[BillyMac]

Girls varsity scrimmage yesterday. I'm the trail, A1 attempts three pointer, and before she lands on the floor, is pushed by B1. I sound my whistle, and before I can report the foul, B1, sounding incredulous, says, "What did I do? I was just boxing her out" (too bad that I can't show you her body language, and the tone of her statement, they both weren't good).

Fast forward a few periods. B1, that's right, the same B1, attempts to block an opponent's shot. My partner sounds his whistle to charge her with a foul. While holding both arms straight up above her head (you know, the way kid's do to pretend that they didn't reach across, and contact the opponent), she questions my partner's call.

Remembering the earlier play, my partner tells her, in no uncertain terms, that she had better keep her comments to herself. Her coach hears this conversation and immediately removes her from the game, at which point she decided to mouth off to her coach, "But I didn't do anything". She sits, at the end of the bench, with the junior varsity players, for the rest of the scrimmage.

For me, the odd thing is that, around here, kid's usually either keep their mouth shut, or spout off enough to get an "instant cup of tea". I hope that this isn't a harbinger of what the rest of my season is going to be like.