Photo of the Basketball Now: 24 February 2012

The Ann Arbor Huron girls basketball team visited Chelsea. As it turned out, for the gentlemen in charge there was a bit of a dress code for this particular game.

Indeed, it was a classy evening at the CHS gym. I mean, it’s classy anytime I’m there — together, a scruffy beard and a hoodie are the epitome of sophistication! — but it was especially classy this time.

It was senior night, too. Here, one senior shares a laugh with the assistant coach.

Eventually they did play basketball.

At halftime the Chelsea Athletic Boosters presented the district with a big check that had a big number on it.

The athletic boosters do a great deal to support Chelsea athletics. If you appreciate the school’s athletic programs as a part of the students’ educational experience and as a part of the culture of Chelsea, then you also appreciate the efforts of the boosters. If you don’t…well, I forgive you. Don’t let it happen again.

Chelsea put forth a valiant effort, but Huron is an outstanding team, and one River Rat made Chelsea’s task even more difficult by making a whole bunch of three point shots. In the end, Chelsea couldn’t keep up.

Photo of the Basketball Now: 21 February 2012

Lincoln traveled to Chelsea for a basketball game.

Hey, have you noticed that while the rest of the modern world’s clothing has become less modest, basketball shorts have become more modest?

Okay, enough societal commentary. Here’s some basketball.

This was most definitely a foul:

Take a look at the Lincoln coach in this photo:

Is he:
A: Singing The Supremes’ classic hit Stop! In the Name of Love?
B: Halfway through Subway’s catchy Five-Dollar Footlong song?
C: Just looking for a high-five?
D: Telling his players not to shoot, but to kill time so they can have the last shot of the quarter?

If you guessed A, you think like me. SEEK HELP. But if you guessed D, you’re right. Oh, and if you have either one of those songs in your head: YOU’RE WELCOME.

At one point a Bulldog took a blow to the nose. No, no. He didn’t blow his nose. Read carefully. Remember, you should skim your pool, not your text. Okay, okay, fine, I’ll make it easier for you: he got hit in the nose.

He was able to return to the game, so either it wasn’t a substantial injury or he has the pain tolerance of an angry rhinoceros.

See? Here’s the angry rhinoceros trying to get a rebound:

Sometimes you just can’t jump high enough. There must be a life lesson in there somewhere.

The game came down to the last few seconds, but Lincoln was able to hit enough free throws to escape with a narrow victory.

Photo of the Rivalryball Game Now, Boys’ Edition: 10 February 2012

With the Chelsea/Dexter girls game concluded, the boys took the court to warm up for the second game of the evening. As the players were warming up, the student sections were preparing for their work.

What happens every year, you might be wondering? Well, here’s a hint: that’s a football player wearing the shirt. Also, the front of the shirt declared the number of Chelsea’s consecutive wins over Dexter in football. The quote appeared in the newspaper after the most recent meeting of the teams, but it wasn’t spoken to my editor as a response to a question. Instead, it was bellowed in the end zone — and within earshot of my editor — after a Chelsea touchdown.

As usual, the student sections were packed for the game.

The game started out well, but…it got lopsided. That’s all I’ll say about that.

The Chelsea students had a special plan for this particular game. If you’ve ever heard of Taylor University’s Silent Night, then you’re familiar with the plan. If not…watch this video. Seriously, watch it now. It’s one of the great traditions in sports. (Quick summary: the students pack the gym and dress in crazy costumes but remain silent until Taylor scores its 10th point, at which time they erupt. It’s fantastic. WATCH THE VIDEO.)

I didn’t shoot video of Chelsea’s Silent Night — I was shooting photos, you know — but it was a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, Dexter’s student section was up to its usual shenanigans.

As I mentioned, the game became a bit lopsided, so there wasn’t suspense like there was in the girls game. However, Dexter’s win gave them a sweep both of the varsity doubleheader and of the boys season series, so the Dreadnaughts were excited about that.

I posted the following photo on twitter with this statement: “This is a good photo. I hate it.”

Professionally, I like that photo. But personally…well, as a Chelsea guy I can’t stand seeing Chelsea lose to Dexter.

Photo of the Rivalryball Game Now, Girls’ Edition: 10 February 2012

The Dexter varsity basketball teams traveled to Chelsea for another varsity doubleheader. Like last time, the girls played first.

When last we saw these teams face each other, both girls teams were undefeated, and Chelsea walked away with a hard-fought victory. The second time around, Chelsea was still undefeated, but Dexter was coming off another loss. Still, a great deal of excitement surrounded the game.

The Chelsea student section got all social media-y with its sign:

Who is #gracemartin?

That’s #gracemartin.

Unlike the perpetually close game at Dexter, Chelsea managed to build a 10-point lead in the second half. However, Dexter found a way not just to close the gap, but to claim the lead as time wound down in the fourth quarter.

With a slim one-point lead, Dexter coach Mike Bavineau tried a different approach to exhorting his defense:

He was slapping the floor and yelling instructions or encouragement or something. I couldn’t understand what he was yelling, but I’m reasonably confident it wasn’t “I THINK (slap) WE SHOULD (slap) STOP FOR (slap) ICE CREAM AFTER (slap) THE GAME, OKAY? (slap) I REALLY SHOULD (slap) GET HOME AND (slap) FINISH MY TAXES, BUT (slap) ICE CREAM SOUNDS GOOD (slap) RIGHT NOW.” It’s very likely he was yelling something very useful and coachy.

Despite his exhortation, the Dexter defense ceded a basket and the lead with under a minute to play. The Chelsea students were excited.

Their excitement was soon tempered by a Dexter basket with only a few seconds left to play. Chelsea found itself with one last shot to win, but this time the Dexter defense paid heed to Coach Bavineau’s slaps and held firm.

And, having brought an end to Chelsea’s bid for an undefeated season, there was much rejoicing.

Yes, much rejoicing.

Ah, but the evening was only half done: the boys took the court next. Come back Wednesday for those photos.

Photo of the Basketball Now: 31 January 2012

Lincoln basketball traveled to Dexter. Obviously, so did I.

Dexter kept it close, but Lincoln ended up winning the game.

Photo of the Basketball Rivalry Game Now: 20 January 2012

When the Chelsea/Dexter girls game wrapped up, the boys took the court. While these weren’t two undefeated teams like those that had just finished playing, their records weren’t relevant: Chelsea/Dexter games are a Big Deal no matter what.

The Dexter student section did its best Children of Yost impression during Chelsea’s introductions.

When it came time for Dexter’s introductions, they continued what seems to be a burgeoning tradition: they shut off the lights and got their WWE on with a couple spotlights and a lot of yelling. I didn’t get any worthwhile photos from this year’s intros, but they did the same thing last year:

When the intros were done and the lights came back on, there was a strange white powder rising from the Dexter student section.

You can caption that in your own head. I don’t need that trouble.

With all the pregame festivities out of the way, the players finally started doing all the running and dribbling and passing and shooting and fouling and whatnot. The gym was mostly full and the game was entertaining enough to keep the crowd loud.

Chelsea students showed up to make some noise. There were a number of CHS athletes in the crowd:

The three students in the middle play other sports for CHS. Who else plays for CHS? This crew:

That’s the Chelsea girls basketball team cheering on the boys. Yes indeed, the 11-0 Chelsea girls basketball team. As you can tell from the photo, they made plenty of noise.

One of Chelsea’s signs got all scientific:

Hey, remember what I said about basketball referees standing in front of me?

I guess an arm is better than a back. That’s progress, right? But if any of you happen to be working on some sort of invisibility device, I’d suggest testing it on basketball referees who like standing in front of me. Please? Thank you.

Dexter lead nearly the entire game, but Chelsea wouldn’t go away: Dexter pushed its lead to double digits a couple times, but each time Chelsea managed to bring it back down. Still, the Bulldogs couldn’t quite take that final step of gaining the lead, so Dexter got the win.

Both teams — boys and girls — will face each other again later in the season.

Photo of the Basketball Rivalry Game Now: 20 January 2012

Being close neighbors and similar towns, Chelsea and Dexter tend to be heated rivals in high school sports. Over the past few years the football rivalry has been…uh…slightly one-sided, but in the same time frame the basketball rivalry has been anything but lopsided. This has helped the basketball games draw large — and loud — crowds, making the games even more fun.

On Friday the teams met for the first of their two yearly meetings — in a girls/boys varsity doubleheader. The evening started with the girls game, and it had plenty at stake: both teams came into the game 10-0. It was a game befitting the combined 20-0 record, as the teams spent nearly the entire game separated by no more than four points.

The Dexter student section showed up and made an effort to distract free throw shooters:

As it was a low-scoring game, there were plenty of solid defensive plays. This particular play later in the second half was a big stop for the Bulldogs:

Yeah, that shot never got anywhere near the basket.

Though the lead was narrow, Chelsea held it for much of the second half and got the win to improve to 11-0.

Come back soon for photos from the boys game!

Photo of the Basketball Now: 13 January 2012

Dexter hosted Ypsilanti.

Just as Skyline had a better team than Chelsea, so did Ypsi have a better team than Dexter. The game went much the same way. This photo…

…is not a photo of a Dexter layup. It’s a photo of an Ypsi block. There might have been a few of those.

The Dexter student section has been unusually sedate this year, but it had a solid presence for this game:

Dexter has a decidedly more interesting mascot than my good friends over at Skyline:

If you’re a naval buff, you might be distressed that they spelled it Dreadnaughts and not Dreadnoughts. Why did they do that? I don’t know. I’m from Chelsea, remember? We don’t understand that town over there to the east.

(Seriously, though: if you know why it’s not spelled with an O, enlighten us!)

Referees have a difficult job, and they take more unnecessary abuse from more people than even those nattily-dressed London soldiers who have to stand perfectly still no matter the absurd things tourists do. They should get more respect than they do. (Referees, I mean.) Having said that: come on, basketball referees. Stop standing in my way already.

That shot is okay, but it would’ve been doubly okay had the referee not gone all Stripey McBetterDoorThanWindow on me. I know the referees don’t base their position on the annoying photographer in the front row, but sometimes it seems like they do. Basketball referees of the world: your backs are not unusually photogenic. Please stop placing them in front of my camera. THANK YOU.

Photo of the Basketball Now: 10 January 2012

Chelsea basketball visited Skyline. I made it to Skyline’s football stadium last fall, but this was my first trip to the gym. I already ranted about the school’s name, colors, and mascot in a previous post, so I’ll let you go back and read that if you really want to see an irrelevant guy complain about inconsequential matters.

As for Skyline’s gym: it has its good and bad points. The good: it doesn’t have seating on all four sides, so it tends to look more full than other newer gyms. Since basketball games around here seldom attract large crowds, I prefer this arrangement. Also, the gym has an…exciting sound system. Do you know how many speakers they have in the rafters? You do if you were following my twitter feed that evening. If not: 37. Thirty-seven. Yes, there were so many that I had to count them. It got loud.

The bad: I have only one bad point to list, but for photographers this one point can outweigh any and all good points of a gym. Are you ready? Okay, here it is: it was dark. No, strike that. It was all-caps DARK. The problem wasn’t the number of lights in the gym or even unnecessary and baffling opaque light covers — I’m looking at you, Saline — but instead was the lights themselves. You know how fancy restaurants have mood lighting? Yeah, that’s exactly what the Skyline gym has. It’s like they popped in a few 25-watt soft white bulbs and decided that was good. Was it? No. No it wasn’t.

(For the record, it’s fine for spectators. Just not for photography. And most gyms in the area aren’t much better — if at all. It’s just that I’d hoped for more from an otherwise good gym in a very expensive building.)

The Skyline basketball team is very talented this year, so it was a tough night for Chelsea. This photo sums up much of the evening.

So does this one.

Still, basketball is basketball: no matter how badly you lose, there are always scoring highlights. The only time basketball teams get shut out is when the NBA has a lockout. ZING!

The evening belonged to Skyline, so there was plenty of this:

And at one point in the third quarter, Skyline’s star athlete did this:

That dunk ended up providing me with the funniest photo of the evening:

I did not alter that photo. I laughed out loud when I saw it, but I did not alter it. Leave your captions and/or jokes in the comments.

After getting the crowd fired up with the dunk, he greeted his teammates with a big smile on his face.

This might have been a foul. Maybe just an itty-bitty little tiny one:

With the game well in hand, this player got on the floor, and immediately it became obvious that his teammates’ goal was to help him score. Over and over they passed him the ball and got him shots.

I don’t know why they were so determined to get him points, but when I noticed what they were doing, I started rooting for him to score. (Every time I’ve seen a Chelsea team do something similar, it’s been for a good reason.) Sadly, he didn’t manage to score any points. But every time he put up a shot, the Skyline bench was ready to erupt. It put a smile on my face.

Photo of the Basketball Now: 30 December 2011

The Dexter basketball Christmas tournament wrapped up with both Dexter teams playing in the championship games. First up was the Dexter women’s team facing South Lyon.