Dishing It Out Center Court Announcers Turn Microphones Into Meals

They’re a noble lot, those selfless men behind the Center Court microphones, each driven by the humanitarian aim of reuniting wayward children with frantic parents.

Meaning one should consider it a deserving bonus when the expansive DJ nick-named “Bull” is united with another plateful of gyros. No harm, no foul.

“Probably the biggest thing that really stands out that’s not a part of what we’re supposed to be doing, but we do it anyway because it gets us free food, is announcing specials for the restaurants in the food court,” Hoopfest DJ Jeff “Bull” Brownlee is saying. “It’s free food, we enjoy the free food, so it’s nice to have.

“We’ve gotten Domino’s pizza, we’ve gotten Subway sandwiches, we’ve gotten gyros from Azar’s. It’s nice.”

Of course, the gift of grub isn’t the only perk. Bull, who can be heard weekday afternoons with Dave Spencer on AM 970 The Score, enjoys helping parents find their kids - he and his fellow Hoopfest DJs made an estimated 200 such announcements during the two-day tournament.

The weirdest case? Perhaps you heard about the mother looking for her 6-week-old.

“I don’t know if it was the weirdest, but I’d probably say the most disturbing one,” Brownlee said. “It’s scary to me that you would lose your 6-week-old baby.”

Beyond the teary-eyed reunions and free food, there are plenty of fadeaway jumpers and high-arching finger-rolls.

“I get to enjoy watching exciting basketball, the slam dunk contest - it’s pretty exciting stuff,” Brownlee added.

Did someone mention basketball? Ah, Bull with another nice dish.

No offense or anything

The Hoopfest Name Police must have been at the doughnut shop when Brian Gongaware’s team entry came in.

Would you believe Nine Inch Males?

“It’s a takeoff on the band Nine Inch Nails,” protested the Ferris High School graduate, who was competing in the men’s 18-24 division.

It may also have been the best double entendre in Hoopfest history.

“It was actually nothing derogatory,” he insisted, laughing. “You could take it that way, but it wasn’t meant to be that way. I was just looking at the record album and there it was.”

Open Division roundup

With Todd Doolittle diving into and even under the courtside media trailer after loose balls, and with Shann Ferch ripping the net with jumpers launched from somewhere approaching Airway Heights, the NBC Thunder Old Boys won the men’s title with a 20-19 victory over Rock N Fire.

The game was tied 15-15, but Ferch scored on a spinning finger-roll and Jose Hernandez added three free throws as NBC pulled away. Ferch, a 29-year-old professor at Gonzaga, scored 11 of his team’s 20 points, including six on three long 2-point baskets.

His free throw broke a 19-19 tie.

“We got a good group of guys to play with and played hard and this is what happens,” said Doolittle, 25. “It’s great that we got Shann, too. Shann can take over a game.”

Tony Beo, formerly of Pacific University and Pasco High School, led Rock N Fire with 10 points. Chris Winkler, who played at Washington State in the 1980s, added four.

Chris Tufenkjian, a 22-year-old groundskeeper at the Oakland A’s spring-training facility in Phoenix, lifted the Arizona Express to the men’s 6-foot and under title. His driving jumper, lofted under duress, gave the Express a 20-19 victory over Yak Em.

“There’s the money man right here, it’s Chris, nothing but money,” beamed Ron Katich, a pint-sized point guard and Tufenkjian’s thankful teammate.

Tufenkjian, Katich and Brian Davis - all from the Phoenix area - played without a substitute. Chad Mulholland, groundskeeper for the Spokane Indians, played host but no hoops.

They sat out last year’s Hoopfest for a variety of reasons - injuries here, a pregnancy there - but former University of Montana star Marti Leibenguth and her Reds Bar Missoula teammates put in double duty in winning the women’s Open Division championship.

Given two games to get one win against Shannon Kelly and the Emerald City Ballers, Leibenguth and friends took the long route, winning the second 20-12.

“There was a heckuva lot of talent this year,” said Leibenguth, who teamed with Lisa Tinkle, Jeanne McNulty and Ann Lake-Rausch.

All four played at Montana, and three still live in the state. Only Tinkle, whose husband plays professionally in Spain, spends most of her time elsewhere.

Leibenguth, a math teacher and coach at Missoula’s Big Sky High School, finished her college career in 1988.

“I play when I can, but not very often - not as much as I’d like to,” she said.

They said it

Overheard at Court 28, on the Post Street Bridge.

Player, waiting for his game: “Look at our court monitor. He’s so hungover, he doesn’t know where he is. Hey, Nate! Where’s your socks, buddy?”

Nate: “I forgot to put them on. I got up about 20 minutes before I had to be here.”

All downhill from here

They can’t match the novelty of balls sailing into the Spokane River from the games taking place on the bridge, but the courts located in the parking lot across from Washington Water Power required their own set of adjustments.

The pavement sloped dramatically from basket to take-back line, making for a sort of reverse driveway effect.

It was hardly enough to phase 13-year-old Sarah Chisholm, however.

“The 3-point line seems a lot closer - it’s a lot easier to make,” she noted, and suddenly it all made sense to Don Chisholm, her father and coach.

“That’s why you took so many?” he joked.

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