strathspey@strathspey.org:52701

GOSS9@telefonica.net

Re: No more sword dances?

June 5, 2008, 12:24 p.m. (Message 52701, in reply to message 52611)

Here in Spain that type of cutthroat competition is pretty much 
associated only with football. Not to the extent of the Texas 
cheerleader mom who hired a hit man to attack the mother of her 
daughter´s closest competitor a few years back. 

Recently, I saw the opposite. We had an all day basket ball 
tournament, teams from all over the island kids 14 and under. One team 
from a distant village was really pathetic. was losing each game. 
Imagine getting up at 06:00 taking a bus in the dark for an all day 
event, and going home that night in the dark, cold and sweaty, and 
losing every event. Their last game was around 18:00, and they were 
losing about 52 to 0. The other coach on an ego trip, kept his first 
string in running up the score, where most coaches would pull the first 
string, to give his poorer players more game time. Smart anyway because 
it would give the team more depth for injuries and the next season. At 
some point, parents from his own team started booing their own baskets, 
pretty soon the entre gym was booing him. I suppose he found out later, 
but the look on his face at the time indicated that he had no clue as 
to the message.