A recent post on the UDPride.com Message Board from a “Mr. T” told of a recent scrimmage at the PAC by a few past and many current Flyers and a few surprise guests. I witnessed the same game, as I was in town on business and to pick up the elder Swampette after her last final…and to sneak in a few runs at the PAC. I’m glad Mr. T confirmed that Cain was there, ’cause I could have sworn that was him I saw out there, but wasn’t positive. The guys kept saying the name Coby and if I’m not mistaken, Coby Turner has bulked up big-time. He looked like

Robert Traylor. KW was particularly active and I saw Sean Finn make a nice baby hook.

— Speaking of Sean Finn, somebody get that kid a decent haircut. No offense Sean, but that ‘do makes you look like the stereotypical Kansas farm boy.

— While driving past where the players live on Stewart Street, I saw a car with a big #45 in the rear window. I might be going out on a limb here, but I think that was KW’s ride.

— It was funny to watch the reaction of people as they walked into the PAC. Once they realized who was playing on the first court, they would stop and find a reason to hang around and watch.

— I halfway thought of asking the fellas if I could run with them, so I’d have some material for a column-what it’s like to play with the big boys — but then I thought better of it. The fact that I played like absolute crap both nights might have influenced my decision.

— The fact that I ate right before I played on Tuesday night didn’t help any, either.

— If you ever want to find a good pickup game at the PAC, Tuesday night during finals week ain’t the time or the place. By 8:45 I was the only person left on all 4 basketball courts.

— I played a couple of games of “33” with 3 guys who could jump out of the building and in one of them I didn’t score a single point — zip, zap, zero. That wasn’t much fun. In the last game, I finally woke up and jumped out to a 9-0 lead on them, but then some other guys came and wanted to play 5 on 5. I had already been there for 90 minutes and so I quit while I was ahead.

— I still can’t get used to being called “Sir” on a playground or in a gym.

— In a letter to the editor in the April 23rd edition of the Flyer News, one Andrew Volpenhein lodged several complaints about playing hoops at the PAC, specifically:

— it’s too crowded

— lots of non-students

— too much arguing

— having to wait too long, etc.

Lets’ take these one at a time:

***Yeah, it gets crowded, but try to imagine what it would be like without the PAC and you have my 4 years at UD. We could play at the Fieldhouse (if it was available), at the Women’s Gym (which was a rickety old dump) or outside at Stuart. Nice, huh?

***As for non-students, I can see your point. Those 3 fellas that I played 33 with were not students. As a matter of fact, one of their buddies came to the window upstairs in the lounge and motioned to them to come and let him in the door. Then again, I’m one of those non-students you’re talking about too, Andrew…but I pay $2 like any alum to get in. So how do you tell the difference?

***As for the arguing, I have to argue with you on that one, Andrew. I’ll be the first to admit that I bitch and moan a lot on the basketball court-particularly when it comes to rules and my personal favorite, the moving pick — which seems to be a staple of PAC play. In all the games I played, guys did almost no complaining — except about me arguing calls. In my experience, guys at the PAC have a tendency not to call fouls unless it’s obvious and not to differ with a call when it’s made-except for guys like me from Detroit who are used to forensics on the court.

***As for waiting too long, Andrew-you got suckered, dude. In his letter to the editor, Andrew mentions waiting for a game, only to have someone who was playing on an adjacent court come over and claim “next” when they lost. That’s one of the oldest rules in playground basketball — once you start playing in another game on another court, you forfeit any and all rights to “next” on any other court. So the other guy got to play in 2 games while you got to play in none — sounds like the basis for a good argument to me, Andrew!

That’s it “From the Swamp.”