And so tomorrow we get what we wished for -- a playoff game. I don’t know anything about our opponent, Hoover Middle School, beyond their 4-1 record. Typically, though, they are fairly good, and their 4-1 mark is probably legitimate. Their league is kind of like the ACC, and ours is kind of like the Big West. The good thing, though, is that my players know nothing at all about this team. When they asked me what their record was, I lied and told them that I didn’t know, then I launched into a speech about how records don’t matter anymore -- everyone is 0-0 once the playoffs start. They seemed to like that. Probably every 2-3 playoff team likes starting over.
Kenneth, by the way, is still on the team, but not because of any improved behavior. He wasn’t able to make it to practice on Friday, so he wasn’t able to do anything to get himself kicked off the team, which is probably good for everyone. I never really want to remove anyone from the team, for two reasons. First, I’m not convinced that that’s the best way to teach a lesson. Smaller penalties, like reduced playing time or the loss of a starting position, tend to work better. Second, if I kick a good player off the team, I’m actually punishing the rest of the team as well. So unless Kenneth yells at me during our walk-through tomorrow, he’s safe.
And so what should we expect tomorrow? Unfortunately, I expect that we’ll lose. My hope is that things don’t get ugly. Regardless of what happens, however, we’ve already met our goal, which was to make the playoffs. A few days into tryouts I was wondering if that would be possible, and when we were 0-3 it didn’t seem worth considering, so I suppose our season has already been a success. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, anything beyond this point will be sweet, delicious gravy.
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