The good, the bad,
the Dribblies
 
Who needs Oscars? These are the only awards that matter

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

With those other, certainly less prestigious awards scheduled to be handed out Sunday night, we at the Academy of Motion Offense, Hearts and Sidelines are here to pay homage to some worthy performances at this week's Class 1A basketball tournament. Without further ado, here are winners of the 2010 1A Dribblies.

BEST MAKEUP: To LEETROY RODRIGUEZ of MABTON, and no, we're not talking about lipstick. We're talking about the makeup of true humanity in a high school senior who's working toward graduation while playing on the basketball team, and who chose as his senior project to mentor and guide special-needs students at Mabton's Artz-Fox Elementary.

When he shows up three days a week, the kids swarm around him, loving and admiring him for his patient tutelage and what special-education teacher Julie Tyus calls his "kind heart." He also spent countless hours assisting Mabton's Special Olympics basketball team with dribbling and passing clinics, helping them take third place in regionals. "LeeTroy," says Tyus, "is our hero."

BEST ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE: To JOHNNY TVETER of CASCADE CHRISTIAN, an outstanding player on both ends of the floor for the Cougars. For this Dribblie, Tveter went the extra mile, hitting the hardwood back-first with a beautiful flop to draw a charge from Onalaska's Cody Naillon late in Thursday's quarterfinals, a play that helped the Cougars hold on for the victory. Yes, his all-around game was good (eight points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal), but his acting on that one was definitely a cut above.

BEST ART DIRECTION: To the cheer squad at FREEMAN, whose dance rendition of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was electric. See it for yourself. Seriously, go. Right now. We'll wait. It's worth it.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: To ANNA BROWN of CEDAR PARK CHRISTIAN, who'd been sidelined by an concussion for the last couple of weeks and sat through the Eagles' two-game state-tourney stay. But with CPC about to be ousted on Thursday by Seattle Christian, coaches sent Brown into the game with 11 seconds remaining, cautioning her to avoid any contact whatsoever. But as the final seconds ticked away, the ball came to Brown in the corner and she launched a long 3-pointer that just beat the buzzer. Her teammates subsequently nicknamed her "Downtown Brown" and a tournament official gave her a highly unofficial medal for her "Shot of the Week."

BEST SOUND EDITING: To the technical foul whistled against Granger and one of its players' parents and rather unofficial assistant coaches, David Reddout. The father of senior forward Ashlee Reddout was on the bench Thursday when, upon a foul called against Granger, Spartan team captain Janae Klarich went up to the referee to ask a question about the foul. "Every time there's a foul you come over to ask a question," the official retorted to Klarich. David Reddout, himself a youth basketball official, barked out, "Then answer her question!" At which point the official T'd him up.

In a year when grousing about tournament officiating seemed to reach new levels of discontent, that apparently constitutes a technical-foul offense. 

BEST ACTING IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: To the GRANGER fans. During the Spartan boys' quarterfinal loss to King's, a Spartan player took a shot that missed everything, and the King's fans immediately responded with that utterly annoying "AIR BALL, AIR BALL" chant. A few minutes later, a King's player put up an air ball, and the Granger fans responded with ... absolutely nothing. It was just another play, their team got the ball and they cheered for that. How refreshing. 

BEST SOUND MIXING: To the BELLEVUE CHRISTIAN pep band, just one of several good ensembles in the SunDome this week, but one to whose music the Academy just happened to find itself tapping its toes more than once. The BC band also won the 1A state academic title this year, proving that those kids could not only play, but also pay ... attention.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: To ONALASKA's DALTON RICHEY, knows all about changing costumes, in this case uniforms. In addition to being the league MVP in basketball -- in which he helped the Loggers win their first 25 games before a quarterfinal loss to Cascade Christian, he's also league MVP in football and was named to the all-state baseball team last year. He can wear his student garb well, too -- he has a 4.0 grade-point average.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT SUBJECT: To JOE HARRIS, the CHELAN all-stater who can be a sensational player on the court, but couldn't seem to stay there. He fouled out of two of the Goats' three games in the 2009 tournament, and then fouled out of their first two games this week -- including their much-awaited opening-night loss to Vashon, in which his game-long foul difficulty might have been the deciding factor in the game.

BEST DIRECTOR: To JERRY WILLIAMS of CASCADE CHRISTIAN, which epitomized the essence of "team." The Cougars were such a well-coached, well-drilled and cohesive unit that being smaller than every opponent simply didn't matter. If you really want a team with which to compare Cascade Christian, you have to go back to Grandview's 2002 2A champs, another team of mighty mites, or perhaps even to Cashmere's 1977 team, which didn't have a player taller than 6-foot-2 and still ranks as arguably the best 1A team of all time.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: To the boys and girls of FREEMAN, where the high school is under construction, the students have been attending class in portables and the players' "home court" for practice and games has been a community-center gym seven miles away. Talk about adapting to changing circumstances -- both Scotties teams not only made it to state, the girls also captured the championship over a Granger team as tough and gritty as themselves.

THE FIRST-EVER LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT DRIBBLIE: To JAN DOWNS, wife of BELLEVUE CHRISTIAN coach Mike Downs, mother of Vikings senior star David Downs, and a bright light in the Seattle area high school sports community. Jan was diagnosed six years ago with a virulent, incurable form of cancer, and her openness about her illness galvanized an upswelling of love and support from not only their extended Bellevue Christian family but seemingly the entire Seattle area.

At that time, David was just 12 years old and Jan was determined, as she said, "not to leave any young ones behind." This season, David is an 18-year-old senior star for the Vikings, he's the valedictorian-to-be and -- like his older brother Jeff -- he has earned a full ride to play at Seattle Pacific University. No, Jan's cancer hasn't gone away, neither has Jan. She was here this week at the SunDome, taking it all in. And for the Academy's money, that was hands-down the best thing about the whole tournament.