Bad Sportsmanship
Thursday night was Corbin and Cornelius’ first basketball game. If you read the sad-but-true story of their last practice, then you won’t be surprised to learn that the actual game wasn’t all that pretty. The final score was 12-10 – and my boys were on the losing side.
My boys do not like to lose.
The started to tear up when the score was announced, and one of the mothers on the team noticed and said, “Look! Isn’t it great how emotionally invested they are in the game? How cute!”
To which Mrs. Cornell, who knows our sons all too well, said, “It won’t be cute in a moment.”
And then the moment came.
“CHEATERS!!” screamed Corbin at the top of his lungs. “DIRTY ROTTEN CHEATERS!!”
Cornelius got in on the action, too, both of them hectoring the winning team, who stared at my boys with looks ranging from befuddlement to barely stifled laughter. As the two losers were dragged forcibly down the stairs of the gym and out to the parking lot, the screams continued and amplified in intensity.
The boys went to bed two hours early, and still, they cried themselves to sleep. “Why can’t we just play soccer?” Cornelius asked. “We always win soccer.”
The Cornells need a lesson in sportsmanship. They should probably learn at the feet of my daughter Chloe, who played her basketball game this morning. They lost, too.
The score was 54-4.
Chloe came home cheerful and went off and played with her American Girl dolls. (If you are looking for the NBA stars of tomorrow, I would advise you not to turn your attention to the Cornell family.)
My boys do not like to lose.
The started to tear up when the score was announced, and one of the mothers on the team noticed and said, “Look! Isn’t it great how emotionally invested they are in the game? How cute!”
To which Mrs. Cornell, who knows our sons all too well, said, “It won’t be cute in a moment.”
And then the moment came.
“CHEATERS!!” screamed Corbin at the top of his lungs. “DIRTY ROTTEN CHEATERS!!”
Cornelius got in on the action, too, both of them hectoring the winning team, who stared at my boys with looks ranging from befuddlement to barely stifled laughter. As the two losers were dragged forcibly down the stairs of the gym and out to the parking lot, the screams continued and amplified in intensity.
The boys went to bed two hours early, and still, they cried themselves to sleep. “Why can’t we just play soccer?” Cornelius asked. “We always win soccer.”
The Cornells need a lesson in sportsmanship. They should probably learn at the feet of my daughter Chloe, who played her basketball game this morning. They lost, too.
The score was 54-4.
Chloe came home cheerful and went off and played with her American Girl dolls. (If you are looking for the NBA stars of tomorrow, I would advise you not to turn your attention to the Cornell family.)
I asked Cornelius how he knew the other team cheated. "Because they won," he answered.
It's worse than I thought. Not only is my boy a bad sport; he's also a Democrat.
posted by Elder Samuel Bennett | 5:21 PM
5 Comments:
For the record...
There was no barely stifled laughter - luckily the room has bad enough acoustics that the winning team (at least the kids) didn't seem to notice. But the parents near me all had that look of, "Wow, maybe my kids are pretty well behaved after all"
There also wasn't a follow up sentence of "dirty rotten cheaters" because after his first scream, I practically pulled him off his feet trying to get him out of the gym.
Next time Stallion won't have to use his literary license to fill in the story, because he's taking them.
mrs. Cornell
Sounds Like the boys are ready for church ball, where bad sportsmanship is almost one of the rules.
Is it hereditary?
Stallion once persistently and loudly proclaimed to another basketball player, "YOU ARE NOT ON THE ALL-STAR TEAM!" And they both were on the same team. To be fair, the kid was jerk.
I once annoyed a basketball teammate so much that he took a swing at me, and that was in high school. He also threw a chair at Stallion in ASB class, I believe.
My sons are just the opposite. Neither is very aggressive. Mostly, they are content to let others press the action and determine the outcome.
Ah, yes. SM. I saw him at the 20-year reunion. I did not say hello. To be fair, the kid used to beat me up.
JP, the guy who threw a chair at me and took a swing at you, did not show up to the reunion, thoug. His wife did, though. She's looked better.
Ah, yes. SM. I saw him at the 20-year reunion. I did not say hello. To be fair, the kid used to beat me up.
JP, the guy who threw a chair at me and took a swing at you, did not show up to the reunion, thoug. His wife did, though. She's looked better.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home