Seriously bummed

Another basketball season has faded away...along with the hopes of a first place win. This year, as in many years past, resulted in winning second place in the city-wide tournament. I suppose what makes it different this year is the hint of scandal that took place during the season and the
questions left unanswered.

Case in point... The team we played is not known for it's sportsmanlike conduct... The Coach is one of the members of the League's board of directors and has been under scrutiny since it was documented last year that his Wife would sit behind opposing team's benches and radio their plays to her Husband during the games.

Case in point #2... since said Coach was on the Board, he was in charge of distributing the "pool" of new players. We got one new player who had never played basketball before, while his team got three new players, two of them black and one white, and all over 5 foot 8 inches tall. He also had one new player who showed up only to play in tournament games, but none of the regular season games... which is against league rules.

Case in point #3... during the Christmas week tournament our team was scheduled to play 4 games while the opposing team only had to play 3. We were undefeated in the tourney and yet this team was awarded first place based on point spread BEFORE OUR FINAL GAME WAS FINISHED!!!

Today's heartbreaking loss, (our last as a team since next year the school will have it's own team) with a score of 34 to 29 was a mess. We didn't play our best, but at one point the opposing team had two of their players surround one of ours and foul him at least 4 times before stealing the ball, dribbling to the end of the court, walking 4 steps and making two points. No Walks, No Fouls...the other team wins.

There were numerous fouls and walks during the game that apparently went unnoticed by the Referees, but not by the crowd who began to yell "Walk" and "Foul" in protest. One particularly bad "non-call" involved a player taking 8 steps before shooting the ball...again, a two-pointer, but not a walk...hmmmm....

We played fair, we played hard...and even though in the eyes of the league we didn't win first place...we were the good guys, the best players and the Most valuable players, as well. Dustin's team was the best team there...trophy or no trophy.

-David