Poor Form
Monday night my wife and I decided to make a quick trip after work downstate to watch our nephew play one of his last eighth grade basketball games. We got there just as the seventh grade game was finishing up and the home team where our nephew goes to school was beating their opponent pretty handily. I was hoping that would be the case with the 8th grade game, but instead, we were treated to an absolute battle that ended in the most unexpected of ways.
Our nephews team got off to a pretty rough start being down something like 14 to 2 at the end of the first quarter. It was starting to look like it was going to be a blood bath going the other way, then things started to shift. By the end of the second quarter and heading into halftime the home team had caught up with the other team and even pulled ahead by two points. It was 19 to 17 heading into halftime.
It appears that shift was just enough to throw the other team because I don't think they ever took the lead again through the remainder of the game. They did keep it pretty close though. It was a physical game and there were a fair share of fouls being called on both sides. Unfortunately, at one point the coach from the other team got a technical foul and things just seemed to decline from there. With the coach frustrated, the players on the other team started to get frustrated as well.
Fouls became more frequent and more aggressive. The assistant coach from the other team got talked to once again by the official, and before we knew it both coaches were being told they had to sit on the sideline and they weren't able to stand up. I couldn't really tell if the official was just being petty or if they had a legitimate reason for doing what they did.
To be fair, officials these days have to put up with a lot. It's a thankless job and I wouldn't want to do it. Parents are straight up nuts and their kids are learning from them. It's understandable to think they might have been trying to be preemptive to keep things from escalating. It's also plausible that one or both of them was on a bit of a power trip and enjoyed being able to tell the opposing coaches what to do.
Eventually, with one minute and twenty one seconds left on the clock, a player from the opposing team fell down. The coach thought it was a trip that didn't get called, though at this age, they do a good job of tripping over themselves half the time, so who knows. Anyway, with two technical fouls against the coach, the game was called and our nephews team won. They were on their way to winning anyway, so it was just a formality, but it still wasn't a great look from any angle. I'm sure excuses will be made and there will be no repercussion for the opposing coach. If anything he will be painted as the victim to his home team with the officials or my nephews team as the villains.
Despite all of that, our nephew played great. He had a ton of rebounds and he even made a few shots to score some points for his team.
I couldn't be more proud of him.
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