man down

It's two minutes into the second quarter and one of my players gets ejected from the game against Priory High School for having 3 major fouls, except that he's only actually committed two, but the dumb cunt at the scorer's table "accidentally" put him down for three. I look at her and give her a thumbs up sign, she smiles, I feel like she hasn't quite got the message. I go up to the referee to argue, but he says "Look son, I have to go by the table, you should have posted one of your people up here to make sure they're getting things right." Fuck, duly noted.

I have 11 players on the team, but four are ineligible for game play (3 due to grades and 1 one due to transfer ineligibility). That means, for the first four games, all players must go full games. That means 28 minutes of grueling competition. I can't even jog for 28 minutes straight.

The ref gets me and the Priory coach together and ask us what we want to do. "Let's just play it out," I say, we didn't practice for the last month just to forfeit some game because we were a man down. We are up two at this point and the game was looking like it was in the bag. We had practiced man down defense drills, but not for 3 quarters of game play. Up through the fourth we continue to hold on defense and maintain our lead. That is until the last two minutes, I call a time out.

The kids are gassed, they have given it their all and there's not much left.

"We've got to press on defense, keep the pressure up. I know you guys are tired, but the game is in this next two minutes."

"Yes, Coach."

"Now, go out there and finish this game."

Priory is able to score two at the end of the game. We lose. What surprises me is that none of the boys are sad, there are no heads hung low, or whining or complaining. I am proud of them. This one kid, Garrett, I was especially proud of. He's shy, frail, and no more than a buck twenty. He showed up big to the game though and I think it's the first time he felt like he was a part of the team.

At the end of the game a parent from the other team congratulates me.

"You guys did great especially with a man down."

"Yeah, it was a tough loss, but I can't really complain about the outcome."

"Not, at all. Why do you have four of the bench?"

I tell him why and he says, "Wow, you guys will be good once they're back in." I nod my head in agreement.

On another note, a big thank you to everyone who came out to the "Languages of Anxiety" show last week. It was a good time. We surprisingly finished all the absinthe, but were about a baker's dozen short of finishing all the beer. I am helping install a show for Kearny Street Workshop and their show opens this upcoming Thursday, September 17th. All the info can be found here.

Personal work has been going well and it's been good with the semi-hectic schedule. Just three more months until paradise.