There aren’t many people who could bore me and impress me at the same time. Ben Stein, Dan Rather, Judge Ito, and the guy that sits in the Oval Office – they’re like watching polar bears hibernating at the zoo.
There aren’t many people who could bore me and impress me at the same time.
Ben Stein, Dan Rather, Judge Ito, and the guy that sits in the Oval Office – they’re like watching polar bears hibernating at the zoo. They may be sleeping and you may be yawning, but you still stare at them over the security fence, hoping they’re going to wake up, wave to the crowd, whip out a top hat and dance to Mambo #5.
Of course, they never wake up and you end up parked in the shade on a zoo picnic table next to the refreshment stand and some zitty 12-year-old eating an ice cream cone, but it’s not like I’ve ever walked away from the show, “Ben Stein’s Money,” feeling anything more than tired – and sometimes, just plain dumb.
And then I saw Kapa’a Head Basketball Coach Michael Ban take only six players, much of them non-starters, and beat a full team of girls with talent, experience and know-how. I’ve never been more bored and impressed with anything in my life.
Ban and the Kapa’a Warriors, who won the first round Friday night with a 26-25 victory over the Waimea Menehunes, proved that an interesting basketball game is not dependent on a high numbered scoreboard.
There’s way more to the sport than that.
It was almost as if Ban was orchestrating a “slow bicycle race,” where the last person to cross the finish line was the winner. It was painful to watch, but you still sat there, waiting for the end, wondering if the slowest biker would actually pull it off.
“Don’t count these girls out,” Manny Henriques said of the Warriors, just before I made the decision not to fold my notebook and walk out of Bernice Hundley gymnasium.
I’m glad I didn’t go, and I bet the fans who knew half of the Warrior team were at the school prom were happy they stayed to watch the game.
It was the most exciting “slow-bicycle race” in history. Even if Ihilani Yama could dunk from the three-point line, hit consecutive treys from beyond half-court and score 70 points a game, I wouldn’t have wanted Friday’s game played in any other way.
It was unbelievable, and it further proved what kind of coach Michael Ban is, and how well his players can follow his lead.
For four quarters he had his team hold the ball and eat the clock. They set up their offense, passed it around, and listened to Ban’s instruction.
“Patience,” said Manny. “They can win only if they continue to be patient.”
And with patience, they were up 2-1 after the first quarter, tied 6-6 after the second, and ahead by six points with one minute left in the game.
Although the Menehunes, a team with no quit in them, nearly sank a game-winning bucket with one-second on the clock, the Warriors were able to pull off the win.
At that moment, the polar bears really did open their eyes, throw on a top hat and dance for the crowd.
But it shouldn’t surprise me, or any of the fans, that Ban could win under seemingly hopeless circumstances. Ban took an underdog boys team and made them contenders for the KIF championship earlier this year. Do I have to rekindle the series of games between the Warriors and Menehunes that had everyone on the edge of their seats?
Whether his teams won or lost, they were always contenders. But I should admit, this time he had a little help.
His girls: Brianne States, Kanoe Arinaga, Jackie Alapai, Bristol King, Tescilly Macguire and Ihilani Yama, showcased patience, trust, and concentration within the framework of Ban’s own madness – almost like an intrinsic methodology shared by player and coach, executed in the only way it could possibly succeed.
They didn’t turn the ball over, they didn’t make mental mistakes, they didn’t force shots, and in the end, they didn’t put anyone to sleep.
Ironically, the most boring game plan in basketball became one of the most exciting events of the KIF year.
