The Albany Patroons go up 2-0 on the 2024-season … 24 seconds at a time

As you know, I am a loyal and ardent supporter of the Albany Patroons basketball team. Let me say that again. I am a loyal and ardent supporter of the THREE-TIME CHAMPION Albany Patroons basketball team.

And as the Patroons start their 2024 TBL championship run – as far as I’m concerned, just give us the trophy and call off the postseason – I’ve picked up a new duty this year.

Say hello to your 24-second shot clock operator.

Yeah, that’s me.

The position opened up in the offseason, the team owner asked if I could do it, and I said yes.

For those who don’t normally follow the rules of professional basketball – both of you – the 24-second clock was created in the mid-1950’s to speed up the game. A team needed to shoot the ball at the hoop within 24 seconds, or they would automatically lose possession of the ball to their opponent, who then had 24 seconds to score some points. Got it? Good.

So on Friday night, I was at the Washington Avenue Armory – my first extended trip since my recent surgeries – and was given control of this little doodad.

This starts and stops the 24-second shot clock. The toggle switch at the top starts and stops the countdown, the first button under the toggle switch resets the clock to 24 seconds, and the second button resets the clock to 14 seconds (when the ball hits the rim but does not go through the cylinder and the offensive team gets it, or if there’s a defensive loose ball foul).

Now this is kind of a tricky little trigger here. And I’ve never worked with it before. And if you’re not 100% accurate with the shot clock rules and such … you can cause game-changing problems and get a LOT of people mad at you. It’s like claiming you’re the best Dawn of the Ancients player in the neighborhood, and suddenly you’ve landed in an EverQuest game where all you can do is storm the castle, shout “Leeroy Jenkins!!” and hope it all sorts out in the end.

So on the first night – Friday night, Albany hosting the Jamestown Jackals – I told the three officials that I would be operating the shot clock, and this would be my first time with the device, and although I understood the basic shot clock rules, to please be nice and help me out if I mess up. They understood and took pity on me, flashing a “14” sometimes during the game to remind me that the clock needed to be reset to 14 seconds at that moment, rather than 24.

And yes, I did mess up a couple of times during Opening Night – pressing the wrong button or not activating the toggle switch in time, or too early – but I did apologize afterward, and it didn’t cause too much of a crisis in the game, which Albany handily won.

On Saturday, I tried to watch some YouTube clips to see if there were 24-second shot clock tutorials out there, but all I could find were videos of shot clock errors and teams getting tagged for shot clock violations. I’ll just have to work my way through it.

Saturday’s game was a more confident affair. The Patroons raced out to a 28-14 lead in the first quarter over the expansion Connecticut Crusaders, and then treated the Crusaders like children for the next three quarters. Arsenio Arrington and Jamil Hood had incredible monster dunks, Trevis Wyche and Derrick Rowland Jr and Ed Dyson III dominated the court like superstars, and the Patroons went up 2-0.

I do want to take note of two new signees with Albany. Power forward / center Kenny Grant is big and intimidating. Give him the ball, and one look from Grant will back up opponents instantly. And in an era of monster dunks and alley-oops, Grant will score points on a breakaway with a simple off-the-glass layup.

I also want to mention shooting guard Sidney Brown. Brown is a scrapper. In the game against Jamestown, while one of the Jackals was about to inbound the ball, Sidney Brown snapped it up and scored an easy bucket. You know … the kind of play that Johnny Most would reference as being stolen by Larry Bird, off the pass to DJ, yes. Brown also scooped up an errant throw on yesterday’s game against Connecticut, taking it to the house like it was a neighborhood Frisbee that landed on his front lawn.

I’m gonna like these new guys. Same as I like the current guys.

This DEFINITELY WORKS FOR ME.

And I’ve got two weeks to improve my 24-second shot clock operations before the next Patroons home game.

Can. Not. Wait.