> Okay, not important as in life or death.
> This is rather interesting, actually.
>
> On Saturday we had a game against our second
> biggest rivals, University, and they are the only
> team ahead of us in division play. We were tied
> for first before the game. I was pumped and ready
> to go, as I hoped everyone else was. Coach always
> tells us that when we come to any basketball
> related thing, practice or game, we should be
> ready to practice, with our heads in it. Well,
> the practices we had before the game were during
> finals, and everyone was thinking, of course,
> about finals. So practices that week were
> terrible. Coach warned us, but we figured that we
> would be ready, I mean, it's University, biggest
> game of the season so far.
> Well, Saturday came, right after Friday, as
> it often does. I got there an hour and a half
> early, and shot around. I had to take the bus,
> you see. Our point guard showed up stoned, but
> that didn't seem to affect him. We were pumped
> for the tip, and right away University got out to
> a 10-0 lead on us. We weren't doing anything
> right. Not to put myself up, but I was the only
> one who realized that they would release two guys
> on every rebound and score a layup. Nobody got
> back on defense. Well, the halftime score was
> 33-7. The final score was 62-20. Nobody on our
> team believed that having a bad practice befroe a
> game could possibly affect our ability in the
> game. Coach ripped us a new one in the locker
> room after the game. I was so pissed at the team
> tthat I couldn't stop swearing. It seemed that
> everyone was doing everything wrong.
> I'm not saying that I'm the only one on the
> team who can play basketball. I just get so
> frustrated with some of the things that our
> players do. Some of the mental errors are
> incredible when you stop to think about them. I
> won't even go into them. Also, my friend was
> there, and he agreed that our coach was really not
> great. He should've realized this, and done that
> to counter it. He should have switched defense
> here. He should have run this here. And so on.
> But he didn't say anything. All he did was tell
> us that we didn't want it enough. Oh, beleive me,
> I wanted it, and on Tuesday, when we host our
> rival, Branson, I swear we will rip them apart,
> put them back together and rip them apart again.
> I can't wait.
> And we will have a good practice Monday.
>
> Finchplucker #12, but in a 4-30 shooting slump
> (about), and pissed about it.
>

I guess it's a tough way to build character, Finch, but at least you sound determined.

When I was in high school, we had a team that lost to a big rival in the finals of the district tournament. They took about a 25-point beating and they went from humiliation to downright mad.
But there was a consolation game the next day and the opponent was a team that had beaten them badly in the regular season. No matter. They mopped up to the tune of 40 points. Seems like it was about 80 to 40. They won the state championship the next year(1954).