fryer article: Anaheim CC Tournament announcement

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SoCalHoops High School Tournament News

Steve Fryer: Anaheim CC Holiday
Classic Set For December--(Nov. 15, 1999)

Ok, so Steve Fryer, columnist in the Orange County Register is not the "Evil Empire." Well, he took a couple of swipes at our message board, criticizing it and the people who post anonymously, hiding behind the shield of cowardice that is inherent in much of the message board software on the internet, which allows them to say things they might not otherwise say in the "real world." The result at times is that our message board indeed does become filled with misguided missives, inane speech, or worse, with hateful and cowardly postings attacking players, coaches or parents. Suffice it to say that we find ourselves constantly having to monitor the board to delete the garbage. We knew the job was dangerous when we took it: We just don't necessarily need Steve to remind us of that fact. But we will say that at least it was nice that he thought to give us the plug in the Register a couple of weeks back.

Since that time, Fryer has also written about his friend and colleague David Osterman, who sadly died last week of a heart attack. It was a nice tribute to the man.

And there are also plenty of other times that Mr. Fryer brings matters to the attention of the SoCal basketball world which are worthy of note, and we certainly think he does a lot to promote high school sports, and basketball in particular. One such example was his column from this past Friday, in which he wrote about the Anaheim Convention Center Tournament. This is an event which was started by Tom Dooley, and we wrote about the tournament two years ago. As Fryer noted in his column though, "Last year's ACC tournament didn't exactly kill them at the box office. Crowds were tiny until the championship round. It seemed to be just another one of the bazillion December tournaments."

But Steve Fryer hopes that this year more people will attend, and so do we because there are some excellent teams attending, including Villa Park, Brea Olinda, San Bernardino Pacific, and others who all have a chance of being real contenders for section titles.

And in the vein of letting more people know about the event, we don't think Mr. Fryer will mind (nor do we think the OC Register will mind) if we reprint just a bit of his article in order to publicize the tournament. If you want to read the entire article, you can find it at the Register's own website at this link, at least until he writes his next column and this one floats off to wherever his old articles go. But for the sake of keeping the information around for more than a week (it will mysteriously vanish as soon as Mr. Fryer's next column is published tomorrow) here are the details about the 1999 Anaheim Convention Center Holiday Classic. And as Steve Fryer notes, this building has been around for a while, long enough to house the old ABA's Anaheim Amigos and the old Los Angeles Stars basketball teams. That's quite a while, but the building is still a great place to play and a great place to see some top quality high school hoops.

The tournament will run from December 14-18, and with the exception of some consolation games which will be scheduled at Villa Park and Katella high schools, this will be one of the biggest and best tournaments in the Orange County area.

Tournament showcases Anaheim center
By Steve Fryer
November 12, 1999

You might think the most underused facility in Orange County is an Oakland Raiders fan's shower, but you would be wrong. It is the Anaheim Convention Center, across Katella Avenue. . .

Tom Danley did not forget. That's why he organized a very good boys basketball tournament there last year and dramatically improved the event for this year The Anaheim Convention Center Holiday Basketball Classic will be played Dec. 14-18.

The Orange County entries include defending tournament champion Brea Olinda, which will miss Kyle Dodd but still should make the preseason top 10; the strongest Esperanza team in a few years, led by Jon Steven; a super-quick and fun-to-watch Foothill team; El Toro, another preseason top 10 candidate and probably the best team in the South Coast League; Villa Park, a deep group and another preseason top 10 probability; and Bolsa Grande, who already had athletically gifted John James coming back and added an outstanding transfer, Willie Montgomery.

The other county teams in the tournament — Capistrano Valley, Katella, Mission Viejo, Newport Harbor, San Clemente and Santa Ana — can all be expected to challenge for their league championships, or certainly at least playoff berths, this season. Non-county entries are Lancaster, South Gate, Rancho Verde of Moreno Valley and Pacific of San Bernardino. That's a good group. Pacific is seeded No. 1 in the tournament (followed by Villa Park, Brea Olinda and El Toro), and Capistrano Valley coach Brian Mulligan isn't looking forward to his Cougars taking on Rancho Verde's Mustangs.

"When we played them during the summer," grimaced Mulligan, studying the draw sheet Wednesday night, "they killed us." Last year's ACC tournament didn't exactly kill them at the box office. Crowds were tiny until the championship round. It seemed to be just another one of the bazillion December tournaments.

But those who attended saw some great games played in a great facility for high school hoops. The Anaheim Convention Center still is a clean, comfortable, well-maintained and well-run place. The sight lines are outstanding. The ACC holds 8,000, and there are 8,000 seats at Staples Center not as close to the court as the highest row at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Anaheim Prep Sports/Activities Foundation, which created and organized the tournament, has given every participant 300 tickets to distribute at school. Foundation executive director Danley, a county basketball coaching legend for his recently concluded, 30-plus years at Katella, wants the noisy students at the games, and he wants high school bands performing at every halftime. Danley wants energy and excitement, and he wants this tournament to be a substantial benefactor of the foundation, which seeks to produce and strengthen constructive after-school opportunities for school children in Anaheim.

He already has the coaches excited. "It's an honor to get a chance to play here," said Bolsa Grande coach Mike Anderson at the pre-tournament dinner at the ACC Wednesday. "It's a big-time tournament, and it's going to be a week that will show us how good our team really is." Pacific coach Scott Smith said it's going to be a lengthy commute for his team, but a worthwhile one. "Where else are we going to play in a tournament in an arena atmosphere?" Smith said. "If you want to play at The Pond (site of the CIF Southern Section finals), and that's where we want to be in March, then you've got to get used to playing in an arena atmosphere."

Maybe one day the CIF-SS finals themselves will be played at the Anaheim Convention Center instead of the Pond. A crowd of 6,000 looks and sounds much better in an 8,000-seat arena instead of a 19,000-seat arena. For now, this tournament is the only event taking advantage of a good thing."