WE'RE STILL HERE -- AND BUFFALO WILL STILL BE THERE!

In the annals of STILL HERE lore today's game will be forever known as DOUGHNUT GATE. To give you an idea of how much more intensely the scorekeepers were focused on their doughnuts than on keeping accurate count of buckets, STILL HERE started the second half with 42 points. After Rock scored a three-pointer, Rick scored a three-pointer, and JT scored two two-pointers, STILL HERE had 49 on the score board. Just one example. The game was stopped for four minutes at one point to dispute the score. In the end, no one knows what the actual score was but another year's Buffalo Master's is in the books. So why is Pops looking so happy in the photo above? Well -- for one thing, this photo was taken before Game One --- which we WON! The image is appropriate to today, though. Pops hates to lose as much as the next guy on our team, but after the first hour or so when it feels like you got gobsmacked with a wet anvil, the planning for 2011 will begin. Sore muscles will start to heal --- sort of. Laundry will be done. And soon --- all the goofy crap that happens during every game will start to be relived. Stories will be retold. Other stories (OK -- lies) will be invented. It won't take long for smiles to return. STILL HERE has taken it on the nose more times than any of us can remember, but that's not the point. As the old cliche goes: "It's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get up." We've been willing and able to keep getting up because we help each other get up. On occassion we even give a good smack-down to the other team! But even that is not the most important point. Despite the loss today, the team played solid old-school basketball. Unselfish. Sharing. Hard working. Never loafing. Uncomplaining. Together. THAT'S the point. That's why we're STILL HERE!

STILL HERE GOES TO 1-1 AFTER RUNNING INTO A BUZZSAW

In Game Two of the 2010 Buffalo Masters Tournament, STILL HERE ran into a local Buffalonian team that was high on hot wing sauce and higher with their shooting percentage. The bad news: 87-64. The good news: tomorrow morning we go against the team that beat us out of last year's tournament with a dumb-luck shot at the buzzer. A win in the morning will probably put STILL HERE into the finals. Revenge is on the collective mind...and as the old saying goes: "Revenge is a dish best served with cold beer." Or something like that.

D-REX MAKES FRIENDS EASILY

LIKE A LARGE MONGOOSE ROCK TRANSFIXES THE EYES OF THE COBRA BY ROTATING HIS PECTORALS IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS

WAY TO SPACE OUT THE FLOOR BOYS. ON THE OTHER HAND, IT'S A NICE SCRUM.

PAUL LIESEM BEFORE AND AFTER PRE-GAME TAPING

V-QUAKE NAMED 2009 BUFFALO MASTERS ALL STAR!

In slowly breaking news (STILL HERE hasn't run a "fast" break in years), the 2010 Buffalo Master's Tournament Program features the roster for last year's All Star Team. All Stars are nominated after each game by opposing captains designating two members of the team they just played against as being particularly worthy. We've just discovered that, last year, our very own Steve "Vanilla Quake" Meadows made the All Stars following in the steps of Paul "Pops" "Paublo" "Chicken Wing" Stallings who made the All Star squad in 2008! The best part of all of this is that no one, including Steve, can remember that far back to recall exactly WHY he made the All Stars --- WHAT he did --- or even if, in fact, he was actually in Buffalo that weekend! Submitted above, two photos of Steve in action. Given his new celebrity status the team has voted to show its respect by no longer referring to him as "Vanilla Quake" but simply (as befits an All Star): V-QUAKE.

P.S. For actual quaking captured on video, check out this YouTube link of Steve doing damage during the STILL HERE Iceland tour!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZisN2Knku8

STILL HERE HOLDS OFF CANADIAN HORDE IN GAME ONE --- 2010 BUFFALO MASTERS TOURNAMENT MARCH 12, 2010

It was touch-and-go but in the end STILL HERE overcame all obstacles (that is to say, the team made it away from the bar at Quaker Steak & Lube in time for tip-off), beating a squad of evil Canadians --- you know, the ones with the commie health care system that punishes everyone by providing reliable, affordable medical benefits--- 66-60. Remarkably the win came from accurate foul shooting in the game's closing minutes. In that STILL HERE is heavily populated with freethrow shooters who graduated with honors from The Chris Dudley School Of Bricklaying, the odds of STILL HERE winning from the charity stripe are, on most nights, about as good as Tiger Woods getting the next cover of The Christian Woman's Weekly Gazette. And yet --- that's what happened. The team is off until 5:30 pm Saturday night which is either long enough to sober up from the Friday night victory binge, or long enough to tempt The Boys into an extended warm-up and hydration period of pre-game liver enlargement.

JOE ROG AWARDED GOLDEN NUMBER 1. STILL HERE JERSEY

Our brother Joe Rog recently turned 70. STILL HERE does not retire jerseys for two reasons: 1.) None of us has been good enough to deserve it. 2.) The spirit of STILL HERE is that no man EVER retires from the game. No one symbolizes the heart and soul of the STILL HERE philosophy better than Joe. Just days before his birthday he sank three three-pointers in the span of about 45 seconds. To celebrate Joe's birthday, STILL HERE --- on behalf of every man who has ever worn our team's colors --- awarded Joe a jersey with his name and number (1.) in gold lettering. This is the first of what will be a tradition when someone achieves above and beyond. No other STILL HERE player will have the right to wear Number 1. That gold number belongs to Joe for all time with the great respect of every man who knows him.

STILL HERE WINS PINNACLE LATE SUMMER LEAGUE 2009

We're proud of the effort STILL HERE made in the open-age league during the Pinnacle Late Summer League, 2009. Pictured in the team photo after having won the championship (front left to right): Jon Steward, Antoine Campbell, Bob Campbell, Kurt Miller (back row from left): Steve Meadows Rob Wininger, Brett High. Not shown: Ray Weaver, Roger Evans, Mark Bruner. This was the first run with STILL HERE for Rob, Antoine, Ray and Roger and we warmly welcome our new (and young) brothers! In the photo above, Rob demonstrates one of the many things he does so well while Brett displays his hairy legs and Kurt impersonates the arms of a T-Rex! Opposing man in the middle is wishing he was home.