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Worked an all-day tournament to do a favor for a friend, and to make a little extra money. We drove all in one car (an hour!) and of course, we arrived with very little prep time. I dashed onto my floor (where I would be working alone all day), talked briefly with the table people...
and then realized that my morning coffee was collecting itself in preparation for a fast exit. I ran to the rest room, quickly took care of things, and ran back. As I stepped in the door of the gym, I heard a whistle and saw that they had already started playing without me! The way this tournament ran was for all the floors to start together each rotation -- and I'd missed it, not having been in the pre-game.
The players were setting up for free throws at the far end as I ran across the floor. A player tried to pass me the ball, but it wasn't a good throw and it hit my toes and bounced up to my knees as I bent over to get it. For some reason, I felt I needed to avoid kicking the ball, so I stopped running -- well, my feet stopped, but unfortunately the rest of me didn't, and as I bent over to pick up the ball my momentum carried me on down to the floor.
I lay there for a few seconds trying to decide whether to fake a serious injury so I might get out with some shred of dignity left. In the end I just figured I'd have to be good enough to live down this little incident. i don't know whether I pulled it off or not.
What a way to start a Saturday! (I never did figure out who blew the whistle for the first foul!)
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