Perez Zeledon 84 Escazu 100

We have a rule in Costa Rican basketball that forces teams to play players under the age of 21 a certain amount of minutes; our basketball federation believes this will help develop young talent by forcing teams to play young players. While the specifics of the rule has varied over the years, I think it's a poorly designed rule that has unintended consequences. I'm a big believer that players should earn their minutes. This rule force feeds minutes to players that are either not ready, or haven't earned that opportunity.

Escazu 74 Limon 63

A hot, humid night in Limon was the scene for our visit to the Caribbean coast. Players are drenched in sweat by the time they're finished warming up. I've always wondered how long it takes for guys playing for the home side to get used to the extra stickiness.

San Ramon 72 Escazu 79

And exhale.

Michael Jackson going in for the score.

In the second game of the Clausura tournament, we went to San Ramon and snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat in the last four minutes, overcoming a ten point lead in the last four minutes. So we expected a pissed off San Ramon team coming for some revenge. In Apertura, under similar circumstances, San Ramon came to our gym and throttled us, giving them a valuable home court advantage in the playoffs.

Escazu 80 Grecia 76

For reasons I still don't comprehend, we ended up with a two week break right in the middle of our season. Actually, I do comprehend; the decision making in this league is terrible. Liceo de Costa Rica dropped out on the eve of opening night for the Torneo de Clausura and the powers that be refused to adjust the calendar accordingly; as things stood, we would have two teams being idle on any particular game night. Some teams didn't want to give up weekend games and the "juicy" gate receipts from those games; they made it sound like this is the NBA where we're raking in the millions. So here we are with only six teams and a calendar that doesn't make sense. Costa Rican basketball in a nutshell.