The Ragin' Rosenbluths

For those of you who don't know, I play in an intramural basketball team every spring with some of my law school friends. We were eliminated today in possibly the last organized basketball game I will ever play. As team captain, I spoke for the team when I posted this last email to our team:


To the members of the Ragin’ Rosenbluths:

I write to you mere hours after one of the most devastating sports finishes I have ever been a part of. Ranking alongside equally devastating moments like when Renee was killed in front of Jack Bauer in 24, when Steve Bartman reached over the fence and grabbed a foul ball in front of Moises Alou’s ready arms, and when B.J. Raji picked off Caleb Hennie this year to lead the Packers to victory in the NFC Championship Game, this had to be one of the most brutal defeats any of us have ever been a part of.

But amidst the devastation we have to look at what we did as a team: each one of us contributed to the team in our own way, and the team wouldn’t be the same without any of us. Whether it be Alex’s scoring and leadership, Dan’s inside presence, Joe’s defensive tenacity and high energy, Ramon’s ball-handling and timely jumpers, Scotty’s 3-pointers and ability to take flagrant fouls, Derek’s toughness and overall ability to tick other teams off, Bobby’s ability to call desperation timeouts for no reason, and even Liz’s moral support at all our games, we all contributed in one way or another. We played together, we sweated together, we argued with refs together, we won together, we died together.

Here’s how I look at it: It took a last-1.3-second, turnaround, fade-away, off-the-bank (shouldn’t be allowed on Sunday), no angle, Ramon-got-a-finger-on-the-ball, “were his eyes open?” shot at the buzzer to beat us. If that’s what it takes to beat us, then so be it. But they did not beat our soul, our class, our professionalism in the way we handled ourselves. We represented ourselves in the best way possible, and I would take nothing back from the way we played this game. Again, if I haven’t stressed it enough, it has been an honor playing with you gentlemen, and I look forward to future exploits with any and all of you, whether it be business deals, professional contacts, or just grabbing a beer.

Ten years from now, we’re gonna look back at that shot and laugh. “O, some dude made a shot at the buzzer that knocked us out of the USC Intramural Intermediate Basketball Playoffs. But it was a helluva game, and it was a helluva team with a helluva bunch of guys.” That’s what I’ll remember. Cheers.

(insert inside joke probably inappropriate joke here about a teammate that would probably cast a negative light on me for non-team members and possible future employers)

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan