We don't mind losing when we coach. Really, we don't. As long as our kids play hard, play smart and have fun, we're OK with whatever outcome the end brings. Actually, there is one exception. We loathe losing to coaches who are A-holes.
So far this year our collective coaching record for soccer, football and basketball is 25-1-1. When we win, we try not to make a big deal about it.
Five weeks ago, during a lopsided W, we were making small talk with the other coach. He mentioned that the week prior he had played against a team that "looked like they had played together for years." He also mentioned that the team played in a competitive league against other towns at a local sports facility. "They run plays and stuff," he said in awe.
After the game we went home and figured out what team the coach was talking about. We circled the date of our game with them. February 20. We did not fear the match-up. In fact, we embraced it. After weeks of rolling up on over-matched teams, we wanted to see how we would do against a formidable foe.
Four days ago, however, the sheeet hit the fan. Three parents e-mailed us and said their kids would not be at the game. Unfortunately, the three players were the 2nd, 3rd and 5th best players on our 10 man team.
And so it was yesterday when we walked into the gym. We had no expectation of winning.
They scored first their first time down the court.
They were a good team. They had two good players, including the coach's son who played the point. After The Playmaker, he was the best player we've seen all season.
And this is where things got interesting. The other team had just six players. The subbing should have been easy. Playing approximately five minute shifts, we probably subbed 10 times during the game. Guess how many times the coach's son came out?
If your answer was less than 1...BINGO. ..we have a winner! Zero times!
Let's continue.
Playing the entire game, the coach let his son dribble the ball down court EVERY single possession, except for the final two of the game. (As usual, we had a different player dribble the ball up every possession. To let the coach know he was a douche bag, we would call out the player's name whose turn it was and then add, "Everyone gets a chance to dribble with the Bucks!")
Let's continue (again). Back to the aforementioned last two possessions of the game, when the coach actually let someone other than his kid dribble. On those two possessions, while another kid dribbled, he ran his son off of a DOUBLE PICK to free him for the final two shots.
Oh. We forgot to mention that setting picks in the 1st/2nd grade league is effing ILLEGAL.
So to summarize:
*The coach played his star player/own kid the ENTIRE game.
*The coach let only his star player/own kid dribble the ball up the court for 99 percent of the game.
*The coach ran illegal picks on nearly every possession.
*Every one of our seven players got to bring the ball up the court multiple times.
*We were missing our 2nd best player, as well as two other good players.
*Their team had blown out all of its previous opponents.
Add all those things together, and we won 30-24. And we did it Playing The Right Way.
The Playmaker scored 14 points on 7-13 shooting. He also had 3 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks. And he guarded the coach's son, which meant he worked harder on D than on the offensive end. Every time down he had to fight through and around picks. He never once bitched or complained. In fact, the coach's son was the baby who was bitching. After one layup, he ran by us and said matter of factly, "Your player fouled me."
Our response?!?
We looked him straight in the eye and said, "You travelled first."
Classic.
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