The Rattlers avenged their previous loss to the
Edmonton Stingers with a 69-62 win at the Snake Pit, which was chock-full of boundless
youthful enthusiasm (and on a school night, no less). The game was not exactly
a showcase for the CEBL on-court product, but the Rattlers’ victory over their
de facto regional rivals pushes them back above the .500 mark.
The Rattlers looked sloppy to start. The ref (who was
a woman (which is great)) was keen on calling travelling against the Rattlers
early on. Edmonton capitalized on these sorts of turnovers, jumping out to a 15-3
lead. They drained several buckets to the beat of “Lady Venom”; kudos to DJ
Charly Hustle for remembering Canadian hip-hop flash-in-the-pan Swollen Members.
With the score still lopsided, the venerable hype-man
Gregor provided some distraction by asking that we draw out attention to Swish.
(The keen-eyed Saskatchewanese could have spotted the Rattler’s serpentine
mascot on national television as recently as last Wednesday at an update from
the Toronto Raptors’ NBA Finals viewing party.) Gregor wanted us to witness the
little harlequinade developing between the court and the hockey boards. Along
this narrow strip of concrete, a child dressed in a bee costume (representing
the vespine opposition) was fleeing from the perpetually smiling
anthropomorphic snake, who was brandishing a fishing net. Eventually, Swish succeeded
in capturing the costumed child in the net, but it didn’t feel quite right to
cheer for him having done so.
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| The incomparable Bruce Massey |
Thanks to the boundless ball-handling skill of captain
Bruce Massey, the Rattlers went on an 11-2 run and got to within 3 by the end
of the first quarter. In the second, both teams were sloppy, players flopping
around flounder-like, often scrabbling on their stomachs for the (frequently)
loose ball. Players from both sides perpetually slipped, threw bricks, got
sprawled out, and jacked air-balls. With 1:33 left in the second, the score was
29-29, which is a first quarter score if there ever was one. The Rattlers
managed to take a 33-31 lead into the half. There was a preponderance of
middle-school children in attendance, and by this point they were cheering joyously
on account of the hometown lead.
At the half, a group of local 11-year-old boys played
an abbreviated exhibition basketball game. The kids had clearly been well-coached,
and on the whole they looked more polished than the players from the Stingers
and Rattlers had in the previous half. Sure, they missed more than their share
of shots, but again, they averaged 4’6’’ in height. When the baskets did go in,
your correspondent, along with the rest of the crowd, applauded heartily. Seeing
someone that small make a basket is actually far more impressive and inspiring
than watching someone 6’10’’ do the same.
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| These 11-year-olds got game |
In quarter three, the game remained close. With less
than a minute to go, the Rattlers’ Negus Webster-Chan drove hard to the hoop,
only to be fouled even harder. He made his free throws, but he left for the
sidelines limping. The game was tied going into the fourth, each team with a meager 48 points to their credit.
Between quarters, a local junior dance team consisting
of a handful of fifteen-year females took to the court to perform. Their specialty,
we were informed, was pom-poms. They executed their routine solidly, moving
beyond the usual step-aerobic capering of the Venom Girls. If anything, this
local junior dance team was the superior dance troupe. Once again, youth held
its own against the professional product, and may have even prevailed over it.
Early in the fourth, Marlon Johnson slammed home an
impressive one-handed jam, and the momentum swung in favor of the Rattlers. It
was palpably obvious that it wasn’t going to swing back. The fans could feel
it, as was evidenced by a particularly passionate round of Kiss Cam. At least
two couples went full-tongue for the camera. Kiss Cam would eventually find DJ
Charly Hustle all by his lonesome. Swish, however, rushed into the picture and heartily
embraced the forlorn DJ, attempting to inhale his head. While Hustle and Swish made
connections off-court, the Rattlers were connecting on it, led by the usual suspect,
Mr. Massey. Massey made a crucial basket to stretch the Rattlers’ lead to 7,
and then the home team’s D followed up with a steal. After some prolonged
ball-wrestling in and around centre court, the Rattlers eventually converted
another bucket, making the lead insurmountable.
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| Swish attempts a basket with a beach-ball |
At a pause in play, Gregor stole our attention once
again for another Swish-related burlesque. Here, Swish went teetering down the
steps of section P, and then started dumping popcorn down on the fans seated
therein. Whether he was spilling it or throwing it was not clear from your correspondent’s
vantage point; on the whole, the skit was fairly aimless, and the crowd gave him
a tepid but good-natured response.
The people in the Snake Pit were, you see, all quite cheery.
There was an overall good feeling in the arena on this night, and it was not just the epiphenomenon of the drunken stupor that typified the average attendee in
the Friday night crowd as per the previous home game. No doubt it helped that
many in attendance were minors, and very well-behaved minors at that. The enthusiasm
felt very real and wholesome. Low-scoring though their 69-62 win may have been,
the Rattlers did not crush that youthful exuberance, but instead only amplified
it with their resolute play, sending all the children and their parents home happy.
