Disabato: Never underestimate your opponent
By Pat Disabato pdisabato@southtownstar.com November 25, 2011 6:46PM
Homewood-Flossmoor’s Tim Williams and SouthtownStar sports writer Pat Disabato play a game of H-O-R-S-E. | Joseph P. Meier~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: December 28, 2011 8:10AM
The look on Tim Williams’ face said it all. Equal parts disbelief, embarrassment, while still producing a thousand-watt grin.
“I’m going to get teased pretty bad at school,” he conceded.
Williams, a 6-foot-7, 205-pound forward at Homewood-Flossmoor, accepted an invitation by yours truly to play a game of H-O-R-S-E on Nov. 20 after the SouthtownStar completed its winter sports photo day at Rich South.
If you’re not familiar with the game, it consists of players taking turns attempting to duplicate successful shots. One player makes a shot, the other has to make the same shot. If the second player fails to do so, he’s stuck with a letter of the word H-O-R-S-E. The first player to receive all five letters loses.
Did I mention Williams is a potential Division I college basketball player?
Additionally, was it divulged that I wore jeans and a thermal shirt, with a pair of flimsy Jack Purcells? Or that Williams, on the other hand, was in game mode, donning his H-F uniform and a pair of slick hoops shoes?
Just trying to paint an accurate picture, folks.
You’ve probably figured out by now that Williams lost to me.
So you’re wondering: How does a fit-as-a-fiddle 18-year-old star player of the No. 1 team in the Southland lose a game of H-O-R-S-E to a middle-aged has-been who never played high school hoops?
Simple.
It’s called underestimating your opponent.
Which was the purpose of my invitation to Williams — to show high school athletes the importance of respecting your opponent — no matter the age, gender, height, weight or dress attire.
Did I really think I could beat him?
No. But I’ve played enough hoops in my day that I felt fairly confident if I could get hot with the jumper, it would be competitive. And as a member of the “old school” generation, I did have a few trick shots up my sleeve.
Now, if we would have agreed to play a game of one-on-one up to 11, Tim would beat me 11-0 99 out of 100 times.
There was one stipulation to our game of H-O-R-S-E: no dunking. “Air Disabato” I am not.
Things started out just fine for Tim. He hit a long jumper. I missed.
Uh-oh.
But then I got hot and buried a few jumpers. Tim responded with a few clunkers.
I then brought out my money move: banking the ball off the right side of the backboard, then catching it mid-air on the left side and draining the shot mid-air.
The next thing you know, the sportswriter — all 6-foot of him — is beating the stud hoops player H-O-R-S to H-O.
Was that the Fat Lady singing, Tim?
Did I mention that Tim’s father videotaped the match? And that the entire SouthtownStar sports department was in attendance and rooting against me?
Just want to make sure I’m being thorough.
That reminds me. My boss, Phil Arvia, wagered a soft drink that I couldn’t stick Tim with two letters. You know, that I would lose H-O-R-S-E to ‘H.’
I’ll take a Coke, boss man.
To Tim’s credit, he rallied, draining a jumper from beyond the top of the key that I air-balled. He hit another jumper that I misfired on.
Just like that, it was all tied at H-O-R-S.
We both missed potential clinching shots twice before I stepped up and sank an 18-foot jumper.
Money.
The pressure was on Tim who, did I mention, passed for more than 4,500 yards the past two seasons as H-F’s quarterback?
His shot was off the mark, making it official: The 45-year-old, in jeans and a thermal shirt, took down the senior.
“Now that you said you’re 45, it’s kind of embarrassing,” said Tim, a great sport who handled the defeat with class. “I have to get back into the gym and work on my game. I guess it’s better to lose to a sports writer than some bum I didn’t respect.”
I asked Tim to come clean. Did he underestimate me?
“Yeah, I was thinking no way you were going to make a shot,” he said. “But you can’t judge a book by its cover.”
Exactly.
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