Mail Bag and Some Links...

First off, thanks to everyone that responded with some positive words via email today. It's great to get this thing up and running again, and feedback is wanted and always welcome from every and anyone. Know that in this new form, if you've got opinions or comments, speak up. Because I'll speak nonsense every once and a while (Like my prediction with friends last week that UW would give Notre Dame work...I came through about as well as QB Casey Paus' awkward sidearm delivery did against the Irish, 38 to 3...Dawgs seriously might win only 3 games, unreal...), so it's a much I'm put in check. Now that we have that established, let's get to a couple of your emails.

First off is my former HS teammate, Chuck "Cobra" Schelle, chimes in with some quick positive comments, and some tips on making the site better...

I'm a follower - looks like a good start. You need a Roger Haug tribute/gallery. Later.

Cobra, I'm more than happy to talk about our team from back in the day, but our old coach probably won't get much love from me. But just for you my friend, here's some pictures of Roger roaming the sidelines during some of our games, a gallery of sorts, enjoy...

Next up is new UMFK Men's Basketball Coach Eric Werntgen, who brings some questions to the table:

I just checked out your site and ignorant as we are up here in "Arctic Maine" I was wondering what it is all about. Also wondering if you've laced em up again or hopefully not hung em up.

Definitely a couple of good questions. First off, this site is basically a place for me to write about not only prep, college, and NBA basketball, but anything else that I may consider relevant for conversation. For all my fellas up in Northern Maine checking this out, I used to run a website that was the equivalent of MBR.org for the Washington basketball scene. Now it's going to be more of a journal where I'll write about whatever whenever. Player Q&A's, season previews, opinion pieces...you'll get all of that. But I'll also write personal stuff from experiences I've had and will have (For instance, I'm putting together something right now about our team's trip to play UPEI in Prince Edward Island, Canada back in December of '02, and the differing individual dynamics that came together for two days of perfect basketball against one of the top teams in Canada...what an awesome experience that was. That should be done real soon). So expect a little bit of everything. As for my hoop career, I'm now in training for the Everett High Alumni tourney that takes place on New Year's Eve, and I'm getting ready for that by playing pick up ball with 30 and 40 year old ballers at the YMCA. So yeah, I won't be heading overseas to play any time soon. (Quick plug for the UMFK hoop squad, they're gonna be real this year. I'll be plugging in a permanent link to them on the site real soon, as well as some other sites I think y'all might find relevant. But in the meanwhile, don't sleep on Bartas, Alekhine, Chad, Coop, and the rest of the Bengal crew up in the Fort,: they'll be infected with March Madness come spring.)

Our last email comes from my boy Alonzo in Baltimore (a native of Tacoma), a friend and an absolute loyalist to the old FadeawayJ:

Whassup man? Glad to see you're planning on coming back to covering the WA hoop scene. It's been pretty much an uncovered subject since you stopped, and Bill moved. (Ed: Bill Nance ran TheFinalScore.tv, and most recently, my old site on The Insiders network. About as solid as they come, Bill recently moved back to Texas: he will be missed.) We need someone like you to actually let people know that we've got MAD talent up in the Northwest. People are actually starting to take notice, and schools from all over the country are beginning to really recruit back home. But with someone covering it the way you did, it could be that much better.

Yeah man, people are starting to take notice, and it's about time! With numerous NW ballers doin' their thing in the league (Jason Terry, Jamal Crawford, Doug Christie, etc.), you'd think the rest of the country would stop sleepin' on us. But I think you're right, people are starting to wake up to the prep talent nestled up in our neck of the woods. Roosevelt's SR SG Marcus Williams is considered by many a top 20 prospect nationally, and is already orally committed to Arizona. Seattle Prep SR Swingman Martell Webster, equipped with a lethal jumper, solid fundamentals and ridiculous athletic ability, has some wondering if he can't decide between UW and North Carolina, he might bolt for the League and be a legitimate lottery pick. Don't forget Snohomish's Jon Brockman, who's currently deciding if it's gonna be Duke or UW. These are just a couple of the headliners of Washington State's Class of '05, considered by many to be the state's strongest ever. Tomorrow we'll talk more in depth about these guys and more. But a more important subject to me, and I'll give my thoughts on this, is whether or not UW's Lorenzo Romar will be able to land some of these guys. The Dawgs have more often than not missed out on the state's top talent over the past decade or so, but it looks like Ro' may be changing the tide. Like I said, more on that tomorrow, now let's get to some links...

****When working at the Events Center, I used to shield my CPU screen at times, because I didn't want anyone to see I was playing this. If you can break 28, all I can say is "TIGER WOODS Y'ALL!!!". By the way, I only played on lunch breaks, so don't let the fact you can't beat my score get you fired or anything...it's not worth it:)

****Interesting story from ESPN's Andy Katz on the Huskies and Ducks. Pac 10 football might be horrendous, but these two squads should represent the league well nationally. We just talked about Washington players getting no love, but Nate Robinson, Aaron Brooks, and Brandon Roy hold it down in this piece.

****Kind of ridiculous, but why not start thinking 2005 NBA Draft? Seriously, can I get one of my boys from UMFK to declare for the draft just to see their name posted on ESPN.com for being draft eligible...how unbelievably funny would that be???
Until tomorrow...

Thoughts or questions? Hit me off at
bthompson78@hotmail.com

Different, But Possibly Better...

How can't Nate get this party started? We'll get Mr. Robinson for a Q&A sometime in the next few months...in the meanwhile, enjoy this...


OK, this may not be like the old FadeawayJ, but I think I might enjoy just writing about stuff that's relavant to me. An open diary of sorts, I guess:) It will be basketball, it will be pop culture, it will be Lilli and Meeks...shoot, sometimes it'll probably be about y'all, too! So expect to hear about all that and then some.

For people who dug the old FadeawayJ and wondered what happened to the site, let me give you a brief summary of what my life has been like since I went off line in August of 2002 (well, we'll see how brief I can keep it:). That August, I became engaged to Mariko, who is now my beautiful wife of just over a year (Sept 14th was our one year anniversary). Right around that time, I decided I wanted to go back to school and pursue not only my Bachelor's in English, but my dream of once again lacing 'em up and playing college ball once more. So of course, I decided that the easiest way to go about doing this was to pack up and move to...Maine. Yup, never was one to make the simple decision. I know Meeks thought I was crazy, but I had had previous conversations with Coach Graffam at the University of Maine Fort Kent (A place that is and will be entitled to many posts in the future, trust me on that!), and he said he'd hold a spot on his squad for me. So probably wondering what she had gotten herself into, Mariko and I packed up and trekked over 3,000 miles to a new world that would be our home for the next year.

All in all, I gotta say I loved my college experience at UMFK. I met so many amazing people, heads that I know I'll be long distant friends with the rest of my life (again, I know I'll write much more about all of them soon). I got back on track academically, and playing organized ball brought me to a place where I enjoyed and appreciated the game as I never had before. But there was a definete need for both Mariko and I to be closer to the Pacific Northwest...whether it was missing our respective families, not being able to put up with another Arctic Maine winter, or a combination of both. And while we thought our time in Maine would be a two year commitment, turns out a certain little someone gave us a sure fired reason to pack up and head back west.


The little angel in my life:)


Yup, I now have not only an amazing wife, but a beautiful daughter, as well! Lilli was born last November 21st, and man, what a blessing she is. I can't begin to put into words the joy that comes with being a parent (and again, I'll go in depth on that later, too:), it's the biggest and best responsibility that's ever been in front of me. Just waking up everyday to her poking me in the back (she sleeps with us)...regardless of how early it is, just to see her smiling over my way...my day couldn't get off to a better start. Again, how blessed am I!

So much for a quick summary...I'll try to wrap this up as quick as possible. I've spent most of the last year working as the Group Sales Coordinator at the Everett Events Center, the new sports arena in my hometown. It was a great job, as I got to see every single show that came through the Center and meet some really cool entertainers (The Harlem Globetrotters, rap and R&B artists like Master P, Jagged Edge, Ying Yang Twins, etc.). But I resigned about a month ago, deciding that it's about time I finally finish up my "college experience" (those of you that know about my 9 year plan, this is where you can shake your head and laugh at me a little:). So I've only got a little over a year to bang out, and I'm back in the mix at Everett Community College this fall, taking two classed to finish up my two year transfer degree. For those of you living outside of Washington state, I'll briefly explain that even though I have right around 125 to 130 credits (180 credits to graduate on the quarter system), in state universities won't except all your transfer credits unless you have a two year transfer degree. So that's what I'm doing; once I bang out two classes this fall, I'll get that degree and start an Independant Learning program at either Western Washington U. or Eastern Washington U. in January. Again, not the conventional route for the average, sane person, but I'm just doin' what I gotta do. The whole squirrel tryin' to get a nut thing, I suppose...

Anyways, I'm back in some capacity writing about hoops and other stuff, so if y'all are so inclined as to bookmark this page and check it out from time to time, I'll try to give you my opinions. Like I said, pretty much an complete 180 from the old FadeawayJ, but hopefully you'll jump on like you may have done before. Feel free to send me some feedback: anything is free game (For my boy Ian up in Halifax, how 'bout them Knicks, family? J Crawford is gonna be nice at MSG...) Holla back everyone, until tomorrow...