All Stars drive through road signs on way to victory
By KERRY SMITH
Senior Staff Writer
When the Bootney League All Stars showed up Monday for their first-round Bookstore Basketball XXXI game at Stepan Courts, they had no idea what team they were matching up against.
But they sure didn't expect what their opponents, Cuidado Piso Mojado, wore on the court.
Inspired by the abundance of wet floor signs around campus, seniors Tom Keeley, Mike De la Rosa, Mike Harris and Jay Newman stepped onto the court with body-size bright yellow cardboard road signs.
Keeley sported the team's moniker with his Cuidad Piso Mojado sign. De La Rosa pranced up and down the court as a deer and shouldered a deer crossing sign. With a cigarette in one hand and a cigar in the other, Harris wore a no smoking sign while a quiet Newman displayed a Slow Deaf Child sign.
But with only four players, the team needed a fifth. So, the seniors looked to their original inspiration: a bright yellow cone. But the cone and the signs weren't enough to pull out a win, as the All Stars rolled to an easy 21-1 win.
"We thought they were interesting uniforms," All Stars' player Andrew Heinlein said. "It was a pretty easy matchup. But it's all about having fun, and this was a fun first-round game."
Joining Heinlein on the All Stars was Adam Dell, Matt Knust, Drew DeWalt and Kevin O'Connor
De la Rosa thought the outcome could have been different.
"I would have won the whole thing by myself, except I got caught in the headlights," he said. "I was in a comatose state the whole game."
Harris' chain-smoking didn't help the team either as he had to stop play to light up a cigarette several times.
The one highlight for Cuidado Piso Mojado turned out to be their ability to box out the All Stars on defense with their huge signs, which tended to double as shields.
Despite their efforts, Cuidado Piso Mojado made a quick exit from the tournament.
"We were expecting big things," Keeley said. "No one likes to go home early."
Cuidad Piso Mojado was not the only non-conventional team to make an appearance on the courts Monday. Team 107: Three She-Bears, A Hoopoe and an Asian showed up with more than just basketball on its mind. The team, with players Kevin McGirr, Tim Ruggaber, Kevin Haley, John Sengenberger and Jim Ree, sported outfits ranging from hot pink shorts to tennis skirts, Baby-Ts and Depends undergarments.
But the team had a serious message to go along with its less-than-standard outfits.
Praying before the game and again at halftime, the team's members and fans were bound by a common love.
"We like to read the Bible and we love Jesus," Haley said.
Even the team's name, which ironically was censored by the Office of Student Affairs, has its roots in the Bible.
The reference to she-bears comes from 2 Kings and a Hoopoe is a bird mentioned in Leviticus.
"We all like searching the Bible for weird strange passages," said team coach Josh "Baldhead" Stagni.
The team squared off against a short-handed squad, Colonel Puberty and his Band of Anglophiles with players John English, John Dicello, Dave Lubnik and Clete Willems. The team only had four players for the first half because the fifth player failed to show. In the second half the team picked up a fifth player in Jenny Chan, but the extra body was not enough and Colonel Puberty fell to Team 107, 21-16.
The winners were surprised by their victory.
"We're not very good," McGirr said. "By the Grace of God we won."
First round action continues today and will continue until Thursday on courts throughout campus.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, April 16, 2002
