes Lotta combo of Isaac Shanley (27 pts, 8 rebs) and Eli Dawson (18 pts, 11 rebs, 8 dimes, 2 swats) came to serve L's once again, but couldn't find the extra green chile in OT.
Silent Storm (4-2) continued their hurricane like finish to the season as they edged Lethal Injection (3-5) 74-70 to claim the 3rd place spot for the time being. Look out for the Storm come tourney time, Wilford Troup was a constant dourpour for forty minutes as he rained 27 pts on any poor defender without an umbrella. Dalton Etkie was a hail storm from deep as he drained five threes on his way to 22 wet ones. For the Lethal needle lovers, Greg Trujillo loaded the syringe with 26 pts, 6 rebs, and 5 dimes but had a team high 4 turnovers, which Danny Salazar (12 pts, 1 TO) wanted me to mention. Jacob Torres-Day managed 17 pts for the Injectors through the teammate turmoil. LOL, get it together gentleman!
We had just two games in Rec League action as we wind down the regular season, but the 6 o'clock made up for any lack of hoop we'd get with an overtime thriller! Zia Elite (0-9) just missed the upset of the century as they lost 55-60 to Blakes Lotta Buckets (6-2). Jesus "Chewy" Rios showed up on both ends of the floor for Zia, going for a team high 16 pts and playing inspired defense against Blakes famous Lotta Combo. Thanks to "Chewy" the burger and fries were missing some seasoning from Eli Dawson. So Paul Kirpes stepped in and ordered up 14 pts, including the eventual game winner in overtime. Isaac Shanley super sized his stat line with 22 pts, 11 rebs, 4 dimes, 5 thefts and 2 swats to be the lean mean "bust yo ass" machine we have come to expect.
Hoopers (5-3) put this week to bed with an impressive 88-70, near twamping over IPS (2-7). Carlos Quintana paced five Hoop heads in double digits with 27 pts. The ball was moving and everyone was sharing, but none more than Larry Morina with 9 dimes to compliment his 17 pts. Diego Ortiz helped preserve the blowout with his double double of 18 pts and 10 rebs. For the acronymic, Danny Salazar led the team in scoring with 22 pts while Alex Gutierrez doubled down with 13 pts and 14 rebs in the loss.
Great week everyone, just some reminders that we still have space for teams to register in the 35+ League that will start March 5th, and start thinking about your teams for the upcoming Summer Sessions where we will combine the Comp and Rec Leagues into "The League" and have a three month season from April 28th - July 28th which is promising to be our most competitive hoop league yet. So start recruiting, tell your friends, find out who's in town for the summer and get your team registered here.
Whoever signed up teams Swish and Fab Five please finish registering so I can activate your player registration and lock your teams in for the summer. As always please reach out if you have any questions.
Respect the game, Santa Fe Swish
