The Wildcat Recreation Center is a wonderful place. The employees there are very nice and helpful, at least in my experiences. And most of the people that go there to work out are respectful of those around them.
However, there are a certain number of people who I do have an issue with and a very large one at that. They are the individuals who are too competitive in pickup basketball games.
Don’t get me wrong, I love having competition at the WREC. Most people out there hooping it up are competitive by nature. It wouldn’t be the same without guys showing their skill sets against one another.
But it’s the people who abuse the competitive nature that cause the problem.
When I’m on the court trying to hold my own, I just want to have some fun. I’m not going to be a pushover and I’m going to compete to my best ability, but my goal is to have a good time while doing it.
There are tons of people out there who are just like me. They want to play basketball and they want to have a good time doing it. It’s that select few, who seem to have too much passion for the game, that ruin it for the rest of us. Those who turn into the person no one wants to be.
I have seen arguments over who was on the court first, over whether a player was fouled or not and over whether a player’s foot crossed the 3-point line when he or she hoisted up a shot.
People, this is not the NBA. The majority of us are not going pro. Heck, most of us don’t even play at the collegiate level. This is WREC basketball. Stop treating it like the NBA Finals.
It’s safe to say the bulk of people who shoot hoops just want to have fun and relieve some stress of a hulking class load.
The bottom line is please don’t add to our stress. Take a chill pill, and when it comes to shootin’ hoops, play hard and have fun. But don’t get carried away with the competition. Remember that you don’t have a potential career hanging in the balance of every pull-up jumper or acrobatic layup.
Games are meant to be fun. So have some fun, but don’t get overly competitive. Don’t be that person.
