12-year old regulates Bookstore
By KERRY SMITH
Senior Staff Writer
When the members of Cuidado Piso Mojado arrived at Stepan courts dressed with large cardboard signs on their backs, a bookstore commissioner promptly stopped them, declaring they could not play in the tournament with their cumbersome outfits.
The commissioner had on this year's Bookstore Basketball XXXI official shirt.
He sported a Walkie-Talkie.
But the players knew he wasn't a typical Bookstore official — he was 12 years old and 4 feet tall.
But Chris Matsey, a home-schooled, basketball aficionado from Clay Township talked a good game.
And Cuidad Piso Mojado listened.
Matsey convinced the players to let him try on one of the outfits to see if it was safe and if head commissioner Brian Clemency would allow it on the court.
Clemency did, but that did not deter Matsey from his patrol as the youngest commissioner in this year's tournament.
"I handle games, keep score, make sure no drugs or alcohol is used and make sure there's no fighting," Matsey said.
Sometimes he gets strange looks from players when he tries to enforce rules. But Matsey knows just how to handle such problems.
"I just put my hand on my Walkie Talkie and they listen." he said. "Then I go get commissioner Brian [Clemency], commissioner Brad [Fritsche] or commissioner Andrew [Dayton]."
So far, the job has been full of hard work. According to Matsey, he had to break up a tense situation between two teams in the preliminary round of the tournament.
"They were threatening to fight and so I got in the middle," Matsey said. "I told them it was a technical foul and if they did it one more time they'd have to forfeit the tournament."
Matsey earned the job when he started showing up at all the games last week, Clemency said.
He takes his job so seriously that he brought an apprentice, one of his friends, to the tournament on Sunday.
"He showed up with his friend and told me he was training him," Clemency said.
For all his hard work, the 12-year old earns one can of soda a day — unless he can finagle more out of the commissioners, a feat he has been known to accomplish.
"He's figured it out that if he times it right he can go to the different executives and get more than one every day," Clemency said. Turning to Matsey, he joked: "We're on to you, buddy."
Matsey enjoys the perks of the jobs, naming "free Coke and Burger King" as the top benefits.
After hanging around the courts for several days, Matsey thinks he knows who is poised to take the tournament championship.
"S.P. Shockers II. Definitely them. They're ranked." he said.
But Matsey wasn't able to watch all of his favorite team's game Monday. He was too busy watching Cuidad Piso Mojado, waiting for a souvenir from the game.
After the team finished, Matsey once again smooth-talked the team into letting him keep one of the large cardboard signs he tried on before the game started.
"I'm just like a regular commissioner," Matsey said. "They need me out here."
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, April 16, 2002
