Crazy

A Billings Gazette headline goes like this tonight: Shepard forfeits games with Lodge Grass over safety concerns. Hmm … interesting. What “safety concerns” could possibly lead to instant forfeit?


Well, let’s see. For starters, “… the Lodge Grass boys’ basketball team racked up six technical fouls for unsportsmanlike conduct during a game in Shepherd in December.” Okay, six is bad but not unprecedented. But I read on. “Shepherd players also reported receiving death threats after the game.” Yeah, that's bad.

It gets worse.

“Shepherd board trustees also took into account an incident in Lodge Grass in November in which several Lodge Grass students barricaded a road with tree branches to stop a bus carrying the St. Labre junior high school girls’ basketball team. The Lodge Grass teens pelted the bus with rocks and allegedly shot the bus with BB guns, shattering a window and terrifying the girls. Three boys were later arrested and charged with criminal mischief and endangerment.” Are you serious?

Oh wait. There’s more.

“One Lodge Grass player head-butted a Shepherd player while the teams were in line for a free throw, she said. Another Lodge Grass player dropped his shorts, and others argued with the referees.” Dropped his shorts?!

I recall playing in some crazy games in my younger days, but I would definitely have to say that the games where the refs and players lost complete control of the game have come after my days of genuine organized basketball – better known to us “has-been’s” or maybe “never-been's” as intramurals. They can get pretty ugly. Fortunately, I can’t say that anyone has ever dropped their shorts. You have to commend them on their creativity though, right? Anyway, interesting story ... sad to see but that's how it goes. Hopefully something is done to prevent this from ever happening in the future and the two teams can peacefully take to the court once again. What a shame.

Renae out …