Game 21: Chicago Curie vs. Rich Central (Boy's)

Game 21
(Chicago) Curie vs. Rich Central (Boy's Basketball)
Galesburg Tournament
11/26/10

Cold air is much colder at 3:30 a.m. Black Friday began that early for me, not because I went insane and decided to go shopping, but because I had to head into the office to record news and sports, and do a remote broadcast. Shopping and I have been bitter enemies for a long time. I'm an in-and-out shopper, and don't like crowded aisles in stores. When I go shopping, it's late at night to avoid crowds, so no Black Friday sale is going to entice me into any store.



Certainly, a 4 a.m. coffee was needed for the one hour drive from Annawan to Monmouth. When arising extra early, a larger coffee is needed to get the motor revved up, especially since my workday wouldn't be ending until 10:30 p.m.

Sadly, nothing was open at 4:00 a.m. I was hoping the McDonalds in Kewanee would be open, alas it was not. Nor was Burger King. I had passed a 24-hour gas station while driving through the "Hog Capital of the World," so I was not turning around, and out of luck. Coffee would have to be brewed when I arrived at the radio station, and it was the first thing on the agenda after walking through the doors.

My remote was at Farm King in Monmouth, not exactly the place of hustle and bustle for shoppers, so I am getting weened in my Black Friday experiences. One day, I would like to get out and experience what Black Friday is all about as a casual observer. Just like I have no interest in sitting out in the cold wilderness waiting for wild animals to shoot, I had to go hunting just one time to experience it.

Not only did I have to wake up at 3:30 a.m. but my cell phone had gone dead the night before, so I was relying on my dad's alarm clock. Since I was out of my element, I was very nervous that the alarm would not go off. Being just a hair over an hour away from work, waking up late would be a disaster. I fell asleep on the couch for an hour, and then I tossed and turned, maybe getting three hours of sleep.

Since the phone went dead, I was going to use the radio station cell phone that we use for sports broadcasts. We have two of them, and one of them happens to be pink. Of course, the black cell phone is with one of our broadcast crews, and I was stuck at Farm King, of all places, with a pink phone.

After the remote, I headed over to Galesburg High School, somewhere I would spend more hours in the weekend than home, or anywhere else combined. The first broadcast was Curie against Rich Central. These two teams each featured a future Division-I player. Curie was led by Greg Travis, an Illinois-Chicago commit, and Rich Central had a very athletic Adedeji Ibitayo, headed to Akron to be a Zip. Ibitayo was extremely fun to watch over the weekend, and just as fun was to listen to P.A. announcer Gary Mitchell try to pronounce his name after every basket!

Curie pulled out the 57-48 win. Turnovers killed Rich Central, as I had the team with 31 turnovers, including a stretch in the first half where they turned the ball over on eight consecutive posessions. In fact, they were not able to cross half court on any of those eight posessions.

The Condors were pretty balanced in scoring with Devin Foster scoring 13 points, and Joseph Stamps, Paris Burns, and Greg Travis all adding eight points apiece. Ibitayo scored 18 points for Rich Central. Rich Central coach Terrone Parham was assessed a technical foul in the game.

Game 21 Miles: 96 miles