D.C. Media Trounces Council in Basketball Throwdown
Members of the D.C. Council knocked to the floor while protecting the lane against aggressive offensive moves by much younger journalists. Disputes over fouls and scoring. The District's most even-tempered radio voice handed a technical foul for being a little too lively a coach. Getting driven to to the hole by Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) on your first play in the game. Yes, this was all part of the first ever basketball game between members of the city's legislative body and the journalists who cover them.
Most everyone else on the media team works for family-friendly outlets, so I'll come out and call a spade a spade -- the game was a glorious shit-show. Sure, the media's 16-member team bested the council, 35-25, for a plaque and a year's worth of bragging rights, but the real story was in the 28 minutes of pushing, shoving, diving for loose balls and other displays of not-so-athleticism at the Verizon Center.
It's no secret that the council caught the media off guard. Younger and bearing a deeper bench, the media team exuded confidence that was promptly put to a test by Kwame Brown's (D-At Large) quick hands, Michael Brown's (D-Ward 4I-At Large) inside presence and Wells' unforgiving physical play. (Props are also due to Jack Evans, Vincent Gray and Mary Cheh.) It didn't help that the council actually had fans at the game; the media had to talk a high school cheerleading squad into providing some needed spirit, if only briefly. Trailing until the fourth quarter, the media team came alive only after it realized that its only hope was in Fox 5's Wisdom Martin and the Washington Business Journal's Jonathan O'Connell, who between them scored 29 of the team's points.
But the points only really tell half the story. Any assumptions that the game wasn't going to be competitive were quickly wiped away in a barrage of fouls, charges and three-second violations. WTOP's Mark Segraves and Council member Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5) each proved willing to pick a fight with a ref or a scorekeeper, and more than a few of the city's elected representatives and scribes ended up on the floor during play. Media coach Kojo Nnamdi was handed a technical foul (do they even give those in half-court games?), and one of the journos even accused the referees of siding with the council in exchange for forgiven parking tickets and liens.
As for me, well, I added nothing to the scoreboard on 0 for 1 shooting (a three from the corner? WTF?) but managed to knock one ball free from Wells' hands in what was a brief third quarter appearance. I tried to justify my less-than-stellar performance by arguing that I'm just a blogger, but not even that could ease the sting of having Wells blow by me on a nice give-and-go that may as well have ended with him dunking on me and hanging on the rim laughing. I feel a little foolish for having moved out of his ward -- the man can play.
This being a game involving journalists, there are plenty of write-ups out there to enjoy: WTOP, D.C. Wire, NBC 4, D.C. Examiner.