The envelopes,
please ...
 
It's time for the Dribblies. We know you've been waiting.

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Yes, we’ll all be watching the Oscars tonight, but we at the Academy of Motion Offense, Hearts and Sidelines know you just can’t wait that long for some long acceptance speeches.

We don’t have those, and all of our performers show up wearing shorts instead of Dior and Armani, but we promise you this: Anybody who filmed this week’s basketball tournament has got some really good B movies.

And so, without commercial interruption, we present the 2008 Class 1B Dribblies.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: To JOEL KOOPMANS of SUNNYSIDE CHRISTIAN. This one is such a no-brainer that all Academy members not voting for Koopmans would be immediately drummed out of the Academy and made to listen to Queen’s “We Are the Champions” until their ears bleed.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: Yes, the MVP was ELISA LOPEZ of GARFIELD-PALOUSE, and deservedly so. But the Dribblie goes to MEGAN HOWERTON, who was sensational in her role as a refuse-to-lose senior who absolutely willed her TOUCHET teammates to the third-place victory over Sunnyside Christian.

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING: To DEAN WAGENAAR, whose Sunnyside Christian boys all adhered relentlessly to their roles and responsibilities — guarding the ball, playing defense and shortening the game to prevent foul difficulty from becoming a problem. And not only that, the championship coach with the couch potato’s wardrobe actually wore a sharp-looking sports jacket for the last two games. (Alert the media.)

BEST SHORT SUBJECT: The 1-minute, 20-second performance of RYKER VAN BELLE of SUNNYSIDE CHRISTIAN. You might say it was a real show-stopper.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, FAMILY DIVISION: To Mike and Diane Hull, parents of Pateros senior CLARA HULL. Because Clara’s older brother Clint coaches on the Spokane Falls Community College men’s team, Ma and Pa Hull watched Clara’s Wednesday game, then watched the SFCC-Yakima Valley game that night. On Thursday, they watched Clara’s game, then raced up to Ellensburg to watch older daughter Hanna’s Central Washington game, arriving five minutes before halftime. On Friday, they had only Clara’s game, but on Saturday they had both Clara and Hanna playing games again. Seven games in four days. That’s a lot of concession burgers and pop to have to consume. And a lot of Pepto.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, CROWD DIVISION: To the Entiat fans, whose support of their team in its game against Moses Lake Christian was relentlessly positive — even at those moments when it seemed their players were having to participate in a football game, not basketball.

BEST UNDERSTANDING OF WHO THIS IS FOR: To CUSICK boys coach J.R. BLUFF, who played every one of his players for significant amounts of time in the first half of Saturday’s game, despite the fact that his team was losing badly. Honorable mention to COLTON girls coach CLARK VINING, who, after his team earned its finals berth — first in school history — let the players celebrate it with parents and fans for nearly 15 minutes in front of the stands instead of hustling them into the locker room to rehash the game.

BEST RETURN ENGAGEMENT: To ALLI WINTERS of ST. JOHN-ENDICOTT, whose 6-for-7 performance on 3-pointers Friday clinched a trophy. If it seemed as if she knew every square foot of the floor, maybe it’s because she does; as a child living in Yakima Valley — before her dad, Rick, became superintendent at St. John-Endicott — she used to be one of those kids who volunteered to sweep the SunDome court during halftime and between games.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TEAR-JERKER: To the SUNNYSIDE CHRISTIAN girls, who rallied from 12 points behind in the final 5 1/2 minutes to tie their semifinal game against GARFIELD-PALOUSE, only to lose a heartbreaker. Gar-Pal coach STEVE SWINNEY attributed the Knights’ rally to his own team’s having made “some poor decisions.” Here’s a better reason: The Knights made a very good decision — to keep playing gritty, ferocious, competitive basketball when it looked like all was lost.

If we can indulge ourselves enough to imagine that we saw such a thing as a heroic performance during the 1B tournament — true heroism being properly reserved for more important things than basketball — well ... folks, that was it.