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!