I wait for two days throughout the school year: Track and Field day, where the kids compete against one another on the last day of classes, and the Faculty basketball game, where teachers go against teachers in front of 500+ students in the school gym. Each event pits students against students and teachers against teachers, each preaching dominance over the other. Yesterday, was the latter and this is everything that led up to it.
August 17, 2009: Daydreaming about the faculty game that will happen in 9 months.
October, 2009: Mom, Dad and I visit Chad and Jenn in San Antonio. Chad and I compete in a best of 3 basketball showdown and I realize I need to train harder.
October - April:
Mid-April: Discussion of teams is going down. Originally teams were going to be considered the same every year, but rumor is going around that I might be traded. Apparently, I’m the X-factor.
May 7: Deadline for money is due. I remain with the same team (hey, as long as my minutes aren’t affected). Teams are as follows:
Make-it, Take-it
Palomares (P.E. Coach)
Illingworth (Art Teacher)
Rivera (Assistant Principal)
(F) Michaels (PE Aide)
(F) Khalil (Teacher)
(F) Jones (Principal)
Tustison
Semi-Pro
Shaw (PE Coach)
Robinson (Special Ed)
Van Gilder (Teacher)
Settles (Assistant Principal)
(F) Coplen (PE Coach)
(F) Ymbert (Orchestra Teacher)
(F) Stewart (Teacher)
Bo (Teacher)
May 10-13: Kids are buying the tickets. At the end of the day on Thurday, 82 of my kids out of 100 have boughten tickets to the game, and I am constantly reminded by my kids not to lose. We get our shirts in our boxes.
May 12: Mr. Robinson enters into my room, gives the “i’m going to cut your throat” signal and my class erupts in “MR. T!! MR. T!! MR. T!! MR. T!! MR. T!!”
May 14, Game Day
8:16 - My first kid asks me if I’m nervous.
8:17 - I’m told I better not lose
8:15-12:20 - So far both class periods have come into my room chanting my name. All this hype is making me nervous now. My kids are VERY distracted. Maybe the fact that I keep walking around the room with my basketball and dribbling through my legs contributes to it, but no excuses, right?
11:30 - Mr. Bo walks into my room with a Make-it/Take-it poster and rips it in half. Again, my class erupts into “MR. T!! MR. T!! MR. T!! MR. T!! MR. T!!”
12:20-12:50 - Lunch (I change into my basketball attire)
12:50 - I walk to the cafeteria to pick up my kids. All of a sudden the cafeteria explodes into the same chants of Mr. T while they rhythmically beat on the tables. The cafeteria monitors all the while are threatening them with silent lunch. Okay, now I wish they had never boughten tickets.
2:00: In our pod all the classes in our pod begin to change. Mr. Bo gets his class to start chanting his name out loud, then all 100+ of my kids answer back with their own teacher’s name. I swear I was at a soccer match in some third world country.
2:30-3:30 - The game was fun. We ended up winning by 18 points. I had an okay game. I had about 8 rebounds, 2 points, several assists, and 1 steal. They videotaped it and hopefully then can pass along a copy. Though these pics are a little weak sauce, you must know that I gave the camera to one of my kids to take pictures.
It was rather funny. After the game, a bunch of students ran up to me with signs for a picture opportunity. During this time, several teachers were trying to get the crowd to be quiet so they could dismiss. About this time, I’m told that one of the teachers on the microphone was saying, “Mr. T, if you could help us get your kids quiet. Please Mr. T.” I didn’t hear ‘em nor did I realize what they were trying to do until I saw one of the AP’s with the quiet signal.
