Petrie Gives Me A History Lesson

Anthony Petrie made my All-Surprise Team, then he surprised me with a classic e-mail.

I was surprised today when I opened my e-mail and had a current player drop me a line about something I had written a few weeks back. Wollongong Hawk Anthony Petrie left me this little gem of a letter. He is either really bored to have looked up so much stuff on Toowoomba, or a very proud member of the Tenterfield community?

Here is what he said.

"now john i first must admit i am not one for reading up about the game that often. i have other hobbies like boggle and connect four to keep me interested but i have been informed by a close friend that i have made your all surprise team. Thank you very much for this honour i appreciate it. I must however move on to more pressing issues surrounding this selection. I must use one of your quotes "anyone from Tenterfield has done well to get this far." This was hugely crippling for my close friend to read and he struggled at large to tell me what had been said about a town which is widely known as the "Bithplace of our nation." he then moved on and said well where is rillie from? i was nearly too embarrassed to tell him but i finally gave in a said he was from the town that was home of the mountaineers. He said "wasnt that who old POP (Dickerson) used to play for in the tenterfield basketball carnival." i said " poor old POP was the only good thing in the town at that time and felt he needed to come and play in the tenterfield basketball carnival to prove his worth as a ball player." He then said "wasnt that rillie playing in stanthorpe when we were about 6 or 7 years old and everyone said if he played for the tenterfiled rollers he would make it for sure but would struggle to get out of all the pitfalls in toowoomba if he kept going." i replied "thats him." So i also must extend my congratulations to you john for achieveing everything you have in the game. I think you and steven price are the only people ever to make it out of the garden city. When i think about toowoomba i think about the cobb & co museum. i think about the farmers markets the first sunday of every month. i think about abbots antiques and second hand furniture. also who could ever forget there first visit to the danish flower art complex. Also it was hugely disappointing to find out that your slot car centre had finally closed down. Anyway i am sure you are aware of all the great things toowoomba has to offer so i dont need to go any further. But john please take your time to read up about tenterfields rich and proud history and i am sure it will even change your opinion. If nothing else it will educate you further on the history of australia. you are even more than welcome to come and stay a night in tenterfield. But i do suggest that you dont stay at the peter allen inn as you will surely get a bad name for yourself. Anyway John all the best with finally digesting the fact that tenterfield is clearly a more interesting place than toowoomba and anytime the mountaineers want to roll down the highway for a game against the mighty tenterfield rollers it would be a pleasure to show you how a real carnival zone is played during a game and how to best use the amount of fouls you get given at the start of the game."

Yours in tenterfield
Anthony Petrie

I just felt this was too good to let go through to the keeper. I love it, especially when a current player is reading what I'm writing about them.

News

- Melbourne Tigers have to cough up 10K.

- South Dragons captain Mark Worthington believes his team is going to win it all. I hope he feels that way!

- So many options in Melbourne on Friday night. What would you go and watch live?

- The Sydney Spirit team going to the Philippines just gets better. You need to read to believe. Rob Beveridge will not be the coach of this team as he cannot be in two places at once. He will be coaching the Nike Hoop Summit game.

- One last useless stat about Game 5 of the NBL Finals. Can Sam MacKinnon break his duck as an assistant coach/injured player in a Championship series? MacKinnon had to watch from the bench in 2001 as Townsville lost to Wollongong. Fast forward to 2002 and he did the same for the West Sydney Razorbacks as they lost 2-1 to the adelaide 36ers. Chris Anstey should request for "The Hulk" to stay home.

My All Surprise Team

Just a random picture. EJ Rowland in pink. Only in Germany!

As we head into the last round of the regular season, I'm just casting my mind back to what I would not have thought possible at the start of the season.

Here are five guys I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams of having the type of season they did.

Top of the list is Adelaide 36ers Luke Schenscher. The former Georgia Tech centre is averaging close to 11 rebounds per contest. I can believe this part but the most surprising to me is the 17 points per game.

I just felt the NBL style and pace would have created problems for the big red head but after a sluggish start to the season, the 36ers found a way to utilize his much improved touch around the basket.

If you want to be critical at all about his game, you would think at 216cms he may give you a little more than 1.5 blocks per 32 minutes on court.

At the end of the day Schenscher has produced so well I believe he will poll ok in the MVP race.

Anthony Petrie finds his way onto this team because of his workman like attitude towards the game. (Plus anyone from Tenterfield has done well to get this far.)

Petrie has improved in all statistical categories this season but it was his defensive effort on Cairns Taipan Martin Cattalini that really caught my attention.

Petrie had the task of shutting the offensive minded Cattalini down on this particular night. He did more than that. He had Catt-Man thinking more about the one on one battle than what was best for the team.

Besides the "D" Petrie was providing he was efficient on offense and keeping Cattalini busy at his defensive end of the floor.

I believe he will find himself on another team in the near future. His 12 points and 7 rebounds won't hurt his cause either.

Cairns enigmatic centre Ian Crosswhite has surprised me over the past six weeks. There is no way I thought he would ever average a double double over any period of time.

Well Mr Crosswhite proved me wrong. Since Larry Abney, Dave Thomas and Stephen Black have moved on, he has averaged 15 and 10.

He picks his spots and his awkward left hand can cause opposing centres trouble on most nights.

I will have to eat humble pie on this one. Who will pick him up for next season?

Now to a guard. South Dragon Rhys Carter has performed the back up point guard spot for the minor premiers very well.

Carter has always shown he has flair for the game but I think coach Brian Goorjian has finally harnessed a little of this so his play is solid more times than erratic. This shows in his reduced number of turnovers.

At West Sydney he was a turnover waiting to happen as he forced the action too much for my liking. Now he has a respectable 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio.

Now to really win me over he needs to do this for a few seasons in a row.

Last to get the nod is a guy who only got to play half a season, Greg Vanderjagt.

Here is a guy that could not catch a cold in Townsville, but on the Gold Coast he finished everything around the basket. His 60% field goal shooting will support that. Also the big giraffe hauled in 7 rebounds to go with his 11 points in just 19 minutes of playing time.

He went that well that the owner of the Gold Coast Blaze has commented that the only players safe for next year are captain James Harvey and Vanderjagt.

That's a great endorsement to have along with a spot on my team.

There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth. Do you agree with my selections? Leave a comment and let me know your choice.

You Tube of the Day - Kelvin Robertson Done.