#1 falls
 

Friday night I have the semis of a girls tourney. state #1 in class 4 vs an unranked class 3. Class 3 school knocks them off by a few.

Last night I have state ranked #1 in class 3 (40+ game winning streak, defending state champions) vs an unranked below .500 class 4. Underdog wins by 21.

Seems I am bad luck to the favorites.

Interesting point is the losing coach last night told my partner at the buzzer to tell us we were one of the best crews he has had and would take us any night. Pretty cool moment for us since it was coming from the losing Coach.

Don't mean to rain on your parade, but if you believe 'em when they tell you you're good, are you gonna believe 'em when they tell you suck too? Coaches are often some of the most disingenuous people I've ever met.

My parade was rather small. I subscribe to the philosophy you ain't as good as you think you are and you ain't as bad as they say you are.

Sometimes when they say I suck they are right. :(

The good thing if he was lying at least he was nice doing it. Or maybe we are just less horrible than what he is used to.

I like to think that coaches mean well by default. Had one team this year and they won. Next time I had them, their coach told me "Good game last time, glad to see you again." They ended up losing.

Had them again last night. Shook hands with the coach like usual, he says the exact same thing. Maybe he says that to everyone, I don't know.

That is a terrible attitude to have. How will you ever get better if you always think you suck?

I work baseball in the spring.

D1 (big schools) state champion lost one game all season. I was behind the plate for that game.

I was also working first base in the state final, which they won.

I had that same scenario two years ago with a softball team. Undefeated until I had a game in a tournament we travel 2 hours to go to so I'm not one of their normal guys. That Tourn has the BEST food ever. Then, they came to one of our local Tourn at like 26-1 and lost in championship. It was nothing toward me and nobody ever aaid anything but I did joke with partner after that I bet they don't want me calling anymore for them bc I'm bad luck. IIRC, they won state that year. Lucky for them I passed on final four. Ha!

Maybe I just have a sour taste in my mouth after something I experienced this past weekend.

I was working a 3 day, round robin tourney. There was one girls team that I somehow managed to land all 3 of their games.

Day 1, no issues. Of course, they were playing the worst of the other 3 teams that day, and won easily.

Day 2, coach was pretty chirpy starting late 1Q. 2nd quarter, she had something to say and I told her that was enough. Next time down the court, I call a hand checking foul against one of her players. I was C right in front of her bench. She takes a step out onto the floor, points to the other end of the court, and yells, "What about down there!?!?!?" I whack her. Game continues. At the end of the half, she approaches me at the table and apologizes. I let her know that I've moved on. We finish the game with no major issues.

After the game, our crew is in one of the coaches offices just off the gym that acts as our dressing room. There is a door between us and the lockerroom right next door, but at times, you can hear what's going on in the next room. We had discussed the game, changed clothes, and were just kind of moseying around, when we hear a little "cheer" break out on the other side of the door, which was occupied by the coach and team mentioned above. We all missed the first line of the "cheer," but here's what we DID hear:

Kick 'em in the ass
Rah, Rah, Ref
Kick em in the other knee

I ask my partners if I just heard what I thought I had heard. They both confirmed. One of the officials on the crew was the AD at the host school, and the host school was NOT involved in this game. My other partner recommended that we file a complaint with the school that coach was from. The AD Partner said that he thought he could just talk to her and that would take care of it. He spoke to her, but told us that when he did, she denied that the cheer had ANYTHING to do with the refs. A flat out lie.

Day 3, turns out to be the championship game of the round robin tourney as both teams were both undefeated. The game was between this same team and the host school. The only thing this coach said to any of us that night was "Thank You" when we greeted her before the game, and "Time out" when she wanted a timeout. Other than that, NOTHING. And it was a good game -- back and forth all night. No one led by more than 3-4 points at any given time. Home team stole the ball with a little over 10 seconds left and the score tied. Took off on a fast break and got fouled with 7 seconds remaining. FT shooter missed the first, made the second. Visitors, out of timeouts, throw the ball in and it is caught clean at half court. Another quick pass to a player in the FT Circle, who turns, shoots and misses. Her teammate grabs the rebound and puts one up at the buzzer, off the backboard, and it rims out. They lose by 1.

I'm pretty sure the ONLY reason that coach was so quiet in game 3 was because she KNEW she was caught red mouthed the night before. But this is a prime example of why I said that coaches are often disingenuous in their comments to us. They will say whatever they think serves the interests of their teams.

Or she had decided you were a horses behind because you misheard a cheer and made a big deal about it . . . a not uncommon cheer is:

Rah rah ree,
Kick 'em in the knee,
Rah rah rass
Kick 'em in the other knee!

Not hard for "rass" to sound like "refs," especially through a door.

(And, I dunno, hard to tell in writing, but the T the prior day seems pretty soft and maybe she thought you were thin skinned and not worth talking to.)

One might call generalizing to all coaches a bit disingenuous . . .

I only agree to a point. If it is after a win or before the game is over, sure, there may be other motives in play and should be taken with a grain of salt. However, when it is the losing coach who lost in an upset and says this after the game is over, it is probably genuine.

That cheer's been around since the 60's, and probably prior.

I'm guessing somewhere on a coaches board, she's already posted what happened to her this past weekend.

I said sometimes they are right. You then state always think you suck. Those are two different things. Sometimes does not equal always. Fact is sometimes they are right. If I ignore that sometimes I do suck then I won't get better. Being able to recognize when I do poor it essential to knowing what I need to improve on.

Jeremy,

Have you been to counseling? believing you suck all the time is not healthy.

(that was a joke. i know you said sometimes)

I have and now I only feel like I suck when I'm awake. Most of the night I feel I'm average.

You're never as good as you think you are and you're never as bad as they say you are. :)