a bad day for basketball

Today our Wolfpack and Anderson's basketball team both lost their games. Badly. And to make matters worse, the Wolfpack lost to the Tarheels. I don't even know the final score. In situations like these, ignorance really is bliss. Once we started getting our "heinies" handed to us, I stopped watching.

Anderson and Paul, fortunately, didn't watch the entire State game because Anderson had his first basketball game of the season. And if Anderson's team had won, the Wolfpack loss would have been assuaged. But alas, that did not happen. Not even close. Anderson's team ended up losing 25-12. Yep, it was a low-scoring (particularly for Anderson's team), ugly, frequently chaotic game. Overall, it just wasn't a fun game to watch, for several reasons.

First of all, Anderson had to defend and be defended by the other team's best player, who was a very athletic, "brown" (as we say in our home) fourth grader who was a good three or four inches taller than Anderson. It was difficult for Anderson to try to shoot over him, but he did manage to score 4 points. Anyway, at the end of the game, the "brown" guy fouled out, and Anderson has a good scrape on his arm as evidence of one of those fouls. Actually, by the end of the game, Anderson just kinda ended up tackling the boy. They were fighting for the ball, so Anderson seized the opportunity to vent a little frustration.

Second, some of our players really seemed like they had never held a basketball in their hands before. One kid, who is actually a decent shooter, was dribbling the ball toward his basket when he saw the defense closing in on him. So, he just decided to take off for the opponent's goal instead (where there was no defensive coverage) and was almost at their basket before he heard the coach and Paul shouting at him. I should add that at this age, most kids know the game well and have fairly good ball-handling skills. Today, that didn't appear to be the case.

Third, one of the referees was an older gentleman with a bad knee (so he limped up and down the court with a grimmace on his face), and he gave the boys a mini-sermon every time he blew his whistle. I know he was probably just trying to teach the boys, but the clock didn't stop, and when you are down 10 points or more, you want him to stop talking and let the kids play! Okay, so maybe I am a little too competitive. You think?

Fourth, Paul is the assistant coach. He has been blessed with really great guys to coach with, and this year is no exception. However, the challenge for him can be that he doesn't want to step on the toes of the head coach, but that is hard to avoid when you see the kids lost on the court with very little direction. You just want to give them some, so Paul did. But by the end of the game, both Paul and Anderson were just.....frustrated, to say the least.

If there was any question about Anderson's feelings, I'd say that tackling his opponent and a good foot stomp and scowl on his face at the end of the game let me know our little boy was NOT happy. After a glare from his mom from across the court, he masked his frustrations a little better. We talked it out, and he was over it. But as for Paul, he was not.

So, we spent the second half of our day out of the house, trying to forget about the first half. We went bowling and to Goodberry's for ice cream. Of course, of all days, Anderson was struggling to bowl well (and he beat both of us last time we bowled), so he was ready to quit after the fifth frame. He said he'd just had "a bad day". We were merciful with him, telling him that he needed to be thankful for the good things in his life but inwardly knowing we would probably feel the same way in his shoes. After all, when you are a nine year old boy, losing ballgames feels like one of the worst things that could happen. As you grow older, you realize, it really is JUST a game.

Well, that is, unless the Wolfpack is playing the Tarheels...