January 26-28

Friday night at McCaskey as the boys hosted Conestoga Valley. We lost to CV by one point the first time around, on this night we lost in overtime 69-61. This was the team's nineteenth game but only my twelfth since I missed seven due to hockey in Reading. There is no question that the season has been frustrating but this is the first time all season that I felt personally angry at a game's result. It isn't the loss or the fact that it took OT but the way that it happened. It hurts to sit there and watch our guys battle to the end and be unrewarded because the key call at the key moment consistently goes the other way. The league we play in began in 1972, we've been a member school the entire time and our program has NEVER been given any breaks where officiating is concerned. It's been that way for forty-six years and in this supposedly enlightened age we live in one would think things would have gradually improved but it never has. The hell of it is that we know WHY it is but if you say it you're accused of "playing that card". A few years ago we played a league playoff game against a school from another section (and as such a very infrequent opponent), we won easily and all night long all their coaches kept saying to the referees was "Hey, just because they're McCASKEY doesn't mean you have to give them all the breaks. I mean, JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE McCASKEY........!!!!". I sat there thinking to myself that those guys simply didn't know a damn thing about McCaskey if they actually believed the bunk they were saying. Anyone who has followed our program with any attention has seen instance after instance where our guys are called for violations that are uncalled when the opponents do the same thing. On offense we get blocked and it's called a charge, on defense we take a charge and it's called a block. One of our guys makes a move to the basket, gets knocked to the floor and no call is made while at the other end the slightest touch is whistled. The game is tough enough when it's 5-on-5, when you have to go 5-on-8 it's impossible. Maybe someday things will be different but I don't know if I'll live to see it. Take care, thanks for reading.