Time to get caught up…..

The last we left you on the blog, it was another snow day for the boys…. not really that much snow but a good day to get out and take some photos. That seems like last year, but really was not even a couple of months ago. Since then a lot has happened but we’ve been a little busy so the next few posts will be getting everyone caught up.
This first post is the Junior Varsity and Varsity Basketball Tournaments. We’re sure you are probably tired of seeing basketball photos but these will be the last for Alex and the last for Sam for at least another year. The JV team didn’t really stand a chance losing the first and only game (single elimination tournament) by a wide margin. Sam did get a little bit of playing time and continues to show improvement – rebounding and fighting for loose balls (at KU they call these floor burns and actually track how many each player has during the season).
The Varsity team played 3 games as it was a double elimination tournament. The first game was the worst and most frustrating – losing by a wide margin in a challenging environment. We were playing the home town team and the referees were definitely a little bias in the foul calling. In fact the calls were so bad that our coach was actually kicked out of the game after his second technical foul. Of course at the time we were trading the lead with the home town favorites and they seemed quite concerned – not expecting such a tough game. During the second half our best player got tangled up with another player and twisted his angle – of course no foul was called and this was pretty much the last time the score was close. The home team and the refs took over the game after the injury. The calling was so bad that Dad got up and left half way through the second half because he was afraid he was going to start dropping some un-christian like language. Several other fathers left after that but they never returned. The second game was very good – and we ended up winning but it was down to the buzzer. This time the other team’s coach got a technical as the refereeing didn’t improve… our coach had learned his lesson. In fact it was so bad at the second game that the opposing coach called a timeout and went over and called our coach and both teams to the sidelines and told them all the refs were terrible and we just needed to ignore them and try not to foul or say anything. The third and last game came the following day and the boys were tired and uninspired – most didn’t really want to be their playing for fifth place and it showed. We were very sorry to see Alex go out on a losing note, but Alex improved greatly over the last year and was by far the best defensive player on the team. We were very proud of him and Sam and look forward to Sam playing a few more years.