SSL Basketball and Trouble on Paradise Drive

There seems to be more parity in the league this year than the last few. Tehachapi and Taft remain unbeaten, but perilously so. Wasco was pretty close to both of them and Shafter was within a couple of possessions with Taft until the they had to start fouling. Tehachapi has only played one league game due to weather. Arvin isn't going to contend for the league title, but wins against South and Wasco show that they can be a dangerous team.

Which brings us to Bakersfield Christian. Shafter handed them their first SSL loss in more than two years on their home court. Not a pretty scene. The BCHS Athletic Director was so upset that he fired the football coach and rehired the old coach (himself). Actually he had other reasons, including the football team's losing record. It does make you wonder if basketball coach Pete Rivera is feeling some pressure to stop losing to "outlying area" schools. Or maybe it triggered some swagger-nostalgia - "Remember when we used to beat Arvin in the first quarter and then just mess around and try to dunk the rest of the game?" Whatever the wind beneath their wings, those Eagles were flying high against Arvin, beating the bears 79-43.

While we are on the topic of coaching drama ... This is from a commenter on Zach Ewing's blog-

I just got home from the Centennial-Frontier Basketball game. I missed almost all of it because I had to work tonight at the Snack-Bar, blah blah blah, but I was catching the last minute or so, which was a nail biter. Packed stands, everyone on their feet, chants started, the band playing "Don't Stop Believin'", you gotta love it.. But, the real thing we should all take concern to was after the game - a huuuuge dispute between the coaches.

Apparently Frontier Coach Pierce said something to the young Centennial Coach (Alex Lee), something about "You're lucky..." something else. But, it pissed him off, and Pierce walked off. I heard a storm of curse words and the Centennial Coach went bizurk. He was screaming "That is such BS", and more to come that isn't so PG-13. But, he got in our Athletic Director's face about what he said, and some others on the office. I was shocked, but you gotta love a coach who has so much emotion about his own team, but something really must have ticked him off. I didn't want to ease-drop. Once he raged, he ran off the court, grabbing his stuff immediately, and ran into the weight-room being followed by his star Cody Kessler. His wife was yelling quite loud for him to calm down.

Zach talked to Pierce later and said that the story was "overblown" by the commenter.

Pierce says he did say something to Lee, an old friend, in the handshake line after the game in regards to Cody Kessler, who scored 30 more points in the 80-73 victory. According to Pierce, he said, "Hey, I wish I had a 40-point-a-game scorer," which he admits was a poor choice of words. He was trying to say, "Hey, Cody's a great player" not "You only won because of Cody." Pierce, in fact, said he thinks Lee is a better coach than he is. He also said the two talked afterwards, quickly reconciled and are having a barbecue this weekend.

Well, maybe that part was overblown, but the part of the story that I thought was interesting was where Alex Lee is storming around swearing at people after he won the game. His wife trying to calm him down? That is funny stuff.

Alex Lee and Jeremy Pierce both played for Centennial in the late 1990s. I am sure they are good friends, but its not like they took out an ad in the basketball program saying that they were "destined" to play together.