Yesterday, we closed out the 2011 year with our last episode of Riding the Pine Radio for the year (to listen, click here). As we announced on the show, we will be making a variety of changes heading into 2012. One such change will be that our podcast will return in 2012 but the title will change and the show will be known as “The ShoreBall Radio Podcast”. With the change will come a new and more dynamic format and a variety of other show changes.

In addition, we will be making some changes in other areas as well, this blog included. As we make these changes we will keep everyone informed. We look forward to returning in 2012, in a variety of ways and with a renewed direction. We hope everyone will enjoy the holidays and have a happy and safe new year.

December 17th

Boys’ basketball

Lancaster  67, Arcadia  48

December 16th

Girls’ basketball

Nandua  48, Northampton  53

December 13th

Boys’ basketball

Arcadia  83, Northampton  58

Girls’ basketball

Nandua  41, Chincoteague  25

Just received a score update on a couple of high school basketball scores on the Eastern Shore:

Girls’ Varsity Basketball:  Northumberland 35, Nandua 28

Boys’ Varsity Basketball:  Nandua 67, Northumberland 49

I am rather late with the update, I was trying to find out the exact scores of the games.

Girls’ Varsity Basketball:  Arcadia 47, Nandua 41

Boys’ Varsity Basketball:  Arcadia 93, Nandua 70

I am still unsure about the score of the boys’ game but from what I’ve heard the Arcadia team won by a large margin.

*** Update *** 

The boys’ scores was actually Arcadia 93, Nandua 77.

Moving forward, I will try to provide the updates in a more timely manner. Also, if anyone wants to provide us with updated scores and information, please email us at shoreball@cox.net.

Last week on December 1st, I attended the Nandua vs. Norfolk Collegiate game in Norfolk,VA.The game was the season opener for Nandua and the home opener for Norfolk Collegiate. Nandua appeared overmatched by Norfolk Collegiate’s big frontline but the Warriors jumped out to an early lead and ended the first quarter with a 16-14 lead. Norfolk Collegiate eventually gained the lead, taking a 35-33 lead into the half and eventually winning the game 79-64. Nandua was led by Charles Mapp who finished with 23 points and Thomas Brown who added 22 points.

On Sunday, I also attended the Tru Hope Trailblazers home opener as they defeated the Beltway Bombers 128-120. I have posted a game summary on the Examiner and on Eurobasket. Please check either one out for more details on the game.

I was unable to get pictures from the Nandua but I have a few pictures from the Trailblazers game.

It has been another period of time since we have updated this blog with a post. We have been trying to balance a variety of different outlets and it seems as though this blog has taken a slight backseat to the other outlets. These are the following outlets that we are juggling at this point:

Examiner – covering basketball in the Hampton Roads andEastern Shorearea

Eurobasket – covering the Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League

Riding the Pine Radio – weekly basketball podcast

In addition to that we will also be hopefully maintaining another blog on our website that will serve as a ‘Coach’s Diary’ that will follow the Nandua High School girls’ varsity basketball team. We still feel as though this blog is a viable option for us and provides us with a less formal avenue to express our views and opinions. We appreciate everyone sticking with us during our growing pains and we hope that everyone will continue to follow us as we move forward.

11:48 Comment From Mike Lee

Is it just me or do the owners seem to want the players to
bail them out of their own mistakes? Just a thought . . .

New Topic

11:53 Comment From Henry

A race element? How can you justify even saying that? You
are talking about players averaging over $5,000,000 a year fighting owners
making billiions. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with
GREED!. Players calling themselves exploited. Disgus5ting. MILLIONS to play a
GAME!!!!

11:53  Henry Abbott:

I’m saying that the players are not just motivated by money,
as happened in the other sports and to most of us in life. I’m saying they’re
also motivated, some of them, by a desire to stop being bossed around by old
white guys.

11:55 Comment From Mike Lee

The race issue is legit – you are blinding yourself if you
can’t see that race plays some part in all of this . . .

11:55 Comment From Falco Lombardi

Players have been bossed around by old white guys since
middle school basketball, nothing has changed.

11:55 Henry Abbott:

The Decision changed.

11:57 Comment From Mike Lee

Exactly – The Decision changed it all and look at the
backlash – you can still see the effects.

New Topic 

12:02 Comment From CD Van

The reality is, most people don’t seem to realize that small
market teams CAN’T legitimately compete for any superstars. They even have to
overpay to keep average-good players. You think a Hawks GM can say: “well
Joe Johnson is not worth 120 mil, i’ll just let him go to NY”. See if
he’ll have a job and ATL will have a team in the playoffs. THAT’s the problem
with the soft cap.

12:03 Henry Abbott:

This is dead wrong. Superstars are great moneymakers. Any
team can afford LeBron’s salary, ’cause it comes with huge profits.

12:03 Henry Abbott:

Small markets can’t compete for superstars … if superstars
want to play in big markets. But it’s not the system.

12:04 Comment From Paul

About an earlier comment–how is it that players getting
paid millions to “play a game” is “disgusting”, when the
league they play for generates billions and billions of dollars? Would you
rather the owners pocket 90% of the profits? Stop looking at this from such an
emotional standpoint, sports fans

12:04 Comment From Redstorm Fan

The problem there is Joe Johnson is not a superstar

12:04 Comment From Curtis Harris

Small markets can legitimately draft a superstar and pay up
to keep him. Whether he wants to stay in crummy Dan Gilbert situation is
another matter

12:04 Comment From Mike Lee

Small market owners have to be smarter about who they draft
- look at the Spurs and the Thunder – that’s the nature of the game. There
really aren’t that many superstars to begin with – every team can’t have one.

 New Topic

12:19 Comment From Mike Lee

Heard Magic’s criticism of LeBron – does he really think
LeBron won’t win any championships?

12:20 BrianWindhorst:

Well, Magic had some fair points. However, let’s point
out two things. 1. The LeBron James legacy thing isn’t written yet. In fact, it
may only be halfway there. So be careful calling him one thing or another as an
absolute. 2. Magic is now in business with and doing commercials for Dan
Gilbert. That must be pointed out.

Like many kids that I grew up with, I played a variety of sports growing up – not in the organized sense but just recreationally. We would stay outside for hours playing whatever sport was in season. We had a basketball court, baseball field, and football
field all within walking distance. Of course, I thought that I was pretty good in all the sports but basketball was my first love.

However, I had a strong desire to play organized football. So much so that I begged and pleaded for my parents to allow me to play. My parents reluctantly agreed, even though money was tight and paying the fees and buying all the necessary equipment wasn’t the
easiest thing to do. So, my parents signed me up, trekked me around to the various stores to buy equipment, and sent me off to the first day of practice.

Now here I am at the first practice and I don’t know what I had thought up until that point but I quickly realized that this wasn’t like playing backyard football with my friends. The equipment was bulky and restrictive and the same fascinating moves that I made playing against my friends just didn’t seem to work in this setting. I labored through my first practice, resolve in the fact that I no longer wanted to play football – a revelation that I revealed to my dad in the car on the way home.

Needless to say, my revelation was not well received. First, my dad “politely” explained that he had spent precious time and hard-earned money paying the fees and buying the equipment. He then gave me the standard parent lecture on finishing what I start and basically determined for me that I was going to continue playing. I thought I had one
last hope in trying to convince my mom to side with me – a thought that was shot down shortly after we arrived home. The worst part about the lecture about the money and the time spent and about finishing what you start is having to hear it twice.

So, there I was in my room (our air conditioner would always mess with my eyes, so my eyes were a little misty), thinking about what I should do. At the time my grandmother was visiting us and she came and sat down next to me and asked me to tell her what
was wrong. I explained to her that I didn’t want to play anymore, that it wasn’t what I expected it to be. I explained to her that I understood what my parents were saying, but I just didn’t want to play. She did what any grandmother would do and told me that if I didn’t want to play, then I didn’t have to play.

Now, I’m not sure what she did but sure enough, I didn’t play. She probably never realized what she did but I had a new appreciation for the game of basketball from that point on.

Today would have been my grandmother’s birthday. She passed away some years back, losing a battle with cancer. Around this time every year, I think about this memory and smile, amidst my tears (that air conditioning, again). Rest in peace, Prince Ella Greene (Granny) – you will always be loved and truly missed.

There are of course the rumors of his involvement with Gloria James, mother of LeBron James, who at the time was his teammate. For many, that may be the first thing that comes to mind, but let’s dig a little deeper.

First and more seriously, Delonte West revealed publicly in 2010 that he struggles with depression and bi-polar disorder, which caused him to miss a period of time during the 2009 season. There was also the episode in September 2009, where West was stopped by police carrying multiple firearms, and 8-inch bowie knife, and more than 100 rounds of shotgun ammunition. In June 2010, he plead guilty to two weapons counts and was sentenced to eight months home detention, two months probation, and 40 hours of community service.

Despite his struggles, West bounced back with the Boston Celtics last year. Despite averaging a career-low 5.6 ppg in only 24 games, West upped his average to 6.6 ppg in the playoffs – including averaging 10.2 ppg in the five-game series versus the Miami Heat.

But Delonte has proven to be quite a character off the court. He was infamously known for his ‘Better Have My Do-Nuts’ catch-phrase that was made popular after he served as a correspondent on the Jim Rome show.

He also gave a prelude to his most recent exploits when he dropped this freestlye in the KFC drive thru while waiting for his chicken.

Most recently he took to his Twitter account and tweeted that he had submitted an application to work at Home Depot during the current NBA lockout. Of course, the obvious question remains  . . . did he get the job?

Still Delonte – under the name Charlee Redz has released a couple of videos to promote his upcoming rap album, appropriately titled ‘Lockout’.

Livin Life Fast

MJ Shwagg

Is it just me or do we need basketball back?