Funny play of the day

[Mark Padgett]

Saturday morning little guy rec ball. I'm working at a school that has two gym floors separated by a curtain. My son, Josh, is working the other side (6th grade). The games are staggered, so I get to watch him between my games, at halftime, etc.

While I was watching, he had this play. A1 is driving toward the basket. B1 has perfect defensive position. A1 trips on B1's foot and goes down. The ball bounces up and B1 grabs it. He then starts to walk toward A1, who is sitting on the floor but unhurt, with his arm extended as if to help him up. Guess what? Yep - you guessed it. Josh calls a travel. It was the right call, of course.

Coach B stands up with his arms outstretched, shrugging, and asks what happened. Josh walks towards him and says, "Coach, as much as I appreciate the sportsmanship on the part of your player to help the other guy up, and as much as I really appreciate the fact that he knew how to get legal guarding position and hold it, he did walk with the ball. So, it's a travel call."

The coach looked at him for a moment and then said, "Oh, OK, thanks."

Also, in one of my games (5th grade), we come out from the halftime break and one of the kids asks me if it's green or white ball. I tell him the ball is kind of brown. He shakes his head and asks who does the ball belong to? I look at it and say, "Some kid named Spaulding." He shakes his head again and asks who has the ball. I reply, "I do".

His teammate, who heard the whole thing tells him to "forget it - sooner or later he's going to have to hand the ball to someone - then we'll know."

Actually, I thought that remark was pretty funny.