George Stevens Wins Title, Manager Rips Pants During Celebration

Before the George Stevens Academy boys basketball team even left Blue Hill Saturday night to play for their second straight state championship, I was dealing with an issue that had nothing to do directly with the game, but it was one that would make the memory of that night even better forever. Here's the story ...

I'm the manager of the team. Saturday afternoon as I was leaving for Blue Hill for the state championship game, there was a small hole in my dress pants that had already been repaired earlier in the season. The hole wasn't very big so I didn't think it was a big deal, and I wanted to keep it somewhat hidden so nobody would notice. Plus, I wore those pants when we won the state championship the previous year, so, you know, good luck and everything.

Once in Bangor before our game, one of our starters, Stefan Simmons, noticed it. I told him I knew about it and and I wasn't worried. Once the game started, however, it would get worse.

The hole became a somewhat large rip when Taylor Schildroth hit that thee-pointer to end the first quarter. I ended up falling when celebrating the shot. When I got up, the rip was 1/4 the way down my leg. At that point, I thought people were probably going to start noticing.

I thought had kept it decently hidden until it got late in the fourth quarter, when a late three-pointer was hit and a time out was called, the rip was now about half way down my leg. At the same time, the sole of my right shoe had come loose and wasn't hanging on by much.

When Jarrod Chase hit the game winning shot (which you can watch below thanks to my friend Bess MacArthur) and the entire bench stormed the court, that's when both my pants ripped down to my knee and the sole of my shoe flew off.

At the time, I didn't think of how many people noticed the rip, but after the game, I would find out how many actually did.

After the celebration in the arena and we got back to the locker room is when I really took notice of how bad the rip actually was. Since we were going to Dysart's, I was allowed to change into a pair of game shorts. Let me tell you, that felt good on the legs when it was seven degrees outside!

Sunday when we had a parade and reception I was informed how many people noticed and I was praised for continuing on with the rip very noticeable.

Some have said that the pants and the shoes need to be put in the trophy case along with the gold ball, I'm gonna try to make that happen. Ripping the pants and winning another state championship will be a great memory to share for a long time.