Some of you may be wondering why I'm writing about this with so many other issues I could be focusing on as well as allowing a backlog to build-up in my work. Several reasons really, the least of which is allowing me to keep my sanity. Can't I have just one little love for myself amidst the overwhelming sea of daily you-know-what?
More importantly is to give you the reader more of an insight into where I am and what I am doing right now. It is a couple of weeks of the year. I don't think I'm asking too much, do you? Other than actually participating, these are a few of my favorite things as the song goes.
Anyhow, last night the home team had turned the tables on the team that eliminated them last year and had rallied to take a one-point lead with possession of the basketball and the shot clock turned off. They needed to only hold the ball and wait for Hoosac to foul. Then the star player (who had brought them back with hot shooting in the final period) committed a cardinal sin. Like Brett Favre in the football game against New Orleans, the kid threw a diagonal cross-court pass that you are taught never to throw from grade-school.
That wasn't the end of it. Hoosac missed the free throw that would have tied the game; however, another cardinal sin -- allowing an offensive rebound off a missed free throw -- allowed a put-back that put the home team down a point with 10 seconds left. Still a chance to win the game; however, a loose ball resulted in a jump ball with possession going to Hoosac with 4.5 seconds remaining. Again the free throw was missed after being forced to foul; however, the star player -- with plenty of time to dribble up court and get a shot -- slipped (bumped?) and lost the ball, and a desperate half-court heave just missed resulting in an excruciating one-point loss. Still a great game of basketball, and what makes attendance for a minimal fee well worth it.
Then the WORLD INTRUDED in the SECOND GAME. In a rough game with mouths flapping there was darn near a brawl at the end of the game. I was SO PISSED! Here I am touting Hoosiersville out here and chastising the city schools for the violence on and off the court and I have to witness a pushing and shoving match!!!
(Blog editors note: Basketball players can not throw punches. Take it from me, we don't know how to fight and most never had to. The size generally saw to that, and no one messes with you if you blacken a kid's eye when challenged with a lucky punch. And now, years later, I ABHOR VIOLENCE on the BASKETBALL FLOOR)
So I started yelling at both squads to knock it off and stop spoiling the game!!! No need for that I was yelling! Why some kids feel the need to inflame and instigate the situation is beyond me. Scrum going on and as peace is being made and order restored guys start getting in and clapping at each others faces.
At that time -- believe it or not -- I was actually worried about the OFFICIALS!!! One young guy and two short old guys trying to stop a maelstorm mob of kids?? Sort of made all the griping about bad (or perceived as bad as a partisan; must pull for the kids from the northern and western counties) calls during the course of the game, none of which ever stick enough to engender animosity after the game is over.
But that good will DOES NOT EXTEND to the TELEVISION and LOCAL NEWSPAPERS!
First, I stayed awake and taped the TV report, and the LOCAL LEADER in high-school sports coverage said the HOME TEAM WON before going on to highlights of one Drury kid scoring in the second game saying he was a machine. Well, they got about half his 15 points on tape -- of the 41 points they scored as team -- and lost the game by 15. That must have been the only tape sent by whoever was there "covering" the game for them. I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't believe it. How do you f*** up a basketball game report?
Now, they are supposed to do a 20-minute segment tonight (regular feature during the season); however, I am afraid to watch. I could compare today's broadcasts to those of ten years ago and the drop-off is so precipitous I have a hard time typing this without that hurt in my chest. Amerika's MSM SUCKS, and I'm so glad I don't watch television news anymore.
And then there are the PAPERS, sob!!!
"The Senators failed to get off a final shot"
Wrong!!! I was there, they got off a 60-footer that just missed (unless refs were prepared to wave off a good hoop. something they did a couple of times to the home team in a one-point game)
Here is how the local reported it (not on web site, or not yet anyway):
".... Bardsley, whose 60-foot desperation heave at the buzzer fell just a few feet short of the rim (Greenfield Recorder March 5 2010)."
More to the side, but you get my point, right, readers?
How sad the the rink-dink county local gets it right with much fuller coverage, 'eh, readers?
