Fans refresh and pause

It’s a stretch to say that the World Cup brought Hoopfest to a standstill. Maybe a slight pause.

But while downtown eateries and saloons normally fill up around noon on a Hoopfest Saturday, they were a little extra jammed this year with televisions tuned to the knockout-round match between United States and Ghana.

And when America’s Landon Donovan knotted the game at 1-1 with a penalty kick, the roar inside rivaled any outside for a long two-pointer to end a bracket game.

“We might as well get two more beers,” said Zach Arthur of Spokane to a friend seated at the bar at Hills’ Restaurant and Lounge. “We’re only in the 67th minute.”

Arthur had a minor dilemma. He was supposed to go watch another friend’s next game, but was reluctant to leave the drama of the soccer match.

“He tried to get me to be on his team because he didn’t think the other guys were going to show,” Arthur explained. “I told him, ‘I can’t do it.’ I turned 21 Monday. I was out until 3 a.m. Friday night and all day today. Plus, the U.S. vs. Ghana is much more important.

“This only happens every four years and you never know when we might be in it again. He’ll be in Hoopfest again next year.”

Subtle homage

Former Gonzaga University players Carl Crider, Jeremy Eaton and Ryan Floyd are once again teamed up in the elite division, this time under the name Take the Rim Out.

“It’s a Fitzism,” Floyd explained.

All three were Bulldogs back in 1997 on the last team of former coach Dan Fitzgerald, who died earlier this year of a suspected heart attack.

“We’d be shooting free throws in practice,” Floyd remembered, “and he’d be yelling, ‘Take the rim out!’ Finally I said, ‘Coach, what does that even mean?’ He said, ‘It means stop hitting the damned rim.’ Oh, OK. So it’s our little tribute.”

Lady’s on the tramp

Leah Gerber of Waterville stands maybe 5-foot-5, but she can say she dunked at Hoopfest. She may not tell anyone it was with the help of Slamball’s springy trampolines.

“It’s harder than it looks,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to get it up there, but it was amazing.”

After some years of coaxing by Hoopfest organizers, Slamball creator Mason Gordon brought his invention – you may have seen the full-contact games on Spike TV – to town with a short-court exhibition set up outside Boo Radley’s, where all-comers are schooled in the fundamentals before being allowed to take a crack at dunking. He’s also eying potential players for a fifth Slamball season.

“We’re looking for specific set of skills, basketball and football techniques, blending those things with superior body control and a no-fear kind of attitude borrowed from action sports like skateboarding and BMX,” said Gordon. “You could say we’re to basketball and football what UFC is to boxing.”

Gordon said the plan is to bring the full-court set-up to Hoopfest in 2011 and stage games.

“Spokane will get a kick out of that,” he said. “We’re hoping to be Center Court 1A.”

Fashion update

For the team playing in sport coats and ties, the 80-degree temperatures made it a long day. But Da Bus Drivers, playing in a high school division in front of Sterling Savings, did their formalwear last year – tuxedo vests – and decided this was the year to go cool and casual.

Well, casual, anyway.

A trip to Value Village took care of it all. A pair of green striped shorts that looked suspiciously like boxers. Garishly mismatched socks – some with the toes cut out and worn over the elbow as compression sleeves. And a collection of some of the worst looking sport shirts ever, one bringing to mind the cheesy graphics from the “Saved by the Bell” intro.

“We’re really lucky we found them,” said Colin Ayers.

The total tab?

“About 10 bucks,” said Keegan Scott.

“No, each shirt was about five,” Ayers corrected.

“It’s not just how you play,” offered Tygr Thies. “You have to look good.”

Elite updates

There were few twists in the elite-bracket plotlines Saturday.

Acme Concrete Paving, featuring Hollie Tyler and Julie Deming off last year’s championship EXLG team, lost its first game in one of the women’s brackets, but stayed alive with a pair of loser-out victories. On the men’s side, over-6-feet defending champs Tonicx, with ex-Zag David Pendergraft and former Ferris star Erik Benzel, advanced with two wins, as did three-time defending 6-and-under champions Associated Messenger.

Two teams of former Eastern Washington men’s players were also unscathed – Love the Donnerberg, with recently graduated Matt Brunell, Mark Dunn and Brandon Moore, and Accent Insurance, featuring Brendon Merritt, who played on EWU’s NCAA tournament team of 2004.