Shafter 42, Mira Monte 53

This was a very odd basketball game and it merits a very odd write-up.

Mira Monte is a team full of big athletic players, players whose skills are still growing into their bodies. They play a very physical style of defense that involves running into opposing ball handlers and pushing them. If that fails to jar the ball loose, a second player will come to swing wildly at the offensive player's arms. Conventionally, this kind of activity is considered a foul. It was considered a foul by most of the people in the gymnasium. Unfortunately for Shafter, it was only occasionally considered a foul by the officials. One official in particular seemed to have some Nietzsche in his duffel and was loathe to impose a conventional morality of the weak on the ubermensch Lions of Mira Monte. What are rules to the vitality of a strong man imposing his will? This official was also confused about the color of the Shafter jerseys, referring throughout the game to the Generals' blue as black. I am sure the irony of mixing these two colors is not lost on Cristian Barrios as he surveys his bruises from this game.