Intramurder

Just thought I’d share this story with you all:

I coach my unit’s intramural basketball team. We’re 3-5 going into our second to last game and we’re playing a team that previously beat us. They are 1-7 and, obviously, we should have beat them before.

As the game progresses, one of their biggest player (#5) is fouling our players harder and harder (cuts one, knocks the wind out of another and, pokes another in the eye). Things are getting dirty, so I shout to the ref: “How about a flagrant foul? You haven’t called anything on this guy all night!” (Note: He and one of the refs were conversing for about 20 minutes before the start of the game. I’m assuming they are friends). I’m threatened with a technical foul (with 40 seconds to go and a 2 point lead). I swallow my complaints and hope my team knocks down the freethrows. They do and we win.

Afterwards, we shake hands. When I walk past #5 who neglects to shake my hand, I hear, “Man, I ain’t shaking your hand. Hiding behind your pretty uniform. Why don’t you put a jersey on? It must be because you suck.”

True, I was in uniform (I came straight from work) and I had no intention of playing, considering the number of people that usually ride the bench. But I’ve never used my rank in the gym and I wasn’t about to now.

Anyways, I am incensed but don’t say a word. I smile and shake everyone elses’ hands and collect the jerseys. I chat with the team afterwards and leave with the win and satisfaction of being above it all.

I’ve seen a lot of people come to blows over petty things at the gym (USAFA included). I don’t know what it is about intramural sports that makes people forget that they serve under the same colors as their opponents and that after the whistle is blown and the jerseys are collected, they have to work together.

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