Findale Recreational Basketball: An Oral History

Part 1: Findale

During the 2018 season of the Findale Summer Recreation Basketball an incident occurred that shook the entire town, led to multiple lawsuits and ultimately lead to the Mayor cleaning house and firing the entire recreation department. As the investigation of the incident shed light on more of the happenings of what went on that summer. It became clearer and clearer that the structure of league and the lack of supervision for the volunteers allowed them to run unabated as they mocked children, ran a low budget point shaving scheme and cheated to win games in a "just for fun" youth basketball league. In order to understand fully what allowed these things to happen, first a full understanding of the environment of the town and the setup of the league that lulled the community into a false sense of security.

Jett Cordova, Hurricanes Coach, 19: Findale. What a place. I'm pretty sure I could walk around with my social security card and a bag of diamonds announcing it with a megaphone and the only thing that would happen is people complimenting me on my wealth and knowing my identity.

Davy Hatch, Tigers Coach, 21: I think someone jay-walked once. It was a front page story for the next week. I would say it was a slow news week, but it was literally the only crime here since, I don't know, its inception?

Scott Dorchester, League Organizer, 27: The city of Findale has a population of about twenty-five thousand people. The majority of the population is Caucasian but there is a rising Indian population. And there are beautiful parks all over the area. The town's slogan is literally "The grass is always greener here."

Flex, Bulls Coach, 22: It's like Eagleton from Parks and Rec except we don't go broke in season six because we ran out of ideas.

Scott Dorchester: But seriously, the parks are amazing here. Like I know Central Park is probably the most iconic park in America but West Lake Pond Park off Spots Road is America's hidden gem.

Billy Taylor, Bloodthirst Coach, 23: Did Scott gush about the parks during his interview? I bet he did. Just nod if he did. Come on. Yes! I knew it. I would love to look at WLP (West Lake Pond Park) through whatever drunken haze that he does. The place is a dumpster. Like it is pure garbage.

Chelsey Oakley, Falcons Coach, 21: I hate WLP. It just isn't my favorite place.

Tara Marcus, Gamblers Coach, 19: The park isn't special, nothing about this town is special. Jesus Christ, I sound like I'm in Simple Plan. Sure it's nice but its nice for, like, a middle-aged family with one spoiled brat. Really the only thing I did during high school was get drunk or high in the woods behind the Applebee's until that widow bitch in the house nearby called the cops on us.

Stan Sykes, Cuddlebunnies Coach, 19: Dear Lord this place is boring.The only thing to do is hit up Jett Cordova, buy some weed and smoke it in the woods until Tara screams "Livin' on a Prayer" at the top of her lungs and we have to make a run for it. Really sobers you up.

Jett Cordova: No comment.

The 2018 season was the final step in a change that Findale Basketball Association was making to phase out parent coaches that tended to cause more problems when it came to playing time, verbally (and sometimes physically) abusing referees and understanding that the games were for fun and the children's enjoyment of the game. It was the first season that none of the coaches were parents.

Scott Dorchester: The Findale Basketball Association is run by employees of the township recreation department and volunteer coaches. However, ever since we abandoned asking the parents to coach after what most people refer to as the "Bobby Knight" incident, my boss and I agreed it was best to seek an alternative to the parents, thus we moved to recruiting high school and college-aged coaches to mixed results.

Billy Taylor: Oh my God. The Bobby Knight incident was the craziest shit I have seen since Britney Spears melted down and shaved her head.

Scott Dorchester: As a cost-cutting move, the recreation department does not hire certified referees to officiate the games. Instead, we use basketball players who know the rules of the game. This way we can pay them 15 dollars a game instead of 35. It allows us to keep the prices of the league down.

Billy Taylor: I'm pretty sure Scott took the difference in the rates of experienced refs versus amateur ones and pocketed the money.

Scott Dorchester: Anyway, we had a parent four years ago, Chester Wilson, who got worked up over a series of missed calls that he shoved a parent out of a chair the parent was sitting in and hurled it over at one of the refs and yelled "Can you see the fucking contact now you junior college reject?"

Billy Taylor: Have you ever seen those moments in comedy movies where a baby starts crying after the main character does something? I thought that was just a movie thing. Turns out, it also happened when a divorced father tries to coach basketball to reconnect with his son and steals a move from the most iconic coach ever.

Miles Eckerl, Knights Coach, 17: He was my coach that year, I'm surprised it took him to the fifth game to snap. Dude was a ticking time bomb of guilt, anger with a side of bad parenting. He tried to connect to his son by taking my playing time away. I'm glad he got arrested last year.

Billy Taylor: You know when a minor league baseball coach melts down and they take home plate and cover it in dirt of just pull it from the ground and take it with them and they play that shit over and over again on Sportscenter? If someone managed to record it, it would be the most watched thing on Youtube. He went after the ref, who was seventeen! Seventeen and Wilson tried assaulting him. He then managed to key three cars in the parking lot because he didn't know which one was the kid's. The cops got there fast. I mean, what else do they have to do in Findale?

Scott Dorchester: Naturally, after that there was a clear need to change things up. So, we over-corrected. At that time, Billy Taylor was 18 and was on his second year of coaching in the league. He was full of energy and didn't complain about anything. He was the perfect coach for a rec league so we thought all young coaches would make sure something like the Chester Wilson incident never happened again. Obviously, that was not the case, if it was, we would not be sitting here.

Jett Cordova: I think I remember my mom saying that he got arrested for something bad. But she would never give me the details.