12/27/25

Jay C. Brandriet

Whether playing, watching, or attending, my sports memories with Cody Briggs are too many to count.

I chose the following weekend because it was a double feature.

June 5th, 1999.

Cody, Derek Smith, and Anthony Mower came over to stay the night in Highland, Utah.

My brother Justin went with us to Pizza Hut in American Fork.

We partied and had a great time.

We were planning to play basketball the following morning.

It would be Cody and I versus Anthony and Derek.

The stakes became elevated as I was running my mouth all night.

By 1 am everyone had fallen asleep.

That’s everyone but Cody and myself.

We took our NBA seriously and had recorded Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

We fired it up on the VCR and watched intently.

In the closing seconds, Larry Johnson hit an iconic 4-point play.

In a silent house, Cody made the noise equivalent to someone spilling milk.

“AAAHHHHHH!”

We then went outside to the porch facing South.

The cloudy sky left us a clunky view.

Some people sleep at 3 am.

This is my first recollection of Cody’s instinct to stretch the most out of every get together.

He was not going to let the chance to philosophize, laugh and love slip by.

This night stands out, because I was getting to know him.

GAME DAY

June 6th, 1999.

After my mom hooked us up with breakfast, we headed across the road to “Passey’s court.”

We were playing a best of seven series.

First team to 11, must win by 2.

Cody and I walked into a buzz saw.

We couldn’t stop Derek’s drives, and Anthony’s mid-range jumpers.

We knew they were good and came with chemistry.

I also discovered something else.

Cody and I were not the best fit as a basketball duo.

He was a small player, and I played small.

No hangovers or lack of sleep.

No excuses.

We were disorganized, and tripping all over each other.

They were working us over!

Barley aware of what had hit us, we were losing 3 games to 0.

We walked away and huddled up.

Briggs goes, “Well, backs against the wall. Bad Boys Pistons yo!”

He was saying we need to focus only on DEFENSE.

THE EPIC 4th GAME

Cody instantly stole the ball and threw me a dime behind his back.

It was on!

We got into them physically.

We were quicker.

Score?

11 to 11.

Cody and I were switching, boxing out, and taking charges.

Score?

14 to 14.

We were connected.

We were smothering them.

Getting buckets was now coming easy for us.

Score?

17 to 17.

Anthony drove to the cup, and Cody screamed as he swatted that trash down the driveway.

Mower walked to get the ball with a cocky strut.

Cody stared right through me, and his eyes did all the talking.

Seconds later, Briggs burned both dudes and spun in a for a reverse layup.

He walked off the court screaming, “I LOOOOOOVE THIS GAME!!!!”

I gave him a hard chest bump and said, “There you are Isiah!”

Derek and Anthony looked a little confused.

They were in complete control of the series, yet Cody and I had gone CRAZY.

This moment had become our personal uphill Super Bowl.

It was like we were the only two out there, competing with ourselves.

We were connected.

We were filling the gaps of each other’s weaknesses.

Score?

21 to 21.

We continued to beat them to spots and made them earn everything.

I can hear Cody yelling “NO QUITTING”!

We fought to the end.

Score?

Derek and Anthony 24.

Cody and Jay 22.

Final.

We sat there in silence with our hands on our knees.

It’s like we had blacked out during the fourth game.

We were now waking up to the fact we had been swept.

THE TAKEAWAY

This late morning created a bonding point for Cody and me.

We referred to it often.

We did our very best.

The effort, and having each other’s back, became more important to our story than winning.

I sure miss and love this guy.

For those of you struggling most, keep hanging in there.

Dealing with his loss, does not compare to anything in this story.

That said, I promise Cody would tell you “NO QUITTING!”

Jay C. Brandriet