Lawyers have something to prove in clash with doctors

The attorneys have good reason to believe they will be the the underdogs Friday night in the 12th annual Doctors vs. Lawyers Basketball Showdown.

After all, the doctors have won nine of the 11 previous meetings. The lawyers, who have not won since 2001, lost 73-68 last year and 62-49 the year before that.

Even the president and Missouri's new governor seem to be siding with the doctors ... at least on the issue of tort reform.

"They always make jokes about that," said Jacob Zimmerman, who is coaching the lawyers team this year. "Since we have so many from the public defender's office, we really don't deal with any tort cases. It's something to rib about. There's always undertones about us being ambulance chasers.

"But that's not the reason the games are heated," Zimmerman added. "We're all competitive people who want to succeed. It's always a very competitive game, and we want to win."

The lawyers and doctors will be battling for a victory beginning 8 p.m. Friday at Notre Dame Regional High School. Admission is $5 for adults and $2.50 for children under 12. A pregame tailgate party is set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Davis Banquet Center in Jackson. Tickets for the party are $20 and include the game and a silent auction.

Tickets are available at Alliance Bank, Country Mart in Jackson and the Community Counseling Center in Cape Girardeau.

Proceeds benefit the Community Counseling Center, a private, not-for-profit mental health center. The funds will be used to equip the Psychosocial Rehabilitation Program Clubhouse, being built this year next to the center's main office on Silver Springs Road. The clubhouse offers social and educational training to assist clients getting back into society and employment.

"We're all happy to do it," said Zimmerman, who said his team has been practicing since early January. "It makes it easy to give up our time to play.

"And we're competitive people who want to get back to the glory days of playing basketball."

The days have not been so glorious of late for the lawyers. Zimmerman played in the last two games. He scored 14 points in last year's loss.

But Zimmerman said he is just one of three returning players from last year. Only two of the lawyers' starting five returns. The returning group includes Brandon Sanchez, another lawyer from the public defender's office, who scored 14 points in his showdown debut last year.

"We've got a whole new crop of people," Zimmerman said. "We have a bunch of young guys and a bunch of bigger guys.

"Typically, they're probably in better shape than we are, but we think we're in pretty good shape, and we have a lot of players on the bench, so we're happy about that. The starters had to play a lot last year. We'll be able to have help off the bench and get more rest. We expect everyone to log pretty good minutes."

The lawyers will find out Friday if they have the formula to end a three-game losing streak.