Brian Wolgast ’11
Guest Writer

If you overhear a conversation about basketball around Staples, odds are they are talking about themselves playing recreational (rec) basketball. In fact, odds are they are probably showing off about how they could easily beat anybody at the table in a game of one on one basketball even though the truth is, they would not stand a chance against just about anyone else in the league.

Through four years of experience with rec, it’s obvious that the most enthusiastic rec players are the ones that are absolutely terrible.

In fact they are not even that enthusiastic about rec when they are actually playing, just outside of the actual games. Seriously, why would somebody be enthusiastic in the middle of a game that they have scored zero points and maybe got a rebound because the ball hit them in their face off the rim?

But then again, try talking to them outside of school. They probably “scored like 12 points, had 9 rebounds, and 11 assists.”

Oh, and don’t forget the fact that they lost by 14 because the refs were blind and called a foul every time they tackled someone on the other team, every time they took a shot.

Of course there is also the common, 100% false, opinion that the five best rec players would beat the Staples Basketball varsity team.

Really? You can’t actually think that.

“Well yeah, the best player on my team scored 18 points last week.”

Well I’m pretty sure Luke Yeager ’11 and Gabe Seidman ’11 are each averaging more than that this whole season, and they play against actual athletic and experienced basketball players, not some uncoordinated scrub.

The same way the Staples population could not put together a better relay team than the track team; the rec league could not put together a better team than Staples Basketball. They’re simply better players.

But then again, maybe we should try to beat the football team. Right?