Day 58

February 26, 2010

 

 

Day 58:

 

            Today seemed to me like a very long day. Friday is always a good day so I’ll never complain about a long Friday but today was different for some reason. In class, I introduced journal writing to the kids and gave them time to study for their quiz. I told them since they were good this week that I’d wait until after the three day weekend for the quiz. That was pretty easy. After class, I was in the trailer working on the 7^th grade standardized test when I asked Edie about what our dinner plans were. She said she didn’t know but that we would probably eat early so that they could come to my game. I had no clue what game she was talking about. Turns out John told someone about our game last night but they didn’t tell me. So I had a game tonight scheduled for 7:30. So I ate a grilled cheese for lunch and figured I wouldn’t eat too much else before the game just because the timing of the whole thing was off. When the game was pushed back to 8:30 I decided to go to the resort and get a burger with Peter, Robyn, Eric and Professor Garrod before the game. I got to the game around 8:30 and the volleyball game that was happening before our game hadn’t even started yet. So I stood around for quite a while; alone until Ally, Eric, Edie and Ben showed up. We were playing team Kool-Aid. Laugh at the name if you want but these guys were good. They were the consensus best team on the island comprised of most of the best players on the island. I was excited to play against some real competition and was actually a bit nervous before the game. During warm-ups I shot well and my legs were much looser than they had been in the previous games. There were kids everywhere as usual, but this time, since Edie, Eric, Ally and Ben were there, the kids were now gathered in a huge group that completely ignored the boundaries of the basketball court. Ally and Eric ended up leaving because Ally wasn’t feeling well. So Edie an Eric stayed and entertained the children.

            We ended up losing the game by 8 but I’m not terribly upset by it. I mean we played a team that, as a team, was better than us from top to bottom. And the game wasn’t sealed until we had to foul at the end. And even then with their missed free throws and lane violations we still could have made it a closer game. Eventually they hit their free throws and we ended up losing 54-46.

            Kool-Aid had a lady fan that was seated in her car that was parked right by the court. I had fun with her. Whenever I would shoot a free throw she would honk the horn. I made my first four so it was fun because after I’d make it I’d wink at her, or point, or something like that. We laughed about that together. Then I missed my fifth free throw so I asked the ref if that was allowed. As always, his clueless, Marshallese-biased ass said, “Just play.” I say to myself, Okay, I can do that. So I did. Eventually she started honking after Kool-Aid made baskets and right after they released their free throws. Not quite the same effect but I appreciate the attempt at sportsmanship.

            Don’t get me wrong, I hate to lose. Absolutely HATE to lose. The only person that I know that hates to lose more than me is my brother Cameron. But I played pretty well and four of the guys on the other team are on the Marshallese Olympic Basketball Team. So I can now officially say that I’ve hooped with Olympians. After the game, Edie and Ben joined us on the back of the pickup truck that we take to all the games. We had piled nine on the back this time and five inside. For anyone who has the stereotype of Mexicans squeezing into vehicles, come holler at the Marshallese. They get it done too!

            When I got back it was after 11. Exhausted from a hard fought game, and hungry, I took a shower, ate some leftovers and went to bed early.