Wes Attebury Foundation

Welcome to the random 3 on 3 thoughts from the co-creator of the “Weekend for Wes.”  All views in this post are only the opinions of Josh Barnett and not that of anybody else associated with the “Weekend for Wes.”  I wish I could’ve included every team but it just wasn’t possible and I don’t know a lot of the people playing.  Next year’s will be better in that regard.  Anyways, this was done all in good fun and I hope you guys enjoy reading it.

The team everybody should fear playing against is the Pickle Loafers.  Whatever they lack in basketball skill they make up for in weight/strength, agility, and hustle…mainly weight.  You might beat them but they will not be an easy out and if you are fortunate enough to win you will be limping into your next game.   I’d be shocked if Britt Wilson doesn’t get injured and he’s a part of their team!  I’m really looking forward to seeing  Brian Hauschild dominate the rim of that first side goal (to the left as you enter the gym) like he did sooooo many times in our days at Reitz, much to Jim Brinkmeyer’s chagrin (“This isn’t the Y, Haus!!!!).  Other teams that bring the beef (according to their t-shirt size order) are Carrying Carter (3 xxl’s, 1xl), Gunslingers (3 xxl’s), and Aigner Construction (3 xxl’s).

Paper Champs, you ask?  Well, that would be no other than Team Browning.  If we were going off of high school/college accomplishments these guys would dominate.  But we’re not and a good portion of us, including these guys, are 30+.  Levron is still a physical specimen but he approaches playing basketball the way a middle aged man approaches a doctor’s appointment for a prostrate exam…not too enthusiastically.  Tyrone’s shape has changed in a balloon sort of way since high school, and the last time I saw Keown he looked like he just woke up from a 3 month nap…it was 4pm!  With all that said if they channel 1998 they will be an unstopabble team.  I expect them to make a pretty good run but they aren’t my pick to win.

That would be the Flint Tropics…duh.  Look at the roster, I don’t think I need to clarify.  I’m hearing through the grapevine that F.O.E. is the team to beat going in and is the safe pick to hold our 30lb Champions trophy at the end of the day.  They’ll
possibly have to go through the Pickle Loafers in round 2 so they might be battered and bruised moving forward.  They do however, have a dude nicknamed “Tricky” on their team which can only be a good thing.  Melvin Hall wasn’t a bad pick up either and might even talk trash to you in German since that’s where he plays…professionally. (Yes, you read that last sentence correctly.)

My sleeper pick to win it all is the Squidbillies.  The last time I played against the core members of that team was in the championship of the Dusty Jourdan Charity Basketball Tourney and they beat us.  On a side note they cheated by picking up a player or two off teams that already lost and are the main reason we put in our rules that you couldn’t do that in this tournament.  We’ll refer to it as the “Frog Zeller rule” from here on out.  Whew!  I feel better now.  Anyways, the Squidbillies have every piece of the puzzle to win a championship, size, length, 3pt shooting, good guard play, and overall good looks… heavy on the good looks.   Same can be said of ½ Halbig, ½ Amazing except for the good looks part.  I’m looking forward to seeing how far both of these teams can take it.

One other team I’m excited to see in action is the Mater Dei laden squad calling themselves the Frank Will All Stars.  If this was a baseball tournament they’d be my pick to win it all.  As far as basketball goes, we can only hope they show up in retro Mater Dei basketball uniforms that cut their circulation off due to tightness, and shorts that would make John Stockton blush.  Maybe for halftime entertainment we’ll have Adam Schiff throw footballs through a swinging tire.

Twine Ticklers have a solid team and could possibly make some noise and they’ve already won the title of “Worst Team Name…Ever”.  That’s embarrassing.

Kicking off our players to watch list is Matt Breivogel.  If anybody hasn’t had the chance to see him play I would describe it as ADD after 5 Red Bulls, and 6 Monsters.  I don’t mean that in a negative way either.  He has so much energy every time he steps on the floor that you can’t help but watch.  He also is the league leader in wasted energy (with Kevin Spahn a distant second) which makes for some laughs as well.  He can’t help himself out there and we need to be sure a defibulator is near when the Goalrillas are playing.  If he could have teamed up with Chad Phillips and Rodney Willis their energy could have powered the lights for both of Reitz’s gyms.

Moving right along to Chad Wingert if for no other reason than the silver spot.  If his team advances far enough to play on the main goals then the silver spot comes into play.  This shot was another favorite of coach Jim Brinkmeyer, who was seemingly delighted every time Wingert attempted it in practice and used positive reinforcement to encourage him to keep shooting.  Speaking of Chad, his Crean’s Crusaders would have benefited greatly from having Evan Brinkmeyer on their team but IHSAA rules prohibit their student athletes from playing in anything in high schools on Sundays.  I told him he should just play under the alias of Johnny Kilroy and wear a fake mustache, and fro but no dice.  I guess they’ll just have to fall back on Matt Bradfield’s stellar defense to advance.

Next up…Kyle Attebury.  We know he has the quickness, skills, and strength to carry a team but will he be able to handle the distractions of running the tournament while playing in it (same can be said for me sans the quickness, skills, and strength).  I know he wants to win as bad as the rest of us but the extra duties could be an added hurdle he’ll have to overcome.  Only time will tell, but one thing we know for certain…he has the best tattoo in the tournament.

And that brings us back to Wesley James Attebury.  He’s the reason we’re doing this whole thing.  Keep in mind that above all else we are there to celebrate Wes’s life.  It’s not too often all of us are able to gather in the same place at the same time anymore so let’s value our time together, take nothing for granted, and have fun for Wes.