Alternate Routes

Ever score a basket in the other team's hoop? I never did, but from the bench I watched Brad Buckentin do it in fifth grade. Brad could turn redder than any kid I ever knew, and man did he turn red after that. He was also the coolest kid in fifth grade (and sixth, et al.), so he managed to shake it off pretty quickly.

Cal's Roy Riegels was on a bigger stage -- the Rose Bowl, New Years Day, 1929 -- when he recovered a Georgia Tech fumble then turned and ran sixty-five yards in the wrong direction, toward Cal's goal line. One of his teammates stopped Riegles just before he scored for Georgia Tech. On the next play Georgia Tech blocked Cal's punt for a safety. Tech went on to win the game 8-7 and clinch the national championship.

They say more than 450,000 column inches of newspaper space were written about Riegels' mistake in the days following. For the rest of his life he endured shouts of "Hey! I know who you are..." wherever he went. He was a good sport, though: In 1971 he was elected to the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame, along with the entire 1928 Yellow Jackets team. He attended the festivities as a special guest.

"Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over," wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald. (When a devastated Roy Riegels told his coach at halftime, "I couldn't face that crowd to save my life" he coach replied, "Roy, get up and go back out there. The game is only half over.") So even though my contribution seems increasingly limited to turnovers, missed baskets, and goals against I'll see you at St. John's tomorrow.

We tip off at 8:00 a.m., as usual. Let me know if you will or will not be there.