CENTAUR SEASONS: ‘I FOULED OUT EARLY’ — entry #5 from "A history of the events of the Allentown College’s 1972-1973 B-ball season …

… AS CHRONICLED BY, AND WITH THE PERSONAL MEMOIRS + OCCASSIONAL PHILOSOPHIZING OF THE AUTHOR, ONE STEPHEN J. McKEE”

THIS CENTAUR SEASONS POST WAS ORIGINALLY SCRIBBLED ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1972 at 11:30 p.m.

Previous game: Centaurs 87, Northampton Area CCC 50

Next game: Eastern Baptist College, day after tomorrow, home opener

CENTAUR SEASON: 2-0

We won, 87-50. Before the game Coach told us to hold them to 49 points, 24 in the first half, 25 in the second. With 13 seconds left they made the first half of a one-and-one and that gave them 50 points. Damn.

I was really relaxed tonight. Just nervous enough. I felt good while I was playing — which wasn’t much, for I fouled out early, all of them stupid fouls. After the game John Cooper called me the biggest hack he’s ever seen. But he also told me what I was doing wrong — pushing with my free hand when I rebound and block shots. I’ll have to work on that. Thanks, Coop.

But hey: I had seven blocked shots tonight.

(“I Fouled Out Early” continues below)

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WELCOME TO CENTAUR SEASONS. “I Fouled Out Early” here on HoopsU.Com appears also on CENTAUR SEASONS, a “memory blog” of the half-good, half-bad, all-new Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales Centaurs in Center Valley, Pennsylvana. Forty years ago Steve kept a diary of his junior-year season. A blog before its time then, “A History of the Events …” is now an e-diary at CENTAUR SEASONS and here on HoopsU.com.

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Chris Cashman played for the first time this year. He looked like he was favoring his ankle. I don’t know. He’s got to get playing time. I think if Coach plays him – in a couple tight situations – he’ll get both his timing and confidence back. Everybody scored except Cash. Tommy Shirley with 13 seconds to go, and Gary Cacciatore hit on two foul shots. John Cooper had 17. I love the red team! The red team, the second team in practice. Yeah, I better love the red team. Who knows, maybe it’ll help. I’ll get to see what’d going on. Need to find any advantage I can. Right.

Coach Sabota’s nephew – about eight years old – sat behind the bench in the second half. According to Coach, I’m his hero! How’da like that? He went out and bought high sneakers instead of low ones because Coach told him Steve McKee wears high sneakers.

P.J. Brennan had 12 tonight. He really is a tough ball player, no doubt about it. He’s definitely going to be the man around which the offense will revolve his junior and senior years.

Joey Thomson played a tough game tonight — extremely fine “floor game,” as Coach is fond of saying. He was all over the court on defense.

Dave Glielmi’s shot seems to have left him. His shot isn’t there and he’s worrying about it too much, thinking too much about it. Mine’s gone, too. Bobby Stormes told me I’m not following through. Gotta concentrate on that. But that’s been Dave’s problem, too much thinking. Where’s the happy medium?

Tired. Got to get some sleep.

PREVIOUS GAME: Centaurs 87, Northampton Area CC 50

NEXT GAME: Eastern Baptist College, day after tomorrow, home opener

1972-73 CENTAUR SEASON Schedule and Results:

DATE OPPONENT RESULT RECORD

12/1 at Lehigh CCC W/81-71 1-0

12-4 at Northampton CCC W/87-50 2-0

12-6 EASTERN BAPTIST

12-13 SPRING GARDEN

12-16 PHILA. BIBLE

1-18 at Baptist Bible

1-19 WILMINGTON

1-25 at Phila. Pharmacy

1-30 at Spring Garden

2-3 at Messiah College

2-6 at Wilmington

2-13 RUTGERS, So. Jrsy

2-16 LEHIGH CCC

2-20 MESSIAH

2-22 N’HAMPTON CCC

2-24 PHILA. PHARM.

2-27 BAPTIST BIBLE

About
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Steve McKee

Steve McKee is the author of CENTAUR SEASONS, a memory blog about his basketball-playing days at Allentown (Pa.) College of St. Francis de Sales in the early 1970s (a good excuse for using his college yearbook picture -- though there's NO excuse for that mustache and hair!).

CENTAUR SEASONS can also be found at www.centaurseasons.com. The centerpiece will be the posting in "real time" of the diary that Steve kept of his 1972-1973 junior-year season, beginning on November 30. Prior to that (and after), Steve will be posting regularly about his freshman, sophomore and senior seasons, as well as about what it was like to be there at the beginning to help get a struggling college basketball program off the ground.

Steve was the original writer of The Wall Street Journal's popular sports blog, "The Daily Fix" in 2001-2002, and was even dubbed "The Unwitting Father of the Sports Blog" by Gelf Magazine, the online publication of the "Varsity Letters Reading Series. Steve was the Journal's sports editor for its original Weekend sport section and was involved in all of the Journal's Olympics coverage, Winter and Summer, from 1996 through 2008.

He is the author of three books, most recently "My Father's Heart: A Son's Reckoning With the Legacy of Heart Disease," which he is adapting as a one-man show. For his first book, "The Call of the Game," Steve traveled the country in search of sports events -- including the famous N.C. State Wolfpack victory over "Phi Slamma Jamma" of the University of Houston. For his second book, COACH, among the 150+ coaches Steve interviewed are/were college basketball coaches John Wooden (UCLA), Pat Summitt (Tennessee), Frank Layden (Niagara), Bobby Cremins (Georgia Tech), P.J. Carlesimo (Seton Hall), Bill Guthridge (North Carolina), Abe Lemons (Texas), Stan Morrison (USC), Kathy Rush (Immaculata), Jim Satalin (Duquesne), Charlie Thomas (San Francisco State), Butch Van Bredda Koff (Princeton), Bill Whitmore (Vermont) and LaDonna Wilson (Austin Peay).

For more, you can click on www.steve-mckee.com, where you can find a TODAY show appearance and an NPR interview.