THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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2010_Summer (SF/OAK/SJ) |
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Mid-season status checkup |
| Updated 6/30 12:00PM |
| The following is *not* required reading and is quite long, but oh well... While addressing some issues with our logistics in SJ, figuring out the first-50-captains t-shirts, and looking ahead to a trip to NBA Summer League in Vegas next week -- and the very thankful reality that I have room to breathe this week because of the July 4th holiday -- I thought it would be good just to send an email to everyone and basically have a mid-season checkup. Here are some things to talk about... 1. FIRST 50 CAPTAINS, FREE T-SHIRTS. Wylie is working on getting the list of the first 50 captains who paid in full, who will get a free Dream League t-shirt. We basically have about 50 t-shirts (definitely more than 50, though) left over from previous seasons, that were kind of just sitting in boxes in my garage. So, I have no reason to keep those, and need an excuse to give them away. So rest assured, if you paid in full and early, you will be getting this token of thanks from Wylie shortly. 2. CHAMPIONSHIP T-SHIRTS FROM BEFORE. Via Wylie, you should be covered already and if you had a customized arrangement, those are on order and should be in-hand within 2 weeks. Definitely feel free to ping me about this, as I know you are waiting. And sorry for the delays. Customizations of any type of order tend to take a bit longer, and they are harder to manage the process and make sure the vendor has got everything straight, so that's why. 3. CONCERNS WITH REFS OR SCOREKEEPERS. Hey, sometimes we don't get the best scorekeepers or refs at any particular game. At the same time, just like the different players on your team, not all of our refs can be the same as our other great refs, such as Ron in SJ, or Tony in SF, or "downtown" Stick (that's Charles's nickname) in Oakland. I'm a pretty old guy now, but back in the day, I was known to get a tech or two. After I matured a little, I learned not to argue with the refs because that's a waste of time. Then I started Dream League and decided to weed out all the refs that you couldn't even have a conversation with about the last play. Then I continued playing and since I knew all the refs, I knew that they would never have bias while reffing any game. If there's anything I worry about, it's perhaps me getting an advantage from refs when I play, but since I don't drive to the hoop and just shoot from outside, that's of little consequence these days. But even last week Truedell was calling way more fouls on the other team, but I knew that was just him. He can get ticky-tack sometimes. At that moment, I was really pissed that the other team was going to the FT line a lot more than us, but yet it was a different kind of pissed off because I knew that was Truedell's weakness as a ref (the ticky-tack). We lost the game. Was it Truedell's fault, because hey they did shoot more FTs? No, I would never blame the ref for a loss. I definitely could spin it that way, but my recommendation is that you do not. Focus on the things you *can* control, such as turnovers or making sure the right people are on the floor for you. SO THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS THAT IF YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND GET TO KNOW THE REFS ON A FIRST NAME BASIS, IF YOU GET TO KNOW THEIR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES, AND CAN IN HINDSIGHT ALMOST LAUGH ABOUT THEM, I CAN GUARANTEE YOU THAT YOU WILL HAVE A MORE POSITIVE EXPERIENCE. The same can be said of scorekeepers. 4. MY OTHER EXPLOITS. I have to admit, my standing as Commish of Dream League, because of your continued interest in the league, has given me access to things like being asked to blog for GoldenStateOfMind or SB Nation Bay Area (launches July 1st), which then has given me press credentials to the NBA Draft and Summer League coming up. People I meet at these events are amazed that so many teams would come to play in a league like this. My hope is to open this window to them, to you guys as well, by blogging about it (when I'm not doing the weekly schedule!) and slowly but surely involving Dream Leaguers in it. Meantime, please feel free to send me cool things that you have experienced as well, and follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/poormanscommish for the latest and greatest. 5. JEREMY LIN. Speaking of other exploits, if you don't already know, by the nature of being an American-born son of Chinese immigrants from Taiwan, I'm a huge Jeremy Lin fan and I do know him personally. He's playing for the Mavericks Summer League team next week and I'll try to keep you updated through Twitter or Facebook. I'm hoping to have a meal with him for the first time since I predicted he would play in Summer League, two summers ago. Also, there are more guys to root for: Filipinos Josh Urbiztondo, who is making a splash as an all-rookie in the PBA, and JR Buensuceso, who will be up for the PBA Draft this summer. All around the world, guys "like us" (okay, not really) are making a living playing basketball! 6. FACEBOOK. In case you didn't know, Dream League is on Facebook and, through my aforementioned exploits, we have like 4,300 friends -- and 500 friend requests pending. I wish we had more Dream Leaguers as friends, though, so definitely hit us up at http://facebook.com/dreamleague.org, which is our secondary account that I'm re-building from scratch (less than 100 friends thus far). Incidentally, it is this very reason of Facebook having a 5,000-friend limit, why I wish Twitter would simply replace Facebook. Sorry to the FB fanboys and fangirls! 7. UNIFORMS. Thanks to all of you who ordered. I know it is a tedious process to get your designs 100%, but when those threads arrive, man is it sweet!!! Truckloads are coming in week by week. It's never a perfect process, but I have to admit, it's fun to see all these designs come to life. 8. VEGAS TOURNAMENT. Coming up! Stay tuned! Oh btw, if you are really interested in going, please email me and let me know what's better for you, Labor Day Weekend (Sep 4-5) or the weekend after (Sep 11-12). It's still being debated. I have Wylie calling up captains by this weekend to find out what people want. 9. SPALDINGS REDUCED TO $40 EACH. The new Spalding shipment has arrived! But because like 6 of you ordered the whole discounted package with the uniforms and bball (you know, the $750 or the $805), we only have about 3-4 basketballs left! I'm in such a good mood today, that I'm going to reduce the price from $45 to $40. The rest of you who have bballs waiting for you, you can either email me to pick it up or I'll automatically have Wylie deal with it for next week delivery on 7/11. However, if you're in SJ, it might be tougher to get it to you, but Wylie will be doing his best. 10. ANYTHING ELSE YOU NEED. I'm also blessed to have some great staff that has really taken years to develop. Thanks to Wylie and to a lesser extent, but still important, Freddie for doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Also to my kid crew, now playing together for the first time ever on the SF ScoreKeepers team in REC-SF: Alvin Kwan, Mike Yuzon, Peter Su, Willie Williams, Roland Ballard, Ray Laird. To my Oakland crew, who basically "report" to Wylie: Tony Xiong, Mark Sapinoso, Yang Zhou, RJ Flores, JT Salas. And of course to my doppleganger in San Jose, Coach Ron Staden and his crew down there. The original super-scorekeeper: Ken Wan. To all of my refs who at this point have all become so professional that I can't even really point out one over the others, because they all have a lot of strengths and, now, very few weaknesses. They are almost my quasi-commishes now. BOTTOM LINE: WE CAN HANDLE ANYTHING YOU THROW AT US NOW (so long as I am consciously and properly delegating it). I HAVE THE PEOPLE IN PLACE TO DEAL WITH ALMOST ANYTHING THAT COMES UP, SO FEEL FREE TO EMAIL AN ISSUE, LONG OR SHORT. |