Game 4: A New Low

A new low for several reasons, and I find it awfully hard to believe that I'll be able to continue my basketball diary much longer if our struggles continue at the current ridiculous rate.

Game 4: June 24 vs. Fast Break

Things got off to an annoying start even before the tip-off. With severe storms rolling through the Kansas City area, we got a condescending lesson in meteorology from the $8 per hour scorekeeper, who informed us that we'd need to go to the community center's basement in the event of a tornado warning (although she actually initially said we'd have to do so if there was a tornado watch or warning; here in the our part of the country, there seem to be tornado watches at least once a week throughout the spring and summer, so her knowledge of these scenarios was clearly not as firm as she'd like to think).

Anyway, I really think we came out and played well for the first 10+ minutes. It was low scoring and pretty back-and-forth, as we played solid defense and were uncharacteristically patient on offense. Then, with about six minutes left in the half, some dude on the other team had to go and break his leg. We were down 16-11 at the time (I told you it was low scoring).

I didn't keep track of how long it took to resume the action; I'm guessing it was 15-20 minutes before they strapped him into the stretcher and wheeled him off the court. It was then that the pressure clearly was on us. You can't say that too often about a winless team, so I should explain. Our opponent had no subs on their bench, so they had to run with four guys the rest of the way. That's right -- we had a one-man advantage the rest of the way.

Fast Break decided the best way to combat the 4-on-5 situation was to contradict their name. They slowly walked the ball up the floor each possession, and they seemed to follow the Norman Dale basketball philosophy of passing the ball a minimum number of times before being allowed to shoot. Predictably, against our rag-tag collection of players, it worked. By halftime, their lead had been extended. We trailed 26-17.

The second half was painful. The four-man defense consistently lagged, daring us to shoot open jumpers. We obliged and justified the strategy by converting a ridiculously low percentage. I take a large part of the blame, as I felt as uncomfortable with my release as I had since our winter league began in January. I'd guess I was about 2-for-12 from the field. Fast Break's four-man offense, meanwhile, continued to be effectively patient, often getting the ball to a surprisingly skilled, thick big man on the post. The touch on his baseline turnaround made me fucking sick.

And it wasn't just our ineptitude that was setting me off. The officials, one in particular, were abhorrent. This old jerk-off literally wasn't watching the action on several occasions as obvious fouls or violations occurred. The worst was what should have been the easiest travelling call in the book, as one of our opponents slipped and fell on the floor with the ball, slid several feet and got back up without the whistle blowing. After having popped off on this worthless fuck of a referee a couple of times already, it was this occasion that almost got me tossed from the game. His partner actually ordered me to go to the other end of the floor, and it was there that he said he didn't want to hear another word from me. Especially with the game no longer in doubt, I was REALLY close to telling the bastard to shove his head up his fucking ass, but I knew this was the type of asshole who would have gone straight to an ejection rather than simply slapping me with a technical foul. An ejection means an automatic one-game suspension in this league too, so I somehow restrained ... but it still pisses me off just to think of it.

So the clock wound down relatively harmlessly after that, and we exited the court into a stormy summer night with not even our pride remaining. Salt in the wound: I returned home to a house without electricity, which wasn't restored until about 6:00am Thursday.

Final score: 42-26
SJI contribution (my postgame recollection of it): 6 points on two 3s.
Record: 0-4

Next game: July 1 vs. Anger Management (and, no, that's not a class I've been ordered to take)