----------------MY 15 SECONDS-----------------

We have all had our 15 seconds of fame in varying degrees. Mine came in my senior year at good old NTHS. I was a benchwarmer on the basketball team, usually playing in the games that were blowouts whether we were up or down. Coach Fabri had his '40s style pick and roll offenses for us to blindly perform never allowing any room for individuality or inventiveness. Well we were playing the defending Suburban League Champs, Evanston, and our rock solid starting offense was sputtering. Evanston was not the team from the year before losing 2 of their big players. Coach looks down the bench and says "Andy, go and check in". I practically trip over my feet rushing to the scorers table worrying that the coach might change his mind and also wishing he would change his mind. We set up in our usual cookie cutter offense and one play has me setting up at the freethrow line and receiving the ball from a guard. Then both guards are supposed to run past me trying to lose their defenders on picks. If they aren't open for a pass I am supposed to pass the ball back out and we do another basic setup. Well I thought "this is my chance to break the mold" so I turned quickly and drove to the basket. I could dunk back then and that would've been a real crowd pleaser but I played it safe and laid it in. The move still was appreciated by our loyal Trojan rooters. Mind you this was the 2nd quarter of the game. I went on the score 3 more baskets and 2 freethrows for a total of 10 points in 1 quarter. We went on to win and Monday morning the sports reporter on our morning show heard in all of the rooms mentioned my name and I was so proud in front of all my homeroom classmates. After that game I got more playing time but that was my night.