Team Dogbone getting loose like only they know how

They’ve become the stuff of urban legend. Every city has that one player, that one team that gets people talking long after the final whistle blows. In Oakland fathers tell their sons stories of “Hook,” and in Chicago it’s “Billy the Kid.” But in Spokane, it’s “Team Dogbone” – and for completely different reasons.

After a hard-fought elite division game during the early afternoon of yesterday’s championship round at Spokane’s Hoopfest, we didn’t know we were in for a treat. But then, a loud thud rang out on the pavement, as three guys wearing ski suits and mustaches too fantastic to be real came crashing in on their own personal snow sleds.

I thought it was just their grand entrance. Wrong. Despite the mercury being in the high 90′s, Team Dogbone played in those uniforms: they all wore ski suits, and one of them kicked the whole outfit up a notch by keeping his furry hat, ski goggles and gloves on throughout the competition. But don’t call them costumes, it’s not a cheap ploy to be compared with dressing up – it’s pure comedic genius.

For roughly the past five years, Team Dogbone has entered into Hoopfest’s elite division because “we wanted to lose to the best of the best,” as the guy wearing the white suit and red headband said to me after the game. And each year, they draw a huge audience, no matter what outfits they’re wearing. Last year they looked like Mario Bros., as painters with the same ‘staches. The year before that they wore Lederhosen. (But supposedly the shorts were much shorter.) They’ve also played in formal attire, decked out in full-on suits and ties.

These guys are so committed to Hoopfest, that one of them showed up on his wedding day. Maybe that was the year they wore suits.

Launching Pad!

Their gear is just half of the fun. You almost feel bad for the team that they’re playing against – not because of watery jumpers or smothering defense. It’s more like the exact opposite. They occasionally guard each other, they hike the ball instead of passing it in, and even use each other as springboards for lay-ups.

Each team in Hoopfest is promised a minimum of three games. Even if they only put up six points over those three contests, Team Dogbone still made the most of their tourney. It’s worth coming back to Hoopfest in ’09 for the 20th anniversary of the event just to see what Dogbone has up their sleeve.