Category: Blog

by Kenny Blankenship

Session Review: 2021-01

Grinders at The Eldridge Club Season 1 review……

The first season at the new diggs went off great. Folks learned how to do the scoreboard and shot clock quickly, adding a flair of the big leagues that Grinders has desperately missed. New people have been hanging out after games now that the bar is a stone’s throw away. The heckling has even gotten better during games due to the swing lube allowed in the gym. Our website is looking better than ever and we even have a Twitch or a Snappychat or a Remind (whatever the hell the kids use these days) to engage in daily Grinders tom-foolery. I think the changes to Grinders have been a positive one.

As for the season…….We had an undefeated team in the regular season for the first (?) time in Grinders history. Team Pink looked like the 73 win Warriors team from a few years ago walking over the league to a 6-0 record. Team Blue was the predominant favorite pre-season and looked like they were unstoppable…..until a 4-game slide made them look less than G-league going into the playoffs. Teams Black and Grey looked to be lost throughout most of the season but occasionally looked like they were figuring it out (Curt drops 40, Grey beats Blue for first win). We had people make their debuts (Tirado, Pauly J., Wayne, Eric) and saw old stars return (Grant, Curt, Jeff May, AK47). Teams were getting used to the 3-ball being in play and how that was going to affect things. Hell we even had a buzzer-beater from “half-court”. All-in-all it was a fun first regular season. We even had our first Grinders awards. This session we need to figure out a way to make that ceremony better.

On to the playoffs we go…….

Team Black vs Team Blue: No one knew what was going to happen in this one. Black finally had Curt and Grant and could beat anyone on a given day. Blue was riding a 4-game losing streak and looked like they were in trouble. So to be frank, this one didn’t live up to the billing. Grant and Curt were brutal going a combined 7-50. Mike missed more layups than Ford. Luckily for Black the supporting cast of Jon, Pauly J, and Worm had it going and kept them in it for most of the game. Blue relied on Jon “This time Robin saves Batman” Witt who dropped 24 by the game’s end (his first clutch performance since the Reagan administration). Blue eventually pulled away and walked into the finals on the red-brick road that Curt and Grant shot for them.

Team Pink vs Team Grey: This game looked more like a WWF wrestling match by the end than a free-flowing, highly-talented basketball game. Pink got out to a quick start raining 3’s all over Grey’s faces from everywhere on the court. Stats don’t lie. Grey was the worst shooting team in the league and Pink had the best defense. It was no surprise that Pink was way ahead at the start. Then something funny happened. Pink forgot how to put their balls in the hole. They forgot who the right team to pass to was. Grey slowly, methodically crept back in and made it a game early in the second half. Luckily for Pink (who was terrible in the second half), Grey was even worse at finishing and Pink snuck out a bad win.

Team Pink vs Team Blue: Mike happened………that is all. Words can’t put into picture what his performance looked like, combine Jordan’s shoulder-shrug game in the Finals, Kobe’s 81 vs Toronto, and Magic’s performance in game 6 of the Finals as a rookie. It was simply spectacular. Oh, Witt, Doyle, and Nixon were also on the court……..we think…….maybe.
As for Pink, 7-1, and a missed opportunity for Grinders immortality as the ONLY undefeated team ever. Too bad, so sad. If the Finals were a chicken bone Team Pink woulda gone Mama Cass all over it. The Cash Cousins no-showed, Ford disappeared, Jeff May left his game on the trainer’s table, and Cole still has 3rd burns from getting torched by Mike (47 pts, 11 3’s).

All-Grinders

First TeamC/F: Grant Decz

F/G: Mike Malicki

F/G: Tommy Hughes

F/G: Richie Creamer

by Kenny Blankenship

Playoffs?!!??

Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
   
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 

Word is Team Blue is going to lose… because Witt?

by Kenny Blankenship

Week 5 Winners & Losers

Winners:

1. Mike “Worm” Benjamin – Kid got off the schnide and got HIS first Grinders win of the season

2. Team Pink – Jeff May has returned making Pink the heavy favorite to win it all

3. Eldredge Club – the bar was filled with Grinders athletes buying drink after drink and shot after shot. Good times were had by all except……….

Losers:

1. Jon “My neck. Oh! my back. My neck and my back” Witt – Witt was “injured” in his team’s loss to Black. We here at Grinders HQ are wishing him a speedy recovery

2. Eric Carlson – after proclaiming he was going to “drop 30” on Pink, “Little Cousin” went 5 of 14 and scored 13 points. Grinders is all about the ish-talk but boy you better back it up.

by Kenny Blankenship

Week 4 Winners & Losers

Winners:

1. The fans who stayed for the 7:30 game got to witness the first buzzer-beater in Grinders/Eldridge Club history!!! Very cool!

Losers:

1. Jon Witt – losing again in heart-breaking fashion, heard muttering, “I’m just not cut out to win Grinders.”, bails on the bar……..Has he finally been broken???

2. Team Pink – was supposed to be the GLORIOUS return of Jeff May. Fizzle! Pop! Splat! Mr. May no-showed and we were left wondering, “Will it ever happen?”

3. Team Blue – losing on a half-court buzzer-beater. No worse way to go out.

by Kenny Blankenship

Week 4 Recap

Team Blue vs Team Grey….or as Witt calls them Grey’s Anatomy.

15.5 point spread!?!?!?!? 15.5 points?!?!?!?!!??! What the hades were the oddsmakers thinking (their GAPE, most likely)? Team Grey must have used it for billboard material cause they came out to play. In what was a highly competitive game throughout, saw it’s best and worst action in the last 45 seconds. First, up 3, Blue decides to cover Vaillancourt for some reason and then even DOUBLE TEAM him in the post. This left ball reversal and BANG! the first of Timmy Hughes’ big shots. Tie game. Blue had a chance to recover and score for the win. They drew up the perfect play and…………CLUNK! Mark “O’Doyle Rules but not this time” missed a wide-open back door layup. Blue is scrambling and shook and before they get a chance to clear their heads………BAAAAAAANG! Timmy Hughes drills in his words, “a 360 spinning, double-pump, half-court heave with defenders draped all over him”, game-winner! Grey wins. Witt tantrums. End scene.

Team Black (minus Curtis) vs Team Pink:

This game was pretty much a non-story with the exception that the league finally got to bear witness to Wayne “LeBron Freight Train” Haynes. Wayne has only made appearances in open runs and such and has never graced Grinders with his presence in a real game. Wayne had 22 and 14 filling in for Creamer and May and also had Pink’s best GAPE. Not a bad debut. Black gave excellent effort and I for one liked their offensive scheme, but they just couldn’t get buckets. This team could look very different if everyone is there………

by Kenny Blankenship

Week 3 Winners & Losers

Winners:
1. Team Black – finally got off the schnide and got one of our games best offensive players back. Lookout Blue and Pink

Losers:

1. Mike M. – pre-season MVP hype train is slowing down after a meh performance 2 weeks ago and a dud in a possible Finals matchup with Pink. 

2. Cash Cousins – 1 week after getting the coolest nickname in Grinders they almost no-showed on the offensive end. Maybe they should be named the Bail Brothers after the way they got locked down.

3. Our eyes – whoever had to witness the pregame “full moon” from the balcony. By gawd that is the ugliest arse this side of the Mississip.