Durfee Basketball is BACK

People are starting to get on my case about updating this blog, and I figure its in my best interest to do so, considering I have so much free-time over the next month and I really want to find a way to blog for a living because its so damn fun! I want to assure my readers that this next phase of ‘sports’ reporting will be everlasting, unlike the previous on again-off again stuff I was doing last year. I’ve found my calling and it’s time to start working!

Some of you may be wondering where the hell I’ve been so here’s the latest on me:

I’m still at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth working on my Bachelor of Arts Degree in English with a focus on professional writing. (That’s right RSL & BS I didn’t fall off the face of the Earth or join the African circus.) I am currently on schedule to graduate following the Spring of 2010, from there I’ll hopefully be going for my Master’s in journalism.

In November 2008 I began working at The Herald News as a sports correspondent. It’s an awesome job and a great experience. Some of you may have seen my articles in the newspaper and wondered if it was really me, well to end suspicion, yes it is me. So far I am loving every minute of it, I’ve been able to cover high school and college sports, alike.

Along the way I’ve been able to interview some of the areas best sports coaches and I’ve also attended some memorable games. However, in this article I want to focus on a game that I don’t think I will ever forget.

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of covering a Division 1 South Sectional Quarterfinals match-up between the Durfee Hilltoppers and Madison Park Voc-Tech at the Luke Urban Field House in Fall River, MA. Ironically, I had just gotten done reading Bill Reynold’s great book Fall River Dreams, which chronicles the 1992-1993 Durfee Hilltoppers basketball season, most importantly former Boston Celtics guard Chris Herren, whom a recent Herald News reader poll revealed is the greatest basketball player in Durfee history.

I had never before attended a boys’ basketball game at Durfee High School, and I’m proud to say the first game I ever attended was a state tournament match-up, could the excitement of the game had been any greater?

Being the ‘amateur’ reporter that I was (and still am) I thought it would be a good idea to sit in the student section for the game.

Wrong.

Although, I was well aware of how loud the Hilltopper-faithful could get when their team was on the court, considering the raucous crowds Durfee drew in Fall River Dreams, there was no way I could anticipate the type of noise and raucous the Durfee students were able to conjure up for that game.

Oh, and did I mention it had been several years since Durfee had hosted a Division 1 South State tournament game?

It was a surreal atmosphere during an all-important game for a team with a rich tradition of winning basketball. The fans were living and dying with every moment of the action. Whenever Durfee hit a basket, fans would jump to their feet in excitement, whenever Madison Park missed a basket, fans would go wild. (The Hilltoppers eventually won the game 63-60, after overcoming a 12-point deficit midway through the third quarter.)

However, what I will always remember about this game is the fans who were in attendance that night. Everyone was hoping to see Durfee basketball chase glory once again, and thanks to the victory, the Hilltoppers have re-established themselves as a Division 1 contender.

The defining moment into the next chapter of the history of Durfee basketball came when the student section (whom I was surrounded by in every direction) came up with one of the most outrageous chants of all time.

It was just about midway through the first quarter when the ‘chant’ began, (or should I say the referee harassment began). Coincidentally it started during the first Durfee foul. That’s when a Durfee student from behind me, standing in the last row of the bleachers, hollered out:

“BOO THIS MAN!” -- pointing at the referee

“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” -- roared the Durfee students in attendance

Parents, elders, teachers, and even former players all turned towards the student section, as the long “BOO!!” continued to deafen everyone in, or about, the Luke Urban Field House.

Not knowing what to expect from the Hilltoppers brass, I froze.

From there I watched as the smiles started to sweep across the many faces of the various people grilling the student section.

The student section continued the ‘referee harassment chant’ throughout the rest of the game, I even spotted some non-students who decided to participate in the bewiddling of the ref.

That’s when I realized, Durfee basketball was back and crazier than EVER.

Comments/Questions/Suggestions can be sent to U_Pviveiros@UMassD.edu, I am hoping I can start a Bill Simmons “Mailbag”-type article every now and then. So I invite everyone to e-mail me with questions, sports related or not.