Pirates Cross the Streams

Celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the day Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis spoke about thinking about discussing the idea of writing Ghostbusters the movie, the Pirates and the Bears met in a Ghostbusters themed game that saw the Bears narrowly defeat the Pirates 44 to 35.

Just like in any good true-to-life movie, the game started with the underdogs taking a beating at the hands of their opponents when the bears went about weaving their magic past their defenders to outscore the Pirates 14 to 3 in the opening quarter.

It wasn’t that the Pirates weren’t taking good shots but a case where their shots weren’t finding their way through the net.

Defensively though, the Pirates looked stale as persistent trouble-maker Michael Verzosa (9 points, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 rebounds) laid down the foundations for a strong Bears first half that had them up over the Pirates 29 points to 9.

Perhaps it was the desperate performance of “On Our Own” by former pop-star Bobby Brown that inspired Pirates captain, Daniel “Egon” Lillicrap (2 points, 1 assist, 2 rebounds) to come up with an audacious strategy for the second half when he said “We have to reverse the points flow in order to win the game. We have to cross the streams.”

Without skipping a beat, Pirates veteran Ben “Venkman” Roberts (2 points, 2 steals, 1 rebound) lightly pressed his captain’s judgement: “Excuse me. You said crossing the streams was bad?” To which Lillicrap replied that there was “definitely a very slim chance we’ll win”.

As the remainder of the squad searched the faces of their teammates for some reassurance Roberts took it upon himself to sarcastically motivate the Pirates to action: “I love this plan! I’m excited to be a part of it! Let’s do it!” To which Brett “Stantz” Butler (4 points, 2 steals, 1 block, 7 rebounds) muttered “If you want something done, you gotta do it yourself.”

From there it was all Pirates as they went about eroding the Bears’ lead and undermining their confidence first through the determined driving of Dan “Saxman” Bray (8 points, 1 assist, 1 steal, 4 rebounds) then through Taylor Sneddon’s (12 points, 1 assist, 4 steals, 1 block, 4 rebounds) fast break finishes that quickly brought about a reversal where the Pirates outscored the Bears 9 points to 6 in the third quarter.

Things only got better in the fourth period for the Pirates as they rattled their opponents’ confidence, narrowing the Bear’s lead from 20 points to just 6 with two minutes left to play.

But with the clock working against them, the Pirates were just too little too late getting their mojo together and thus went down to the furry creatures from the wild 44 to 35.

Working in the shadows, Pirates forward Todd “T-Bone” Gregory (3 points, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 rebound) and guard, Darren “Daz” Jamieson (3 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 rebounds), did their best to bring about a Pirates victory and despite some early cheap fouls made by centre Frank “El Diablo” Fernandez (4 rebounds, 4 fouls), Fernandez applied some smart defence that brought about several turnovers that assisted the Pirates in their comeback.