Hoop-It-Up: Game 3

Game 3 was do or die. Lose this one and we don't even get to come back on Sunday. It was a 3:00 game; the hottest part of the day. Everybody is tired at this point. This team looked like the hardest competition we had encountered so far. They had come down from Oklahoma for Hoop-It-Up. We won the toss for once and got first possession of the ball. I was hyped up for this game and couldn't wait to get it going.

Of all our games so far, we started this one the best. We got up a few points early on them but for the most part we were just trading licks. Like the first team we played, they had a heavy tank-like guy that could dominate the lane. You couldn't move him out of there and apparently the HIU refs have a very loose interpretation of the lane violation rule. (Loose interpretation mean they didn't call it, period.)

This game was physical beyond belief. It didn't matter where I was - I could be five feet behind the three point line - the guy had his hands on me the whole time pushing and shoving. In fact, I got an offensive foul called on me from behind the line because I was being smothered by this guy and decided to use my elbows and body to get him off me and make some space to breathe. For some odd reason the ref called this a foul. There seemed to be a double standard here. I protested (of course) and after that Mr. Ref seemed to pay a little more attention to how much defensive pushing and grabbing was going on.

Mid way through the game the trash talking started. The game was so close that the "posse" that had accompanied this team decided that they needed some help. Alot of mouthing starting going on from the sidelines. Then they started mouthing too. Surprise, surprise, I couldn't just keep my mouth shut as this was going on. They got up on us by a few points and it started to look like this one would slip away. My determination to win as well as my mouth went into overdrive.

I got into the zone this game. I was at a point where I felt like anytime I got the ball I could score; and I did. I was taking it at them every chance I could. I would either score or get fouled and go the free throw line and score. I was frustrating them. I was going off at the mouth too. I don't even know what it was that I said to this one particular guy but evidently it was too much. He got up in my face and I think everyone thought we were close to a fight. I just looked at him and smiled, which pissed him off even more. He got ejected from the game. I ate it up. More ammo for me and my ability to frustrate these guys.

This game was a close one down to the end. They stayed just a couple of points ahead but I was literally scoring every time I got the ball. I had a great game but unfortunately we ended up losing this one 20-18. And that was it. Hoop-It-Up 2007 was done for us. 0 and 3 but this thing was still unbelievably fun. We were all exhausted and pretty close to a heat stroke. It was time to go drink some beer and celebrate our losses.