Talkin’ Smack

Courtney has a big game coming up Monday. Her team has only lost one game this season, and Monday night is the rematch with that team. The game she lost is also the only game that I missed, since it was at the same time as Rebecca’s game, so I don’t have a mental image of how good the other team was (although Courtney’s team got beaten pretty badly).

This game has Courtney’s coach worked up. He called an extra practice on Thursday night, to get one more practice in before the game. They practice on an outdoor court, and the parents bring their lawnchairs and sit and talk while the girls are practicing. Last night one mom said something about the "smack-talker" on the team we are gearing up for.

A few days before this, I had overheard Courtney telling Rebecca, "In my basketball league, there are girls that will tell you ‘you stink’ or ‘you shouldn’t be playing’ ". I said "oh, that doesn’t happen, quit making stuff up." (Courtney does tend to make stuff up). But when the other mom said it, I asked her what kind of things was the girl saying. All the moms chimed in – she was saying stuff like "BOOM! In your face" when her team scored, and just other taunting stuff. Part of me couldn’t believe David didn’t mention this, then I realized he played football so I’m sure anything this little girl came up with didn’t even register on his "talkin’ smack" scale. The other moms were getting all up in arms: "We should talk to the ref and make him call a foul on her when she does it" which I wasn’t agreeing with, and the one lone dad who brings his daughter to practice muttered "No, teach them how to deal with it" which I do agree with.

Later during the practice I heard the coach say "Well, if she tells you that, you just tell her ‘thank you, have a nice day’ " which I guess came from the girls talking about what that girl might say. After practice I told Courtney that it may be tempting to make a smart remark back to the girl, but they say a pledge before the game and part of it is "to be a good sport" and I expect her to follow that, even if other girls don’t. I said "don’t go down to their level." She said "Mom, just to get you a little hip, kids today don’t say ‘go down‘ to their level, they say ‘stoop‘ to their level." ROFLMAO. Uh, ok there Ms. Hip. I thought she was going to introduce me to some new slang!

The more I thought about it, I could just picture the kind of taunting, annoying girl she probably is. She is probably the girl going "BOOM! In your face" when someone else  scores. So I told Courtney that if she said that, and she wasn’t the one who scored, Courtney should say "What are you so happy for? You didn’t score." I was trying to get David to agree that was still being a good sport. (He didn’t.) Then his suggestion was, if she says "You stink" Courtney should get real close to her and say "Breathe it in, baby!"

Fourth grade YMCA basketball – it’s cutthroat, y’all!