March Madness at the Dogie Dome

I
f you were anywhere other than the Dogie Dome last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, you were missing out! 
The Dome was rocking as 3A East Regional hoops drew fans from eight towns to Newcastle to cheer on their teams. 
The excitement was electric as 16 teams fought to punch their tickets to the Big Dance in Casper this weekend. 
It was a packed house, especially when the Dogies or Lady Dogies were on the court, and it was so loud in the Dome that there were times when players couldn’t hear whistles being blown. 
There’s just something special about the Regional tournament. Emotions run high and you get the chance to watch kids giving everything they have to try to win and make it to the state tournament.
You see the absolute thrill of victory and the utter agony of defeat play out as teams secure the win to go to State, or see their season come to an end.
Fans are excited, parents are nervous, while players and coaches are both.
From my bird’s eye view in the crow’s nest all weekend, I saw many examples of great sportsmanship, several heart-wrenching moments, several games that came right down to the wire, but unfortunately, also some examples of poor behavior on the part of both players and fans.
Fortunately, there were many more instances of great sportsmanship, and of players truly embodying the spirit of Regional competition. A few that stood out to me was a situation that developed and played out on a shot and a rebound under the basket. A couple of players went down in the action and a player came down with the rebound. He was taking a step back to maintain his balance and was about to either step on, or fall on, a downed player when his teammate grabbed him to keep that from happening.
I saw many instances of players quickly helping opposing players up off the floor and apologizing for fouls. I saw kids laughing with players on the opposing team during free throws and inbounds plays. 
Then there was the comic relief when the 5-foot, 2-inch Torrington guard stepped into the center circle to tip off against the 6-foot, 4-inch post player from Douglas. There were smiles all around and laughter from the crowd.
Then there was the heartbreak. As the loser-out contests came to an end, the players who were on the losing team, especially the seniors, realized their season and/or career was over. In particular, there was one player from Thermopolis who brought tears to my eyes as I saw her devastation after the loss to Newcastle on Saturday morning. She was crying and getting a huge hug from mom as the team was eliminated from the tournament. That moment really tugged on my heartstrings.
There were also a few gray hairs brought out from games that literally came down to the final seconds before being decided. Those one- to two-point games where you could hear the gym collectively holding their breath until the final buzzer elicited an eruption of joy from the victors and an audible groan from the fallen.
Some behavior from fans and players, however, left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. From my vantage point, I saw F-bombs being dropped by players — both girls and boys. There were instances of players taunting other players, or brushing off attempts to help by players from opposing teams. Players received technical fouls for bad language and unsportsmanlike conduct, and I saw one player actually clap in the face of an official after he made a call she didn’t agree with. A fight nearly broke out after a foul, and it was stopped only by players physically holding teammates back from a fray. 
But it wasn’t limited to just the players. A fan was ejected from the game for abusing the officials after a call was made which the fan didn’t agree with. 
I was disappointed that coaches weren’t more vigilant about making sure their players conduct themselves with class on the court. Yes, the players need to be competitive, but they can go about it in a way that isn’t repulsive to the general expectations of society. 
I was even more disappointed with the behavior of parents and fans, which should be modeling sportsmanlike behavior for the young players on the court, and for the even younger would-be players in the stands.
Overall however, the three days of basketball delivered more good things than bad, and Newcastle High School and the community of Newcastle put on a top-notch tournament from start to finish.