Well, there’s no beating around the bush. We got drama this week folks, and no, I’m not talking about the Phillies playoff run, but rather the departure of first-year PG John Palumbo from the Fighting Cantaloupe. The ‘Loupe went into week 4 with a chance to hand Strictly Buckets their first loss of the season but little did we all know, there was a storm brewing within the Cantaloupe locker room. A storm that would come to a head just after the final buzzer sounded and the Cantaloupe fell 48-51 to the now 4-0 Strictly Buckets. At a glance, a pretty close game, but the aftermath of the loss would overshadow any stats worth mentioning. Palumbo was visibly frustrated with how the last couple of possessions played out and was not mincing any words with his teammates as they walked off the court. Cooler heads eventually prevailed as it was clear nobody was happy with the loss, and it seemed the storm had settled.
Fast forward a couple of hours and evidently, the storm had reached new heights in the team chat. While I’m not privy to the exact details of messages exchanged, our sources indicate that Palumbo was up in arms about the loss, openly challenging the play of his teammates and even going so far as to question the team's leadership. While he may not be a strategic savant, Coach O’Neill has always been revered as a player's coach, not to mention a staple of the Fighting Cantaloupe franchise since its birth over a decade ago. With that being said, it’s no shock to hear that the team was quick to defend their longtime leader.
Now I’ll say again, the Cantaloupe have kept this matter pretty hush hush in terms of media access, but from my understanding, after the dust settled, Palumbo went radio silent for the next couple of days until it was clear neither side wanted to make amends, which is when O’Neill would eventually inform Palumbo of the team's decision to let the first-year point guard go. We were unable to get in touch with Palumbo for further comment on account of my not feeling like getting his phone number, but I’d imagine it would go something like this:
“Y’all trash.”
-John P
Compelling stuff, but we'll see ya never Johnny. So what does all of this mean for the 2-2 Cantaloupe? Well, it means that they no longer have a full-time point guard on the roster. Ryan Deal is still rostered, but recurring scheduling conflicts have him closer to part-time than full these days, and Lou has already signed elsewhere (wack). While there have been murmurs about the seemingly overdue potential return of a couple of former Cantaloupe PGs to fill the void, given the quick turnaround, it’s likely we’ll be seeing a lot of Nick Welsh at the one for the time being. While Welsh is in the midst of a massive bounce-back season, turning in another strong shooting performance in game 4, the timing here couldn't be much worse as he’ll be asked to take on an entirely new set of responsibilities in a game 5 that will see the Cantaloupe take on perennial C division title contenders, Too Tough. Tip-off is set for tomorrow night @ 7:30 pm and with wins hard to come by, and the second half officially underway, the Cantaloupe will need to find a way to stifle this high-powered Too Tough offense who enters the week averaging an impressive 71 ppg. Nevertheless, we look forward to seeing a packed Fruit Basket as always!
Written by: Jonathan Abbott
October 24th, 2022