Monday, February 27, 2006
Draft #67
"I ended my career on the right note," Jason McElwain told the Associated Press by phone Thursday. "I was hotter than a pistol!" In case you haven't heard, Jason is a seventeen-year-old senior who hit six 3-pointers in the final four minutes of his high school's final regular season basketball game. What makes the story so special, is that Jason is autistic, he is the team's manager, and this was the only game he's ever suited up for. I swear I've seen this on an episode of Family Matters? Didn't Steve Urkel, the team's manager, get thrown into a game once, and eventually hit the winning shot becoming the hero? Maybe that wasn't an episode, but this real life Bobby Boucher has captured the hearts of thousands of people, and he can die a happy man knowing that he drained twenty points in the only varsity basketball game he ever played.When I first heard that Jason had autism, I thought to myself, what is autism? According to dictionary.com, autism is a psychiatric disorder of childhood characterized by marked deficits in communication and social interaction, preoccupation with fantasy, language impairment, and abnormal behavior, such as repetitive acts and excessive attachment to certain objects. It is usually associated with intellectual impairment. OK, now I know what it is, before this definition, the only thing I knew about autism is that Doug Flutie had a kid that was autistic, and that was about it.
As a former varsity basketball bench warmer, I'm not going to sit here and act like I'm not jealous. I'm very happy for you Jason! It must have been nice to be part of a basketball team that could actually procure a lead large enough that would allow a kid with an intellectual impairment to receive four minutes of playing time. It must have been nice to have a coach that had an ounce of faith in you and humanity for that matter.
I didn't even get four minutes in my entire two year varsity stint! We could have been up by twenty points with two minutes remaining in any given game and I can still remember the look our coach used to give the end of the bench. He would peer over at us, then the clock, back to us, then the clock again, biting his lip, sweating a little, not quite sure if his group of misfits could possibly blow the lead in a minute and a half. After another minute or so of serious deliberation, he would finally walk a few steps closer to us and start waiving his arms violenting like a third base coach, giving us the OK to play. We would all make our way to the scorer's table like a herd of cattle stampeding their way out of a burning barn. So with about 22 seconds and change we would take to the floor knowing that only one thing was certain, that Nate Filzen, our fearless leader of the second stringers known as TJS (Team Jock Strap, a creative acronym designed to give ourselves an identity and to let others know that as the jock strap supports the male nether regions, so the bench warmers support the team) was ready to fire at a moment's notice, whether he was inbounding the ball, standing at halfcourt, or in the midst of a heavy quadruple-team, that ball was being launched without consciousness and an utter disregard for most of the laws of Physics. If Jason had Nate "Quick Trigger" Filzen on his team, no way he scores twenty points. Jason would have to literally run up to Nate and gnaw the the fingers off his hands to unleash the mighty grip Nate keeps on the ball. It would have been a terrible sight.
Before our senior season when we hired Todd Lofy as team manager, I was actually in charge of water cooler duties. I would fill it up before games and make sure it was emptied and cleaned after the games. I never passed the water out to my teammates in a little cup though, my pride and I had to draw the line somewhere. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, where's my cover story? Where's my legions of faithful students to carry me off the court? I scored five career points as a varsity basketball player and it was at three different venues, you all had your opportunities! Oh well, at least Jason rose to the occasion and did what many other scrubs past and present, have never been able to do, he etched his name into basketball lore.
This Week in Basketball:
Monday: Bucks @ Nuggets
Tuesday: N/A
Wednesday: Bucks @ Suns/ Marquette @ Louisville
Thursday: UW @ Michigan St.
Friday: N/A
Saturday: Bucks vs. Knicks/ Horizon League Semifinals/ Marquette vs. Providence/ UW @ Iowa/Duke vs. UNC
Sunday: N/A
And to the general public, I'm not really jealous of a high school kid with autism.
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