A Long Time Coming

A title like this would be appropriate for a lot of people on the team or just for the team itself. Third-year Vipers Craig Winder and Stanley Asumnu or the Rio Grande Valley. Heck, it's the first professional championship for everyone on the team except for Ernest Scott and Rich Melzer.

 

This post, however, is dedicated to Mike Harris.

He had never won a Championship at any level and that's what he wanted more than anything in the world. When Harris earned his final GATORADE Call-Up, his first question to the Rockets was whether or not he could be assigned to the Vipers for the playoffs.

After all, Harris has been a big part of this team all year and he wanted to win a Championship.

I was chatting with Vipers Director of Player Development BJ Johnson, who also works with the Rockets, before the game, and I asked him why Harris hasn't been able to stick in the NBA for an extended period of time. He said it was because of his size. I immediately countered with Chuck Hayes, you know the Rockets 6-5 center? He said Hayes is there for his defense. Harris doesn't play that kind of defense, he's a scorer (ya know, if you could combine the two of them you'd really have something).

Then Johnson added Harris has a great attitude. If everyone had an attitude like him...

Harris can still make it in the NBA. I honestly believe he will make the Rockets out of Training Camp in October. Everyone wants or should want to have a guy like that on their team.

Harris is a true ambassador in the community and for the league. Here's a guy that wanted to go celebrate ever so badly with his teammates and the champagne in the locker room, but he wouldn't go until he had signed every autograph and done every interview.

I got a call from him around 12:30 or 12:45 a.m. He and the team were at Pepper's celebrating. I was still at the arena working. He was on me to come enjoy the day and celebrate. I was stunned to get that call, that he would even think of me with everything else going on.

Here's a guy who sat through ridiculous traffic with me to do interviews in Weslaco and Harlingen on TV, who doesn't mind if he gets phone calls at seemingly anytime.

Here's a guy who loves being here. in the NBA D-League, in the Rio Grande Valley.

Here's a guy who has already asked about coming down during the off-season from his home outside Houston to do youth clinics and camps.

Here's a guy who is willing to come down to have lunch at Pepper's with one lucky winner who buys Vipers season tickets (anyone who has already purchased for 2010-11 is automatically entered).

You will never find a nicer guy in the world than Mike Harris. Of all the guys who I am happy for, he's A Number One. MVP on and off the court. Congratulations.