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I remember being at some random playground hoops court or stuffy gym playing pick-up with the fellas from the age of eight to 18.
Guys you didn’t know would walk in. You would give them a quick glance, sizing them up, assessing whether they could play. Occasionally some guy would arrive with some goofy black glasses and your immediate reaction was “There’s no way that guy can play.” For no reason other than this shallow reasoning, that if the guy doesn’t care enough to look cool coming in to play pickup ball, how could he be good enough to deal on you on the court?
If back in those days a guy came into the gym looking like Robbie Avila, I would have figured he didn’t have much game.
But if it was Robbie Avila, I would have been so far wrong and come to find out his glasses were a con job to get me to think he couldn’t play so when he got on the court and started swishing three balls, driving by me to the basket, and dropping bounce passes to teammates for uncontested layups my embarrassment and shame would have been especially painful and made me feel superficial and sheepish.
What a wonderful time to discover this guy who is Ieading Indiana State to the March Madness tournament averaging 16 points per game, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. He’s from the same school in Terra Haute as Larry Bird played for and led that team to the national title game. Amazing – I thought there would only be one guy from there we would ever care about playing basketball.
Now there are two.
This story starts with the goggles and ends with the goggles. And everything in between is about the goggles. For games, the team gives up free goggles to kids who attend. Looking nerdy is in vogue.
You immediately underestimate the guy just by his looks alone, and you find out how wrong you were. He’s being called the Baby Joker for his ability to consistently shoot, pass, and rebound the way Nikola Jokic does night in and night out in the NBA. Plus he’s 6 foot 10, nearly as big as the original Joker and every bit as low a leaper.
This guy’s a treat, freshness, an original. When was the last time you got excited about a guy entering the March Madness tourney wearing black-rimmed goggles? The answer is never.
Until now.
Robbie Avila, who dominated in high school in the Chicago area, is now leading his college team to the greatest show on Earth, and he’s going to be one of the main characters.
College basketball, so messed up by NIL money and one-and-done-ness, now has a storyline featuring a compelling character who shows up wearing goggles to play basketball.
He is the essence of what March Madness is about. A guy from a remote place who can play hoops who doesn’t care what you think of his goggles, who is winning, is in hot pursuit of one shining moment and is someone most of America has never heard of.
Until now.
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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