Our noon basketball games made it into the news again, this time in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last Saturday:

After starring at UMass, Skinner played in the ABA, NBA and overseas from 1974-81. He was a teammate and roommate of Julius Erving on the New York Nets. Now 52, Skinner’s playing style and competitiveness are still evident in the weekday noon pickup games he plays in against assorted BC professors, administrators, the stray assistant football coach and gym rats.

“Al plays like it’s the NBA Finals, and he’s behind,” said Bill Toof, 59, the ex-BC ski coach now handling the football team’s game analysis operation. “Al doesn’t like to lose. One day I told our athletic director, ‘Hey, when are we going to get a basketball coach? Al can’t be a basketball coach. He’s not a big enough [jerk].’ Other [coaches] were full of themselves, impressed with themselves. Al is a genuinely nice man who is a competitor — a fierce competitor.”

Once again, they omitted the category of “grad student set shooters” from the list of Coach’s opponents. What’s a guy got to do to get a little respect around here?