On the Road with RMU Basketball – Day 1: Enemy Territory

The following post is the first from RMU correspondent Valentine J. Brkich, who is embedded with the RMU Men’s Basketball team during their current road trip to Connecticut…

The players wait, focused on the objective

This is my first dispatch from the road. For the next few days I’ll be accompanying the RMU Colonials Men’s Basketball team as they invade the state of Connecticut. This may be my first trip with the team, but I’m certainly qualified for this assignment. After all, I was the third best guard on the second team of the Sts. Peter & Paul Pacers during the 1986-87 season. I also started in my high school Spanish club’s first annual picnic basketball tournament back in 1993.

So, yeah, I know my way around the hardwood.

Our journey began yesterday morning as we boarded the tiny commuter jet in Pittsburgh. The players fanned out inside the plane, their spirits high despite the vertical challenges inside the cabin. I sat in the window seat next to a man named Dirk, who, after I questioned him, claimed to be a “consultant.” Of what, he didn’t reveal. From then on, I avoided conversation, just in case Dirk – if that was his real name – was working for the other side.

After landing in Hartford, it didn’t take long to realize we were in unfamiliar territory. Riding in the charter bus, I noticed that the roads were smooth and conspicuously devoid of potholes or orange cones. A roadside sign read, “NO BREAKDOWN LANE AHEAD.” I was still trying to figure out what a “breakdown lane” was, when another sign warned that something called a “Train Station” lay just ahead. Obviously we weren’t in Kansas, i.e., Moon Township, anymore.

Coach Toole studying film

As we moved deeper and deeper into enemy territory, Colonials Head Coach Andy Toole remained composed and focused. During the bus ride from the airport, he studiously watched film of the team’s next opponent, the Pioneers of Sacred Heart. At one point, however, his focus was broken by music emitting from headphones further back in the bus. The culprit: “Ice Ice Baby”.

Discipline was swift and stern. “NO VANILLA ICE!” declared Coach Toole, setting the tone for the rest of the mission.

Before long we arrived at our destination–Sacred Heart’s William H. Pitt Center. (No relation the namesake of our beloved Pittsburgh, but a welcome omen nonetheless.) As the team prepped for practice, Coach Toole, always the recruiter, watched as a young man named Daniel showed his stuff on the court. After Daniel swished his only shot, Coach Toole swapped cell numbers with him and told the boy to give him a ring in 12 years.

Coach Toole evaluates future talent

Following an energetic practice, we checked in at the hotel and then gathered for some much-needed nurishment at a local Chili’s. It being Lent, I had the salmon.

All in all, it was a productive first day. But I know today will bring new challenges. I can only hope we’re up for it. (By we, I mean the team. I’ll just be joting notes in my little notebook like always.)

To be continued…