San Diego’s gay basketball league is warming up for the 2003-2004 season with two weeks of scrimmages between the newly formed teams of the league. Two weeks ago the Hoops held their annual draft party at Pecs in North Park. The party included a beer bust, raffle and the selection of teams, and was a successful fundraiser to kick off the new season.

Now those new teams are getting a first look at one another and the many new faces in the league this year with scrimmages, which were completed this week at the Golden Hills Recreation Center.

“We have a number of new faces this year, which is always exciting, and obviously with them we have some new talent,” said Paul Demke, coach of the Morgan Stanley team. “Especially in the guard position, I notice a lot of new players and it looks like they are pretty tough.”

Demke’s team led the league all season last year, only to have their championship hopes dashed when they lost to Moby Dick’s in the finals.

“I was really happy with our draft this year,” Demke said. “We look to be pretty solid. We have some height — the two Dans, Dan Newbold and Dan King. We’ve got a couple of other players who can really fill the lanes well. We have a nice balanced team. Morgan Stanley is known for running and we will definitely be running again this year.”

David Valenzuela also returns as the coach of Moby Dick’s this year, hoping for a repeat of his team’s last year’s performance so he can take another championship trophy home to his sponsoring bar. Valenzuela made some choice picks this year, picking up power forward Bryan Leigh and one of the league’s top guards, Brett Drake.

“I also picked up a new guy, Eric McDaniels, good guy, good hustler and everything,” Valenzuela added. “He looks like he can score. I’ve watched him in pick up games and he can hold his own with these guys.”

One of the big teams that everyone has their eye on this year is Kickers, coached by Brian Jinings. His roster includes Vinny Adame, Mike Barrows and Robert Wiggins, all of whom are known for being big shooters and scoring leaders.

“We definitely have a lot of talent; the question is going to be how well we play together,” Jinings said about his new team. “We’ve got a lot of people that really like to shoot the ball and a lot of really good players. It’s just going to depend on how we can be not selfish and get everybody else involved.”

In scrimmage games Stuart Leung’s Fusion team, which includes Dan Moser and Jeff Wyngaert, defeated Kickers this past week.

“What I looked for was athleticism, which is a premium in this league sometimes, intensity, and basically basketball smarts – taking care of the ball,” Leunge said about his team. If we have all three of those we will be okay.”

In addition to new players, the league is also welcoming a number of new sponsors to the league. This year Pecs will be sponsoring a team and Hummingbird Bakery and Brians’ American Eatery are teaming up to sponsor a team as well.

Randy Johnson will be coaching the new Brians/Hummingbird team, and counts last year’s league MVP Dwight Dunn among his team members.

“We are looking for him to take control and feed off of him,” Johnson said. “I think everybody is going to be competitive. Everyone is still learning about each other and we’ve still got some learning to do.”

The 2003-2004 basketball season kicks off on Oct. 15, with Morgan Stanley taking on Moby Dick’s at 6:00p.m. At 7:00 p.m. it will be The Loft versus Kickers, followed by Fusion and Pecs at 8:00 p.m. Last but not least, Powerhouse Gym will face Hummingbirds/Brians’ at 9:00 p.m. For more information about the San Diego Hoops basketball league, visit the gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to their web site.