I don't know why anyone should be interested in this, but just in case a few folks are, I would love to hear some feedback. So here's the story. I play in a rec basketball league. Our games are on Sundays. I live in LA. Our game just happened to be at the time of the second half of the Lakers game today. As a result half of our team doesn't show up. There were three of us ready to play and one of our players with a hurt knee was there to cheer us on. He ended up having to put on a jersey and hobble around with us, just to keep us from forfitting. Our team sucks, but we usually have a lot of fun. We play hard, make jokes, and get along well with the other team, and the officials most of the time. We are in the lowest level of the league, the 'D' division. Last week because of the Lakers game we started out 4 against 5 but the other guys showed up at halftime. Today was an over time game and they never showed. That is just set up. Here is the part that I wonder if I did the right thing, or had the right attitude. The other team with 8 players is killing us. After awhile they started not trying on defense, and we asked them if they could go ahead and put forth an effort on defense so that we could at least get some practice. We are down by about 30 points, and we had just scored. Number '10' on the other team is inbounding the ball under his own basket. I turn my back to get back down court, and rather than throw it to his teammates, he bounces the ball off of my back, and brings it up himself. The play is legal and had it been done under our basket, or if he was falling out of bounds I wouldn't have cared. But doing it there to show up our team we are playing them at a disadvantage, because we only have 4 guys, really made me angry. I wanted a chance to give him a hard foul. It didn't happen that play, and after they scored I got the ball and was bringing it up. I'm not a great player, but I had been working on this move, so I figured I would try it on number '10'. I kind of start one way with a dribble behind the back, and then dribble the other way still behind my back. It is kind of like a crossover all behind the back. I was able to use it to get around number '10', but he got help from his teammates and I missed the shot. Then the next play our big guy who is out of shape and over 310 lbs. Tries a behind the back off the backboard shot that misses and number '10' is laughing at him. Our player asks, "Why are you laughing at me number 10?" I got really annoyed and renewed my determination to give the guy a hard foul. He was on the 3-point line and about to shoot, when I came up from behind, jumped around him and swung my arm down hard. I aimed at the ball, but I didn't care if I got his arm, or his nose or anything else. I expected to get a foul called. But as it turns out I did get all ball, and the ref called it a block. The guy was upset saying that he was going to pass at the last minute and it should have been a block. The ref just laughed at him. So in the end I didn't really even touch the guy. But I was wondering was I wrong to go in with the possibility of giving him a hard foul. I was angry and the game wasn't close, and it isn't all that competitive of a league. I was just so mad that someone who is playing with a 5 on 4 advantage would try and do that. I wondered if I was wrong to even think of revenge, or was my reaction fair?
Under those circumstances, a hard foul seems justified (mostly because the guy's an *******). But, a guy who behaves like that will more than likely want to fight you after the hard foul.
It sounds like you guys don't really take the league very seriously, with guys not showing and not calling and shooting shots behind the back. Maybe the other team was expecting to get a better effort from their opponents. Maybe they were annoyed that you guys don't take it seriously. Maybe the other team was just bored and pissed that they showed up only to play a team where half the guys didn't bother showing up. I know it's not a serious league, but that would piss me off if the other team just didn't show. It's disrespectful IMO.
It's not worth it. Just let it go. I've wanted to do stuff like this before, and the time or two that I did I regretted it.
Well it was just one guy on the other team. After the game I didn't shake that guys hand, but I did everyone elses. We made a point of apologising to the other time for half of our team being flakes. Yes I am pissed at the guys who didn't show up, on our team, but that is something I don't have control of. I do have some control over how I played, and the attitude I have at a game. The guys who didn't show up and didn't let us know in advance will more than likely be replaced at this point. From the beginning of the season I knew we were in bad shape, endurance wise, and wouldn't win too many games. But we play hard, and we try to work on our game. A day like today when we were losing we each picked one aspect of our game we wanted to improve and just work on it any chance we got. The other team had a right to be disappointed, but despite the fact that their were only 4 of us we never stopped trying. How much of a coup is it for some guy to show us up when we only have 4 players? I guess that is what it takes for some people to feel good about themselves. But it's like kicking someone when they are down. That doesn't mean you are a good fighter. When we are in the game we play hard. We get blown out most of the time and that part, I don't like. But the most important thing is that I have fun, and get to work on my game. As a team we are vastly improved over where we started the season.
I can't fly you in, but if you let me know that you can be here every Sunday for the next 10 or so, you are more than welcome to have a spot on the team.
Basketball brings out the inner rage within a man's heart. I would have just eaten his soul and pissed on his remains.
Well your first mistake is living in California, but we'll move beyond that... Hell yeah give him a hard ass foul for pulling that shiet playing 4 on 5 -- actually give him 2 hard fouls -- drop some solid talk trash on him and the ref and get thrown out.
maybe it's just the way i play, but i think you're fine going for a hard foul. As long as the intent isn't to actually hurt the guy seriously, a hard foul is a hard foul. If they wanna call a tech on you, no big deal.. just let the other guy know that disrespecting your team and the game won't be tolerated. He'll know what the foul was for. Also, as long as you're ready to just walk away after the contact. Don't be uspet enough to want to fight or anything. It's alright to talk a little bit if he's talking to you, but don't let it escalate. If you feel it escalating, walk away.. more often than not, he's gonna be the one with the messed up head after a play like that.
I was trying for a clean block, but I wouldn't have been unhappy if it wasn't so clean at the time. Also in regards to the other post, there is no trash talking in the league at all. It's an automatic Tech. It was clearly poor sportsmanship by the other guy, and I think maybe by hoping for a hard foul against him that I would have been guilty of the same thing. I did swing hard at the ball, and I was expecting that I would have fould him, but my aim was at the ball, and not the man. Looking back at it now that I am a little removed, I am still mad at the guy and think he was a real jerk. But I don't want to be a poor sport in a recreational league that is supposed to be about fun. I think at least some portion of the anger I was feeling at that moment was pinned up anger at my own teammates who didn't show up, because they were watching TV. That being said, it did feel good to swat that ball so hard out of his hands. I guess it was wrong of me to hope for a chance to give him a hard foul earlier in the game like I did.
appears we have a bunch of women on this board. if your foul doesn't look like this, don't even bother
FB- you have internal anger problems. Something as trivial as throwing the ball off your back is not something that should keep you upset hours after the game. I've seen similar angry outbursts from you in the D&D forum, as well. I'd suggest some anger management classes. They should be of use.
Maybe you should have fouled him hard enough to let him know what he did was wrong, but not hard enough to be obvious about it, if that makes sense. Or foul him hard and then apologize. That would really play with his mind. Playing with someone mentally is much more fun that physically, plus you're not sore in the morning. I played in a softball league a few years ago where the same kind of thing happened all the time. We were usually so far behind after a few innings that the other team would start batting left handed just to toy with us. Of course, we were so drunk by that time we didn't really care. Perhaps that's why we went 0-8 that season..
