Stretched Thin

Reading, MA - Origins Unknown easily captured their third straight win Thursday night at the Reading YMCA, as they clobbered Alliance Exteriors 78-49. But, the victory came with a price as James "Stretch" Hogan IV, sustained a knee injury early in the second half and had to be helped off the court to the cheers and well-wishes of his adoring fans.

The game itself was a bit of a snooze-fest. AE had four thickly fellas to start the game, but not a ball-handler in sight. OU easily jumped out to a lead, as the first four found a bountiful amount of open shots and breakaway layups. The lead quickly moved to 14 with less than 6 minutes remaining in the half, through Nick Dutton-Swain's hard work and relentless attack of the glass, and Hogan's constant defensive pressure. There was a lot of this going on.

AE made a run to cut the lead to under 10, with less than 2 minutes in the half, but after a quick time out to regroup, OU hit two more shots before the half to extend the lead, once again.

The second half was much more of the same. OU got shots where and when they wanted, and absorbed some damage down low - but nothing major. A few minutes into the half, a play (just like hundreds of other plays of the same kind over the past few years) unfolded when AE chucked up another missed shot, and players started flying towards the ball to gather the rebound. As usual, Hogan was around the ball and got to it first, but as he grabbed the ball, he collapsed to the ground in pain - clutching his knee. OU is a team familiar with knee injuries. Jay "The Hamel Hall Hammer" Wandtke and Cap'n Mike have both gone under the knife with knee issues, and a couple sessions ago OU lost Shu-ter Patel to a knee injury sustained during a game. I think everyone was thinking that it didn't look good.

Hogan made his way to the sideline, and got ice applied immediately. Instead of heading straight to the hospital, Hogan did what any true OU'r would do. He watched the rest of the game in pain, and then headed to Chili's for a couple beers.

The final score was indicative of how lopsided this game was. Wandtke, Danger Dan Fisher and Patel all had their way with the out-classed AE team. Nick DS was the game's MVP however, as he flew all over the court from tip to buzzer.

OU takes on 3-0 Northwestern Mutual next week, in a battle of undefeated teams.

After several hours at the hospital the day after the game, Hogan is awaiting an knee MRI to get an accurate diagnosis, but seems to be in good spirits. "Hell, half the Muskets play on one good leg these days, so I am sure I can too," said Hogan.

Welcome Back - 09' OU Crew Kicks of Season

NOTE: As I found out this week, Bloggin' and Ballin' has made it's way through the series of tubes to other people associated with the league (players/refs/etc). If you are reading this blog - I hope you can see that the content is written tongue in cheek for the most part, and no one should take any offense to anything written in my past posts.

Cap'n Mike is hopeful that he will be back to writing weekly updates for all his faithful readers. "It's been a busy winter," said Cap'n. "But, now that my reader count is up to 6 or 7 people - I think it's time for me to step it back up."

With that being said... Let's get this party started!

Reading, MA - Origins Unknown, fresh off a month long hiatus, has returned to YMCA league play with a different look - and things look gooooood (so far).

Several changes have taken place since last session, including the departure of Chris "Big Country" Johnson, the long term signing of Jay "The McQuaid Monster" Wandtke, and the addition of another workhorse down low - Nick Dutton-Swain.

Two games have been played thus far in the winter session, and OU now has mostly comfortable victories over the Warriors and the Hustlers.

The Warriors game was all over the place for the OU crew, as they returned to the court after the long break. Both teams struggled to find their legs in the game, but OU built a double digit lead in the first half, and although the Warriors made a small run towards the end of the game - things never got too tight. Cap'n Mike was lucky to find his stroke early and with the attention needed to be paid to OU's big three down low (James "Stretch" Hogan IV, Wandtke and DS), he and Danger Dan Fisher had a much easier time finding space for shots.

The second game of the session pitted 1-0 OU vs. 1-0 Hustlers team. Heading into the game, it appeared that it would be an interesting contrast in styles, but the Hustlers couldn't keep pace with OU - and the good ol' boys built a 20 point lead before the first half was even over. Offensively, everyone was chipping in for OU. Wandtke and DS over-powered their opponents, and made it very difficult to for the Hustlers big man to get anything easy. Hogan too was having his way with the Hustlers defenders, including this ridiculous play in the second half.


The win keeps OU in first place, and finishes the early season run of 10:00 pm games.