I am not an angry person. My temper usually stays around the temperature of a cherry slushy but sometimes, on very rare occasions, I get angry enough to make dumb decisions and purposely do things that I will later regret. I realized last night what kind of event is the primary cause of those kinds of tempers. Being cheated.
I was playing intramural basketball last night. The team I play with is pretty good, nothing phenomenal but we have can all dribble and pass alright and we have fun. We lost our first game to a good team and then we started our second game. The team we played had a few tall, good players and one short, scrawny kid that looked like he had just started learning his shapes with playdo. Anytime anyone near him would try and shoot the ball he would not attempt to block their shot with a hand in the face or by shouting “shot” as is customary. Instead, Mr. 5’6″ would clobber the player, one of my teammates, with his entire body and then give a whiny “what?” when he was called on the foul. This kind of crap continued until the game was finished and the fact that this cheap player was totally unapologetic about anything only added to the kick in the crotch that was our loss. I didn’t play the last 5 minutes or so because I was exhausted from all of the running but I remember promising myself that if I went back in before the game was over I would be sure to put my elbow through that idiot’s face.
It’s sad to think that a game like that can get me so angry. Big moments of intensity have come and gone in my life and I’ve managed to keep my cool but I play a game of intramural basketball against some young chump who likes to cheat and I find myself considering lowering myself to and below his level. So much for being a calm person.
