April 17th - Cam Tait's Two Minute Warning

0:00Someone once told me, if you open a can of worms, it's up to you and nobody else to collect them and put them back in the can. Okay, let them go free. I have some cleaning up to do. Earlier on the Gregor Show, Regimen Klon was on talk about wheelchair basketball since the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Championship is in Edmonton this weekend. Just so happens to be the 50th anniversary of the Alberta Northern Lights wheelchair basketball team based out of Edmonton. Klon had founded the lights in 1976, so he mailed Gregor a few key points about the history of the Northern Lights. One big story was in Lexington, Kentucky in 1985. The Northern Lights became the first Canadian team to make the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Final Four. I was on the story exclusively for the Edmonton Journal. I heard Rumblings Americans were not very happy bunch that the Canadians were in the Final Four. Now here's where it gets interesting. Brent Patterson was the lights coach. The team's GM Gary McPherson found out Patterson had a minor case of Spine Obifida. At that time, there was a movement of foot to get more people with various disabilities. Patterson played University Ball with the Golden Bears.

1:02McPherson asked Patterson if he would consider becoming a player coach if he could qualify under the NWBA's Classification System. Patterson said yes and he was classified. The Patterson being classified, she started playing the lights reached a new level. They were good, real good. Now back to Lexington. On the morning of the first game of the Final, for everyone, I mean everyone was tested to make sure they were in fact playing to their classification. I remember on the bus the hotel to the gym. Patterson, he looked nervous, very nervous. A half hour later he was disqualified from the Final Four. Classification committee determined he had too much balance to play. But McPherson was a great man of integrity. He wanted to withdraw from the tournament. The player said no. The lights did play. In their first game, they were down 18 points at the half, had 18 fouls called against them in the first half. The lights finished fourth. So do I put the worm back in the can or do I set them free? They didn't boycott. They actually finished. There you go. Tater? I was like, and now the rest of the story from, from Camtate today.