Yale R. Jaffe - Advantage Disadvantage

Advantage Disadvantage

Yale R Jaffe

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2008 Yale RJaffe

Smashwords Edition, LicenseNotes

This ebook is licensed for yourpersonal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or givenaway to other people. If you would like to share this book withanother person, please purchase an additional copy for each personyou share it with. If youre reading this book and did not purchaseit, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you shouldreturn to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you forrespecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

For Sue.

For Bryan and Jason.

In loving memory of Shirley and Aaron.

Acknowledgements

This book is entirely and completely a work offiction. Any references within this novel to actual people in realor fictional places are coincidental and not intended to implyactual events or participation in such events. Descriptions ofbuildings, parks, schools and other places have been modified infictional ways. Organizations, companies, and governmental agenciesare fictional or attributed with fictional characteristics. Theaccuracy of all referenced locations has also been modified.

I want to thank a few of the many real people whosupported me in the development of this book, which has truly beena project of much joy and satisfaction:

First, my wife Sue, who has occasionally questionedthe sanity of my hobby of basketball officiating, nonetheless hasbeen terrific in supporting the necessary commitments thatrefereeing demands of me.

Next, a sincere thank you goes out to my sons Bryanand Jason, who, over the years, patiently listened (and pretendedto be interested) to my repetitious recanting of basketballexperiences. They were essential to this book with their criticalsuggestions. They have given me so much pleasure, as they havegrown into incredibly bright, engaging, and independent youngmen.

To my brother Austin, who I have always looked up tobecause of his brilliant mind he is a trailblazer, a rock solidsupport system, and an inspiring friend; his encouragement for thisproject was predictably outstanding.

To Jason and Susie C., whose carefully crafted buthonest critiques, made this better with each revision. They put inhuge, unselfish efforts to assist with both significant and minordetails. In doing so, they improved this novel tremendously.

To my lifelong friend, Lee, for providing directinspiration for some of the anecdotes told within this novel, andfor his words of encouragement during a long eight-hour car ride,which got this project moving. Everyone should be lucky enough tohave an unconditional friend as Lee has been to me.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the thousands ofbasketball referees, coaches, players, and administrators whom Ihave had the privilege of being around in my own officiatingcareer. Most of these people are pure in intention and heroic inaction, unlike some of the people depicted herein.

Table of Contents

Chapter One. Cook County Lockup

Chapter Two. The Imaris

Chapter Three. The Cousins

Chapter Four. Bobby G.s NAU Connection

Chapter Five. Amateur Beginnings

Chapter Six. What a Battle!

Chapter Seven. The Legal Strategy

Chapter Eight. Fixing Jamals Game

Chapter Nine. The Whistle Blower

Chapter Ten. St. Marlins High School

Chapter Eleven. The Windy City Daily

Chapter Twelve. A Cub Reporter Is Born

Chapter Thirteen. St. Marlins Locker Room

Chapter Fourteen. The East End High School Coach

Chapter Fifteen. Summer Strategy

Chapter Sixteen. Star Gazing

Chapter Seventeen. Marriage on the Rocks

Chapter Eighteen. A Mothers Concerns

Chapter Nineteen. Jamals Girlfriend

Chapter Twenty. The Boosters Shot

Chapter Twenty-one. Bobby G.s Plan

Chapter Twenty-two. Windy City Dailys Board ofDirectors

Chapter Twenty-three. Love is in the Air(ball)

Chapter Twenty-four. Television News

Chapter Twenty-five. The Bridge

Chapter Twenty-six. O Captain My Captain

Chapter Twenty-seven. My Sons Playing Time

Chapter Twenty-eight. In Search of a Bench Coach

Chapter Twenty-nine. The Referees Finest Season

Chapter Thirty. Big Deception, Higher Ranking

Chapter Thirty-one. The Regional System

Chapter Thirty-two. William Rechters PlayoffAssignments

Chapter Thirty-three. Super (Sectional) BettingAction

Chapter Thirty-four. Pregame at the UnitedCenter

Chapter Thirty-five. It is Just A Game A SuperSectional Game

Chapter Thirty-six. For Mutual Benefit

Chapter Thirty-seven. The Gem of South Chicago

Chapter Thirty-eight. Where Have You Been?

Chapter Thirty-nine. Information, Please

Chapter Forty. Presenting to the Board ofDirectors

Chapter One. Cook County Lockup

Sweat poured down Marcus Imaris face the entireride from OHare Airport to the Cook County lockup on Chicagossouth side. Stuffed into the back of a beat up squad car with tighthandcuffs, he could not wipe off his face. He was embarrassed andscared about what was to happen. Cook County lockup was a god-awfulplace. Marcus grimaced in the back seat as the car returned fromthe airport into the city. His disposition became worse as his twoescorts joked and laughed in the front seat. The only questionthey asked Marcus was whether he was ready to talk about hisalleged crime. He found no comfort in their sarcastic conversation.His heart was racing. Marcus never experienced an arrest before.His hands were throbbing from the painfully tight handcuffs. Herecognized the blighted neighborhood near 26th andCalifornia. They were taking him to be booked. The patrol car drovearound to the back dock where several cops were unloading similarlybound, angry men and women. He saw the dedication plaque on thecornerstone, which read, Established 1928. Huge, forebodingcinder blocks stained with years of iodized rust created a grittyorange and red pattern on the building. This was no Club Med.Originally, the prisoners housed in the lone building were hardenedcriminals. This place saw the most rotten of Chicagos bad apples.Built with locally mined limestone blocks, the prison was ominous.It regularly expanded to accommodate an ever-increasing number ofmulti-purpose guests. On the day Marcus arrived, the facility hada census of about 10,000 men and women.

Like all recently arrested people, Marcus enteredthe large staging room. A guard separated his hands from behind hisback. One of the cuffs was immediately unlocked and hooked to aneyelet attached to one of many cement benches. Marcus sighed withtemporary relief granted to his arms and wrists. A guard fixed anencoded band containing his name to his arm just above his wrist.The place was full of people in motion, cops escorting suspects toopen bench posts or re-cuffing people on the way to the nextstation. Marcus listened to the clanging of metal constraints andhe looked around in horror and shock. It was a horrible collectionof people: drunks laughing and yelling, hookers jokingly trying toseduce the police officers, drug addicts screaming for relief and afew quiet introspective folks like Marcus. It smelled horrible, acombination of sweaty body odor and the consequences of perhapsseveral too many beers. The police worked the room with certainprecision. Female officers grouped eight to ten women at a time andescorted them to their next station. Screaming rang in Marcus earsas wild out-of-control fools resisted the guards demands. Marcuswas not sure if he wanted to move on to the unknown or stay wherehe was, except for the smell that was the tiebreaker.

The primary role that Cook County Lockup had adoptedover the years was to prepare newly arrested people for their firsthearing in front of a judge. No regard for courteous manners couldbe found here, inmates and guards alike. They called Marcus nameand he subserviently identified himself. The guards trusted nonewcomers as they processed so many agitated citizens. He wasunshackled from the cement bench and immediately guards locked hishands in front of him.