December 6, 2002: Masten Announces Retirement
Sacramento,
CA - Masten officially announced his retirement from BMTG Street Heat
prior to Festival #33. Citing two ailing knees, including one that has already
been surgically repaired once, Masten stated that he can no longer compete
at the level he expects of himself. The news came as a shock, as Masten played
the entire Season 4 without incident after taking a year off recovering from
surgery, and appeared to be primed for an even better Season 5 next spring.
The reigning "Dirtiest Player" revealed that although he was doing
fine on the court, he had to ice down both knees after every set of games.
The final injury came while whoring around in a non-BMTG sanctioned league.
While trying to maintain his game in the BMTG off-season, Masten has been
playing in a weekly league. It was during one of these games that he hurt
his good knee. Masten's first knee injury came during Street Heat Season 3,
while whoring around at another non-BMTG sanctioned event. In this event,
he tore the ACL, which resulted in season ending surgery.
Through four seasons, Masten is the career leader in points scored (1,496) and total rebounds (1,240). Ranking second in games played (155), Masten also leads in field goal attempts (1,692), field goals made (555), field goals attempted per game (14.3), and 3 point shooting percentage (24%). Masten is tied for the lead in blocked shots per game (0.4).
The implications of Masten's retirement are far reaching. The future of Street Heat is now as uncertain as ever, and there is a high probability that last summer's Season 4 will be the last. In its place may be a resurgence of the wiffle ball league, which had been competing for time with Street Heat. Another possibility is the formation of a BMTG bowling team.
Masten does face possible sanctions stemming from his continued forays into non-BMTG sanctioned events. While these flirtations would normally be a non-issue, the possibility of sanctions was raised by the severity of injury suffered and potential impact to Street Heat.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Masten fields questions at the Festival
#33 press conference. |
|||