HOMETOWN BREAKDOWN: THE OTHER NATE WHO PLAYED HOOPS FOR ERNESTOWN

Came home last night to one of the most ha-lairious altered-state-of-mind messages ever left on anyone's voice mail.

Apparently, during the Raptors game last night, TV analyst Leo Rautins, who of course is also the coach of Canada men's basketball team, mentioned how he actually coached against Toronto's Slovenian centre, Rasho Nesterovic, during an exhibition tour in the summer. Leo gave a shout-out to Nate Doornekamp, the 7-foot centre from Odessa, Ont., who had a double-double (16 points, 10 boards) one game while matched up against Nesterovic.

Pretty heady stuff for the hinterlands west of Kingston. Or as the friend put it in a phone message: "I'm sure there were two things that on the day we entered high school, that we never thought would happen. One, that a girl from Napanee would be on the cover of Maxim, and that two, that someone from Napanee would be mentioned during a NBA telecast. Back when we were watching Jordan, we never thought we'd see that.

"But it happened. Now hell's officially frozen over and I'm sure you have the Eagles album to prove it."

Well, no, not actually, but it's nice play on the nickname of the sports teams at Ernestown Secondary School, Doornekamp's alma mater. The 24-year-old is now playing playing for TBB Trier in Germany's top hoops league, where his team is off to a 4-4 start. He's a long shot to ever play in the NBA, but wish him well.

Let it be said that while it would seem like a slam dunk to call him Ernestown's most accomplished basketball alumnus, doing so overlooks what Adnan Virk (Class of '96) is doing in the world of television, not to mention one former teammate's loyalty to Carleton Ravens all-Canadian and present assistant coach Rob Smart (Class of '97).

Before Doornekamp was ducking through doorways at ESS, there was a guy with the same first name (possible slight variance in spelling) who was also a post player for the Ernestown Eagles. He never did anything on the court that would have made anyone refer to Doornekamp as the "new Nate," though.

So much for being first, eh.

Previously:
Raptors Fans: Go Easy on Adnan Virk, Will Ya? (Nov. 2)
Hometown Breakdown: Brothers Named to National Squad (July 19)
Avril Wedding In Juillet (July 16)
Random Memories Shrouded in Bathos (March 7, 2003)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.