el clasico! The ultimate Oratorio Basketball Rivalry

Today was the Oratorio clasico, or in other words, the big rivalry between Los Fantasmas and my team, La Quinta.

It is safe to say that most in town consider our teams to be the best teams. This game usually draws more crowd than other games, and some say more than the final (if we don't play each other in the final). As with any rivalry, energy and excitement and tensions run high. Tie that in with the quickness one loses their temper here on the basketball court, and games tend to get a bit physical. I take that back - very physical.

The Lineup of La Quinta

- Me - I'm first to admit, I'm not in good shape right now. I'm tall, therefore I get rebounds and stuff the shorter Guatemalans. hehe. I weigh less than before, so they can push me around a bit more. Since February, I've been spending more time trying to get into school this fall, so I have been playing less and therefore have less stamina.
The rest of our team seems weaker this year too. Our team is mostly older (age of players) than the other teams (with the exception of one other team), but we are all talented players.
- Victor Hugo, the tallest one besides me, just got stitches off his hand recently. He hadn't played in a month. You could tell he was struggling to keep up and yet his hand still hurt.
- Byron, our team captain, also fairly tall in the Guatemalan arena, and probably the best player on our team, sprained his ankle badly three weeks ago, and was missing a majority of his shots today, which was making him more upset. He is known to play rough and stealthly foul players.
- Kike is usually is very fast and an accurate shooter. He was missing most of his shots today.
- Danilo is a good outside shooter, not as fast, and the shortest one on our team.
- Ma-Uva is a fairly good player who has improved this year from last year, and is the first to lose his temper.
- Walter is new to our team this year, is average height, better than average player, and has already been suspended for two games this season for losing his temper.
- The other guy is average height, and plays decent. (I still don't know his name, wow that's not cool

Lineup of the Fantasmas
Only 5 showed up...
Jorge - all round great player, smallest one on the team, and by no means small.
Jorge#2 - prolly the least skilled player on their team, still not a bad player, and a big guy.
Ludwin - tall, strong, plays rough. He almost broke my nose in December with his elbow. Ox is the word.
Mou - tall, tires quicker than others on his team, but a great player.
other guy - not bad, can't remember much about him.

Not very promising is it? We aren't the same team we were in last year's tournament. Plus, there hasn't been any games in the past two weeks due to rain and Semana Santa. Noone practices on my team either, except me sometimes when I train the kids during the week.

During the game, the score was always close and even though the other team had only five people and one of them fouled out, they were always winning until the very end of the last quarter. One guy from the other team fouled out. With only four on the court, we finally were able to catch up.

With only 1 minute to go, we finally had a lead! We were winning by three points, so our team had posession and was just passing the ball trying to waste time. Another bad shot, and another turnover and Jorge (other team) went off on a fast break with 7 seconds to go. Byron (my team), ran after him and fouled him hard and Jorge went flying into the cement. Maybe it was the high energy of the game, the built up tension, or even just hitting the cement hard, Jorge lost it. The next thing you know a couple from both teams were brawling, and the crowd was cheering it on. The refs just called the end of the game, and there is talk of suspending Jorge and possibly Byron. Suspensions usually last two games, and there is probably only 2-3 games left, including the playoffs and championship game. Afterwards, the whole crowd was mad at Byron, saying he plays too rough. Even though my team won, it didn't sit well with me.

I visited Jorge afterwards, he said the same thing that Byron plays too rough. I explained to him, sometimes, you have to foul someone in the game. Usually, free throws are less sure than an easy layup. In this case, if Byron hadn't fouled him, Jorge was sure to score. Unfortunately, I don't think Byron knew we were up by three points, so the two points wouldn't have mattered as much, unless he was just trying to be safe. Also, Byron hit Jorge HARD. I asked Jorge, what would have happened if you had stayed calm? He didn't answer. I told him, Byron would have been called for a foul and possibly a technical foul. He would have had his 2 (or even possibly 4) free throws and the ball back. Now, even with 7 seconds left, that could have changed the outcome of the game, by Jorge winning or at least tying the game (to go into overtime). He was silent. Jorge is a good guy, and I could tell at least a part of him regretted it, but at the same time, he also felt justified for his actions.

Further discussion led us to the conclusion that the refs take more crap from players than they should, and in turn, things tend to get further out of hand. They should lay out the rules up front to play clean and enforce it more.