An experiment in game management

[Back In The Saddle]

Had a soph. boys game tonight, complete with the requisite 37 fans. There were a half dozen home team kids sitting at mid-court. To say they were vocal would be an understatement.

As we came out after halftime I figured I'd see if engaging them a little might win them over. It was an admittedly shameless ploy, but worth a shot.

So I struck up a little conversation. Pretty quickly one of the kids pulls out a small air horn and asks, "Can I use this?" "Ummm, no. Can't have any artificial noisemakers. Sorry." "Not even if my friend actually makes a basket?" That made me laugh. "Tell you what, if he makes a basket I hear it go off and I look this way and it's out of sight, I'll probably let it go." "Thanks!" "Oh, and this conversation never happened."

It worked. We didn't get a bit of hassle from them the rest of the night, even though their team lost the game. The horn did go off, kind of half-heartedly once. I looked over, and the kid with horn was grinning embarrassedly. He had accidentally sat on it.