Episode 2

I Love My Students.

I truly do. As an almost full-time teacher and student, I have a lot of people looking up to me. I teach 11th grade history at Inverness Christian Academy, my graduating school. I'm a relatively cool teacher, and many people say that, even parents. Here's an example of my teaching style: First, I open class with a monologue, can be funny, can be serious, can be anything, really. Then I get on with the lesson.

History always appealed to me and being able to teach it at the school I attended is truly an honor. I always bring humor into a lesson, whenever I can, and even parents have come up to me and told me that they talk about how I teach and many say that they've become more interested in history thanks to me. Those kind of words are why I love working with kids.

I was recently troubled with some disciplinary measures today; as Athletic Director of the Inverness Christian Blazers, I get final say in disciplinary measures regarding student-athletes. Just today I had to suspend my star Point Guard two games for pantsing a classmate, a decision which was tough to make. I knew he would have to be punished, however. I told him that the minute he comes back, nothing will have changed roster-wise, he'll still be a starter and my opinion of him will not change.

I had to coach Varsity with only eight players. Five of which were truly Varsity players and three of which were JV-Varsity players. The Referees were some of the stupidest I have personally had the displeasure of meeting. There were three separate incidents that angered me:

1. One of the referees had the nerve to call me "dude" in an attempt to calm me down after I got angry after a bad call. Which brings me to...
2. When one of my players, and an opponent were fighting over the ball. The defender (opponent) had the nerve to call a timeout literally the very second that he got loosened from the ball. I was fuming at that point, slamming my water bottle onto a chair in the process.
3. One of my players was elbowed in the chest, and out of anger punched an empty spectator chair, earning his 5th foul and a technical foul, with me earning a technical foul in the process for arguing with the referee. I dragged my fouled-out player off the court and watched my four remaining players play against all odds.

I chose to play with 4 players against 5 on the court for a reason, and I couldn't be happier, my team players played their goddamn hearts out for 5:39 minutes in the 4th Quarter. Even if we lost 45-37, I couldn't be prouder. In the fact of adversity, each bigger than the last preceding it, they overcame the odds and played a style of basketball I could only compare to guerilla warfare.

During our after-game meeting in my office, I could only watch a rush of emotions go through my players: Anger, Confusion, Sadness. But only one emotion could describe my physically drained self after four quarters:

Pride.

I was proud of my players, They played through extremely physical defense, idiot referees, and my own disciplinary measures, and came out with a loss on the scoreboard, but a win in their hearts. I told my players to avoid the referees at all costs after the game, for they were worth none of our time and deserved nothing but our censure. I told my kids to raise their heads high coming out of the school and into their cars, and don't worry about this victory. There will be more games down the road, more chances for victory, more chances to be a great team. I shook the hand of the opposing team and, prepared to meet my next challenge head-on with my fianceé and players, walked out of the Blazer Dome...

Because I Can.