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Wal JL -  Nov 2004
Our Walnut league has been going on strong now for seven years, since 1997.  In all that time, my teams have won the league title twice.  Because I am the host and commissioner, I have never wanted to stack my teams, only wanting to be competitive.  My first team to win it was centered around Alan Chen, a gifted 6-1 leaper.  No one could stop him once he got going to the hoop.  But after a couple of losing finals at CrossTrainers, he left, and I have not called him back although I would love to.  On that team, Nelson was the three specialist and he was in the zone for that season, averaging maybe 15-20 points.  It was a suprise to me as we got around a lot of good teams, including CSCF and FVA.  My second team to win it was another suprise, centered around the outside shooting of Duc Nguyen and Andy Wing.  We were on fire from three land and those two guys averaged 20 plus points each.  Duc was especially in the zone and would make almost every trey he took.  In our early years, the Walnut league was dominated by FVA.  The LA teams were also good, but they are now all gone since the LA church opened their own gym.  CEFC was also a monster.  When I lowered the quality of the league, EBC joined on and won some titles.  Now back to the open competitive style, IEC is dominant.  The interesting thing is how I have been able to form my present ABA and CrossTrainers teams from all these guys, with Gary and Mel from FVA on the CAAA team,  Keith, Con and Johnny from CSF, Billy, Stan, Brandon and Jeff from IEC.  I also asked some of the other stars, but not everyone I guess wants to play with me.  The thought came to me to name the team Walnut League All Stars but I just felt uncomfortable with it. 
This new season at Walnut looks to be promising for my team.  I have Kelvin and Ken Chung, two shooters who can average 20 points each.  At center I will have Melvin who at Walnut will average 15 points.  Nick will give us rebounding.  Charles will be joining us to give us a slasher and some movement.  Off the bench will be Q and Grady Liu, to give us size when needed.  I am thinking about renaming the team Wal-FVA.  The favorite to win it all will be IEC, but they don't have their two gifted guards this season, so we have a good chance.  EBC is also tough with Duc, Andy and Jojo, but they are thin up front without David though Andrew always plays well at Walnut.  FEC is without Nathan.   MPCBC can win but still lacks a center.  Herald and CBCOC are good.  In other seasons, I knew we had no chance, but this time its possible for us.  We have started out 2-0, beating MPCBC and Fec2.  Should be an exciting season.  Except for IEC, the league looks very even.  And I think IEC is vulnerable in a three game single elimination playoff, especially if Billy misses any of them, which is possible.   

Dec 19, 2004.  Unbelievable!  Our Wal JL team upset IEC.  Their lineup included Billy, Stanley, Jimmy, Brandon and Jeff.  Our lineup was Kelvin, Ken, Keith, Quinten, Grady and myself.  I was thinking we would need Keith, with Mel, Kelvin and Nick being questionable.  I would bet that nine out of ten times, they would beat us.  But somehow we won by ten.  It would take our best game and their worst game for us to do that.  The 24-13 first half was the difference with our defense being key (or more likely they were just cold but still, we didn't make it easy for them).  They probably thought lightly of us, with me being the point guard.  We did have one other advantage, I know how they play.   The strategy was simple: don't let Brandon get easy looks, good team defense, try to beat them from outside and minimize the turnovers.  Billy was late (that helped) but so was Kelvin.  Keith was a big difference, he played great D at the forward though totally undersized, and he was hot scoring 21 points.  Kelvin started out bad, missing his first three shots, but finally making some shots and came up with 16, including a four point play.  He also played fantastic at the center spot, making some great blocks.  Ken didn't take as many shots but came up with ten very crucial points.  I was pleased with my play, I shot 3/3 including a trey, made a key steal from Stan on his crossover, and had no turnovers that I can remember.  Q settled down after a few initial turnovers, did a fine job, and impressively made a one footer after two offensive rebounds.  Billy started asserting himself in the second half, but we managed to upgrade our scoring too and pretty much matched their 34 second half points.  They were playing man to man D in the second half, but we did ok, with us having four guys who could dribble (I made sure they helped me, which they all took turns doing).  The closest they got was within 4. Well, I hope this gives hope to the other teams to know that IEC is human, everyone is so intimidated by them.  Without Mike and Karson, they are not the same team that went 9-1 and then 10-0.  Of course, we may have just awakened a sleeping dragon, Jeff hates to lose.   His last words to me were, "We will see you in the playoffs."  Now I wish we didn't have any. 
Feb 14, 05.  We were once 4-0, but now we are 7-2, having lost to FEC and Herald.  Still a very nice season.  In years past, the league would be over for us as far as being the champs, but now with the playoffs, we still have a chance.  Last nite was the first time I felt so out of it.  I couldn't concentrate and feel the intensity.  It was because I was so emotionally drained from the ABA game.  We won that ABA game easily and I hardly played, but it took something out of me.  At the same time, I was kind of confident we would beat CBCOC because we had Con and Keith, and CBCOC was in a double header.  So didn't even start the game, shot one for four and had maybe four turnovers.  Even got stripped by David.  So CBCOC stayed closer to us than I would have predicted.  I better do better next week at the CCBL and at Walnut, otherwise we will lose.  Herald has had an excellent season and look improved over last.  IEC is definitely weaker than before but still the favorite to win it all.  My team is the only other team that has a chance to upset these two teams.  The other teams while very good have not been able to get past Herald and IEC.  But who knows, I would never have imagined Fec2 to win it last season.  I must say I have really enjoyed meeting everyone, making new friends and of course the high caliber of basketball skills in our league.  Its a lot of fun for me every sunday nite.  I pray that God will let me continue to enjoy all this. 
March 17, 2005.  Another season ends.  My team did ok, ending 7-3 in regular season.  IEC went on to take it all, but I thought they were beatable this season.  When it came down to crunch time, Billy stood up and carried the team, with Brandon adding just enough outside to keep them honest.  They return for the "four-peat" and I am giving it serious thought as to stacking up the team to try to beat them.  We would need Con, Keith, and Mike.  No one else really has a chance, unless the IEC team implodes.  Anyway, our league looks good.  Everyone is nice and no one is out to hurt anyone, and we all just trying to have fun, the way it should be.     
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