by Wayne23 » Wed Jul 03, 2019 7:54 pm
11/20: 2-0 start. We beat #8 BYU, here, by 3 in our opener. A really great game and our main man Jon Buck pulled us through. Then an easy home win over LA Tech.
Last night was the absolute closest call of my life. I was in Denver meeting this Center who we’re trying to recruit. I couldn’t get a flight out until the morning so I decided to find a prostitute and take her into an alley.
At about 1:30 in the morning I did. Just as I was finishing slashing her throat I heard,
“Freeze! Police!”
I froze.
“Turn around real slow with your hands high. There’s a gun pointed right at your sorry ass.”
I did. What the cop didn’t know was that in situations like this I always keep a piece of loaded licorice in my mouth, just in case. I’ve never had a slashing go wrong but you never know.
The cop started walking toward me. When he got close enough I fired the licorice dart, getting him high on the right cheek. He reached for the wound, looked puzzled and went down. Then I heard,
“Doug, you okay in there?”
Big trouble. I stuck my knife in the cop’s chest to make it look like I had stabbed him and headed for the back of the alley which led to a side street. But just as I was clearing the alley I heard the other cop yell at me.
“Police! Stop!”
I kept going and ducked into a bar a couple streets farther down.
“Give me a draft but I gotta use your bathroom.”
“Over on the right.”
I cleaned up, washed the knife carefully, making sure to get any fingerprints cleaned off, stuck it in the bottom of the bathroom trash can, came out, sat at the bar, and drank the draft. I was wearing a dark wig, goatee, and clear glass glasses. I kept all of that on.
There were sirens going off like crazy. I guess the cop had called it in and backup was on the way.
I worked hard not to panic and thought it through. I decided I did not want to be in the bar when the cops eventually came in to ask their questions.
I paid for the beer and walked outside, walking back toward my hotel. I dropped my disguise into the first trash can I saw, burying it deeply below other trash in the can.
On the way to the hotel a cruiser pulled up beside me. The cop got out, asked for my ID, and started asking me questions.
I explained who I was. The NC ST ID proved I was who I said I was.
“Coach, this is a pretty sketchy neighborhood, what the hell you doing out here in the middle of the night?”
I explained why I was in town and told the cop that I was an insomniac, and that I often went for long walks late at night when I couldn’t sleep. I said I had stopped for a beer because I had found that one beer sometimes helped me to get to sleep.
“Do yourself a favor and do your homework when you’re traveling. You don’t want to be in this kind of neighborhood in the towns you travel to. We had a pretty ugly double murder not far from here tonight. You don’t want to be anywhere near that kind of thing.”
I thanked the nice policeman and walked back to the hotel. I noticed that the cop just drove away after he left me. He hadn’t stopped to write anything down. He didn’t do that when he checked my ID, or at any other time when he was with me. Lucky for me, but he wouldn’t forget meeting someone “famous.” I regretted not hitting him with a licorice dart but that would have been dangerous, too. Still, it was a mistake not to hit him.
I wasn’t able to get to sleep at all that night. If it had gone down any differently it could have been the end of everything, and I was definitely in that cop’s memory.
12/4: 5-0, #14, RPI #5. Buck leads us with 14.2, 8.6. We’re playing great D but our ball handling is terrible.
12/8: Headed for the Golden ST Classic where we’ll meet #2 seed, #23 ranked UConn. We’re the #7 seed.
Believe me, I intend to keep an extremely low profile while we’re at the tournament. Kill #50 is going to have to wait a while.
12/9: 81-80. Never more than a 7 point difference and three lead changes in the last half minute. We won it on Center Gray Latt’s 6 footer at the buzzer. They were doubling Buck on that play, as we thought they would be so we set up the play for Latt, and it worked. 16, 12 for Buck and +12 RBs were the difference, but there wasn't much difference!
There was knock on my hotel room door this afternoon, shortly before I was about to leave for the game.
“Coach Tuthry, I’m Detective Sergeant Mark Willis, with the California state police, and this is Detective Paul Wondry, of the city of Denver, Colorado police. We have a few questions for you.”
“I’m supposed to be leaving for a game in about ten minutes.”
“Yes sir, but this has to do with a murder investigation so I’m sure you understand that we need your cooperation.”
“Yes, of course. Let me call my assistant and tell him if I’m not on the bus I’ll be along later.”
I made the call.
“Coach Tuthry, we, that is to say the Denver police investigating unit assigned to the case, were made aware of your presence in the area by Officer Mosely, only two days ago. He was negligent in filing a report related to an interview he had with you early on the morning of Nov. 20. Now, he reports that you said you were in Denver to see a recruit, that you were unable to sleep, and that you went for a walk, stopping at a bar. Is that correct, sir?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Can you tell me the name of the bar, sir?”
“I have no idea. I just stopped in at a bar, had a beer, and left.”
“What street would that have been on, sir?”
“No idea, but probably the street where the officer stopped me. Yes, I’m almost sure it was on the same street.”
“Sir, we’ve shown your photo in every bar in that area and no one recalls seeing you.”
“Well, I’m pretty average looking, I guess. I didn’t really talk to anyone except the bartender, and I only talked to him when I ordered and when I paid.”
“Can you describe this bartender?”
I could but I didn’t, not honestly anyway.
“He was bald. Seemed kind of tall.”
It went on like that for quite a while. They asked how far past the bar I had walked. I told them the bar was the end of the line; that was where I stopped walking and
I had never gotten past that point. That was a lie, of course.
They asked me if I knew anything about the murders. When I said I didn’t they asked if I had seen anything on television or radio or in the papers. I had, since I’d been looking, but there really wasn’t much. It was a very tiny national story for a day because a cop had been killed but there really wasn’t anything after that.
Eventually they let me go to the game, telling me to be sure to call the Denver detective if anything else occurred to me that might be helpful.
As I rode in the taxi to the arena it occurred to me that I would probably be watched for a while. Damn!
#6 seed ST Louis, 6-1, in the semis. They have a good outside game but we’re a huge favorite.
I made it a point to walk around town after midnight but I stuck to well lit, decent neighborhoods. Sure enough though, a cop stopped me and asked a few questions. I gave the usual story about insomnia and he let me go. That convinced me that I was right about being watched. Fortunately, it’s not easy for cops to communicate with cops in other states but again, some eager beaver might start trying to tie some things together.
12/10: 88-73. We scored 53 in the 1st half. 22, 10, 5 for Latt, 17, 8 for Buck, 17 for PG Ry Wood. Only 6 TOs.
#4 seed, #22 ranked Providence, 7-2, for the title. They have a solid lineup but we’re big favorites.
I went for another walk after the game. I didn’t get stopped but two cruisers drove past me at different times.
12/11: 80-68. We owned the 2nd half. 17, 10 for tourney MOP Jon Buck. +16 RBs.
12/25: 11-0, #8, RPI #2. +15.1 PPG (#50, #23), +11.7 RBs (#8), +2.7 TOs (#70). Buck gets 16.7, 8.7. Latt gets 15.7, 8.5, so he’s a big factor in our success.
I’m still lying very low. Trying to maintain all of my other patterns though, especially the late night walks in strange cities.