Wildcat Den Diné

Y ou can't have a basketball game without the players, of course.

But it wouldn't be rez ball without a whole bunch of other people.

The moms

Navajos don't need to be told you should never underestimate the power of a mom. Or an auntie, for that matter. Basketball is no exception.

If you've been to a Chinle Wildcat basketball game in the past few years, you've seen two stout middle-aged ladies sitting front row, center court, watching the game intently and screaming their heads off.

If you want to have a good time at a game, sit right in between them. But you'd better wait until halftime if you want to talk to them. They have work to do.

Theresa Jones, mother of Wildcat coach Lenny Jones, and her BFF Elsie Clauschee never miss a game. In fact, they take turns standing in the ticket line two hours early so they can get these exact seats. The players, you see, have to know where they are so they can listen to their advice.

Friday, as Chinle traded the lead with Holbrook in a nail-biter the Wildcats finally snagged by two points, Jones and Clauschee had no doubt who would come out on top.

"Of course Chinle will win," stated Jones matter-of-factly.

"We'll get them there," declared Clauschee.

Clauschee, you see, had two nephews on the court: Koyai Clauschee (No. 5) and Denzel Harvey (No. 43). Being Diné, they of course had to listen to the instructions yelled out by their auntie.

Lenny Jones may think he's in charge of the team, but Theresa and Elsie should be getting credit as assistant coaches, at the very least.

Or maybe it's more their infectious energy than their yelled strategems that pushed the Wildcats to victory. Jones and Clauschee are on their feet even before the announcer finishes naming off the players. They get more exercise than the team.

The only thing the two will not do for the team is dis the referees, "even though they're not always fair," according to Clauschee.

In fact, a ref sat down next to them at one game and they're proud to report they were perfectly civil to him.

"I think he even enjoyed sitting by us," declared Jones.

Who wouldn't, unless you were rooting for the opposing team?

The mascot

Managers at fast food restaurants may have trouble getting their teenage employees to don a cap and an apron, but give a kid a chance to wiggle into a 20-year-old, sweat-stained costume depicting some crazy-looking animal and they will compete for the chance.

You would never know, for instance, that inside the wacky blue, tail-wiggling Holbrook Roadrunner is a mild-mannered Diné honor student.

"When I get in the roadrunner suit, I'm a different person," said Denise Singer, 15, of Indian Wells, Ariz. "I mean, I'm pretty outgoing, but I would never do some of the stuff the roadrunner does."

You may think it's easy climbing into a costume and clowning around. You'd be wrong.

Singer wakes up at 4:30 a.m. every day to ride a bus from her home in Indian Wells to Holbrook High, stays late to practice with the cheerleaders, gets home about 7 p.m., and studies until midnight to keep her grades up (you have to have at least a B-average to be the roadrunner, a fact sadly ignored by the last roadrunner, whom Singer replaced).

"I'm trying to do all the stuff the cheerleaders do," she said.

And if you think it's easy doing a jump kick with a two-foot tail sticking out behind you, you should try it.

Is it hot inside that suit?

"I'm Navajo," Singer shrugged. "I'm used to trying to fall asleep in my room when it's 100 degrees outside."

The Texters

It used to be if you wanted a play-by-play account of the big game, you either had to be there or listen to it on the radio.

These days, you just have to have a friend with a cell phone.

The Wildcat Den in Chinle holds 6,100 spectators, and it was often full during last week's 3A North semifinals. But you can bet there were many more people than that following the games.

Leono Brown, 18, of Many Farms, for instance, was texting a quarterly update of the Chinle-Holbrook game to 18 friends Friday afternoon.

"They couldn't make the game so they asked me to do it," he said.

Brown himself, however, likes to be there in person. He's an athlete himself - a bull rider - so he knows there's no substitute for live action.

"If you really like sports," he said, "you'll be at the game, no matter what else is going on."

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