A Storybook Night...With A Not So Storybook Ending

[AeroZach]

January 6, 2006

Its that time of year again. Taft Tournament time!! Besides graduation time, this is probably the most exciting time of the year. Its when we get basketball teams from across the area i live in and we do a tournament, bracketed like the NCAA. Ive put in hours of work at school all week. Including school time, I worked 12 hours on Wednesday, had a day off yesterday, and worked a total of 13 1/2 hours today. I kinda slacked off the last two hours and just watched a few games. I saw many friends i havent seen in forever, whom i missed greatly after such a long time. I also saw my friend Tracy's game, listening to "1984" (album) on my iPod, to get me pumped (which worked) and right before halftime, we needed to leave her game and get ready for ours. We went out on court, shot some layups and then it was gametime!!!

First Quarter: I didnt start the usual guys did. Brandon Trojanowski (7th grader brought up for the tourney) nailed 7 first quarter points and gave us a decent lead that we needed. BT nailed a three and two layups. The other guys held up on defense very well. Score: 7-2, Taft

Second Quarter: I get in, and play the whole quarter. Didnt score any points, but im no shooter. A few rebounds, and GREAT defense. I dont like bragging, but i think i did a fairly decent job. Typical performance from me, top notch off the bench. Nicco Gumino, one of my best friends, scored the only points for us in the second, and KG (Kelvin Grove, local school) scored 8 points, giving them a small lead. Score: 10-9, Kelvin Grove

Third Quarter: After coach Howard's standard pep talk, we went back out. Not too much of an exciting quarter, me and Nicco just sat on the bence and screamed our lungs off, trying to make some noise and help the guys out. They scored 7, we scored 5. Score: 17-14, Kelvin Grove

Fourth Quarter: All I can say is, VERY exciting. We went out like a house of fire, and we cheered our asses off on the bench. Aris, a BIG (waisted) Greek kid, got fouls called for him so much, yet he couldnt deliver at the line. Yet, he gets fouled out, for tripping on some kids foot, causing another to fall over (bullshit call, i know) and Coach got more pissed than ive ever seen him before. He went out, said a few things to the ref, he says "He just tripped, it wasnt a foul" and the ref says "Well, this isnt football, coach" and Coach yelled something, i dont remember what, and the ref said "You're being way too aggressive" and he says "No, im not. Being aggressive is me going out there up in your face and bumping you". Good for coach. When Aris left the court, me, Nicco, and Brandon Kimbrough were raising our arms yelling "Talk! Talk!" off the bench, so people could cheer him off. Our offense delivered surprisingly, forcing overtime at 21-21.

Overtime: 3 minutes. Thats 2 less than a regular quarter. It was one of the longest moments of my life. They go in, get fouled going up for a shot, and they nail a free throw. They now lead by one. Theres on guy who i figured would stand out all season, but didnt fulfill my expectations. His name is Cornelius Gordon. Strength like Shaq, shot like Jordan. Never put it into effect, though. Well, after Sean Kammer misses a shot, he tears down the rebound, goes up strongly, nails a shot...AND ONE!! Nailed the free throw. We lead by two. They run it down court, they call a bullshit foul, and they get one free throw. They trail by one. Cornelius got fouled again down court. He nails a free throw, we lead by two. We on the bench were screaming and cheering louder than hell. Nine seconds left. The bring it down court, take a shot. Miss. Take another shot. Miss. 1.3 seconds left. Darren Slowik (maybe our top player, didnt have the game of his life tonight) pulls down a rebound, and the game was over. A late come from behind victory leads to a tournament game win, and we move on to round two. Final score: 25-23, Taft

After game: Feeling pride in beating those cocky son of a bitches, i go to the locker room, get changed, am the last one to leave, talked to Coach about the game and working on Saturday. As i went downstairs, and this was done to every player, while i walked, there was one side of the room full of people and another full of people. All they do is cheer, say good job, pat on the back, give hugs (the girls only, haha) and it was just great. Ive never felt so respected in my life. I go over to Nicco, who gave me a ride home, and said to hold on, as i said goodbye to those long-missed friends, and played basketbal with Sean Hall, his dad (our assistant coach) Leianne Maugeri (the best girl basketball player ive ever met) Sam Bond, and Steffinay Lillis (two freshman basketball players, good ones too). It was just a great night...

...yet no night is perfect. Im walking down the halls, and all the sudden i see Megan go up to Morgan and Jenny (all three 7th graders) run up to them crying. I figure i should ask whats going on, since theyre all friends of mine. She says that Steve Alicz (also in 7th grade) was jumped, mugged, whatever you want to call it. Now, let me explain who Steve is. Steve is a 7th grader. Hes a cocky person who often acts like an asshole to me. Yet, i still have respect for the guy. He has a good attitude when he needs to have one. Now, hes short, and he got jumped by five big Fairmont guys. Heres something about Fairmont. Thats a bigger group of asses than Kelvin Grove. When we played them, theres this kid everyone on my team know named Syd. He picked fights with our guys on court, and apparently needed revenge, because he figured he was mistreated by us. Asshole. So, these five rather big guys, headlock him and just beat the hell out of his face. After i heard this, i asked where he was. Someone, i forget who, said the bathroom. I said, extremely pissed off, who did it? He didnt know, but someone from the school already caught them. Now, witnessing a few fights back home in Midway, i learned NEVER to ask "Are you alright?" Its human instict, but when a person gets jumped, they dont wanna talk to anybody. So i left him alone. The shit was beaten out of his face, and i felt bad for the kid. He had no chance, and him being as cocky as he is, he wouldve admitted that very same thing. So the atmosphere of a great victory over a rival school, shattered by some scum-of-the-earth assholes who felt superior by beating the shit out of a little guy for no reason at all.

What drives people to do such heartless things in this world anyway?

[pranav]

congratulations on your victory feel sorry for the kid though