Endless in a Victory of Yourself

We won Tuesday!  It was the first victory for the A-team (B-team wasn’t so fortunate) and it felt really good; a 45-43 thriller over Thornton Junior High.  Thornton was the team that beat us by two when we visited them, so it was nice to come away with a win we knew we could get.  The girls were screaming and jumping up and down…and who could blame them?  What’s funny is that hella parents were screaming and jumping up and down, too.  And before the game players had been getting frustrated and one girl wanted to switch teams and cliques had been forming, whose effects had been spilling onto the court.  That all seemed to disappear afterward.  Winning sure solves a lot of problems, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, I didn’t reel ‘em back in.  We lost on Thursday, 74-9.  Not a typo.  I’ve never seen so many fast break points.  I think that’s something tied to the losing mentality, when a team loses so much they expect to lose and it doesn’t bother them.  Somehow I want to instill that sense of pride.  I want the players to take it personally if that girl from Hopkins scores three times.  I want them to think (but not say) “Fuck that!  Gimme the goddamned ball!  I’m scoring NOW.  Switch, switch.  Let ME defend her.”  And then, of course, execute that plan in a completely sportsmanlike manner.