Posted by Trott

Photos by Gordon Lai

Team Seven (home): 60
University of California San Francisco Library/Center For Knowledge Management Fighting Au Jus, Presented by PalaceFamilySteakHouse.Com (visitors): 50

Fighting Au Jus Season Record: 0-1
Fighting Au Jus Record At Home: 0-0

Having never once practiced, the team assembled and hoped for the best. It was not to be. But at least Chris Austin looked sharp in his yellow shirt that really managed to capture the spirit, or at least the yellow color, of Palace Family Steak House.

We led by a few points early on, but Team Seven closed the gap by midway through the first half. At half-time, we were down six points.

My own performance was pathetic. I blew a lay-up early on and was generally ineffective on offense. I scored no points, taking only three shots, and my passing wasn't anything to write home about either.

I did a little better on defense, blocking one shot and stealing the ball once or twice. However, by the second half I was being outrun and out-maneuvered.

This was a bit disappointing for me. I anticipated being one of the weakest links on the team. I did not anticipate being the categorical weakest link.

Team Seven dominated the second half even though they outscored us by fewer points in the second half than in the first.

Those of you who can remember the Glasstown North American Basketball Organization Non-Pretend Basketball Season might remember a player we nicknamed Coach. It appears that we might have a team member like that on the Fighting Au Jus. Dave, who I might not be able to resist calling Nü-Coach, seems like a good guy and he is our best player. He might be a bit more intense about the whole "winning" thing than, say, me. Rule #1 for a winning basketball team is Don't have Trott on your team. Poor Nü-Coach is going to have to endure an ungodly number of turnovers, missed shots and botched defenses that I will be responsible for in coming games.

After our game, there was another game which I watched for a short while. There are three levels in our league. There is Level A, or the "We are really good" level. There is Level B, or the "We are not so good" level. Then there's our level, which is Level B Six-Foot-And-Under-Only which is kind of self-explanatory. I looked at these teams, figured that a few of these guys looked like they were a bit over six feet tall, and that they seemed to know what they were doing on the court. I figured they had to be Level B. I was admiring their skillz when I was informed that they were in our level. We'll be playing them both later in the season. We're so dead. And for me personally, I didn't anticipate being the worst player on my team, so I certainly didn't anticipate being the worst player in the entire league.

Fortunately when I was asked to join the team, I had the good sense to ask: "Do skillz matter?" I received an unequivocal "No." This will hopefully make me comfortable with being the weakest player and allow me to simply enjoy playing for the sake of playing and not necessarily winning. Or if we win, it is not in the banal terms of mere points. Instead, we win by being the team that most appreciates the way the chaos on the court is still paradoxically highly organized and is analogous to... OK, maybe we just lose straight-up.