Dribbling by : Icecat62 “Chet, keep tryin’.” Chet shook his head no. “Face it guys, it’s gone. I’ve lost the magic.” Cap slumped further down in his seat as he watched Kelly walk out of the kitchen. He was going to be the laughing stock of the entire department. They were going to get their asses kicked. No, not kicked…they were going to be demolished. “We’re doomed.” Johnny, Roy and Marco looked at Cap and not one of them could find the words to disagree. Mike of all people stepped forward and began to talk. “I don’t think we’re doomed guys.” All eyes now turned toward Mike. Gage’s face screwed up in disbelief. “Are you nuts?! Cap’s right, we’re doomed!” Placing his hands on his hips, Mike stood taller. “I never thought I’d be hearing you of all people John, giving up. Where’s your confidence? Where’s your belief in your fellow teammates?” Gage snickered humorlessly. “I’ll tell you where it is, it’s on the floor with all those balls of paper. We suck Mike.” He placed a hand on his chest. “Not one of us, myself included, can play roundball worth a damn.” Mike shook his head again. “That’s not a winning attitude John.” Gage snickered again. “And we’re not winners.” Crossing his arms, Mike looked at each man. “If we’re not winners, then how did we get to the finals?” Cap pushed away from the table and stood. Walking over to Mike, he stared him down. “We got to the finals because of some stupid draw. It’s called dumb luck and trust me, we are the dumbest. Us getting into the playoffs was a fluke. Chet throwing the way he did was a fluke. Us getting into the finals was the biggest fluke of them all. We’re doomed.” With that said, Cap exited the kitchen, mumbling under his breath. “Doomed. We’re doomed.” Mike watched as Roy, Johnny and Marco exited the kitchen, leaving him standing all by himself. Walking around the room, he began picking up the numerous paper balls that littered the floor. As he did it, he talked to himself. “I know we suck. They know we suck. Cap’s right. We’re doomed.” ******************************************** Gage dribbled the ball down the court and lobbed it over to Roy. Roy stopped in place and set himself up for the shot. The ball rolled effortlessly off his fingertips and went sailing directly toward the basket. It then proceeded to roll along the rim of the basket and fall back to the floor. Roy’s face fell as he watch another one of his throws miss it’s target. Gage’s laughter echoed loudly in the near empty gym. “Oh man, Roy! You have got to have the worst shot of anyone I know!” Giving him a dirty look, Roy snatched the ball up and threw it at him. “Okay Junior, if you’re so good, how about you show me how it’s done.” Gage grabbed the ball before it hit him in the chest. He continued laughing as he dribbled the ball around the court. Pivoting on his heel, he let go a shot that whooshed through the center of the net. Giving Roy a smug smile, he ran forward and scooped up the rolling ball. Dribbling it once or twice, he bounced it over to Roy. Roy frowned at him. “How come you can’t do that in a game?” “You try shooting a basket with some big goon hanging off your back.” “I would if you’d pass me the ball.” “I’d pass you the ball if you could make a basket.” Dropping the ball, Roy began to walk off the court. Gage quickly caught up to him and placed a restraining hand on his arm. “Aw come on Roy…I’m sorry…we’re supposed to be here practicing. How about we work on your shot some more?” He gave Roy a hopeful look. Roy looked back at him blankly, his voice bland. “I thought you said I don’t have a shot.” “Well…yeah…but we’ll work on it so you do have one. What’dya say?” He now used his best puppy dog look. The one that even Dixie couldn’t resist. Sighing, Roy walked back onto the court. He knew Gage was snowing him with ‘the look’, but he really didn’t want to be humiliated in the upcoming game. Even if he could make one basket, he’d at least feel like he did something…anything. He sighed again. It didn’t really matter if he made a basket or not. They were going to get creamed. ******************************************** They stumbled into the locker room and flopped onto the benches. Gage went one step further as he lay flat on the floor, his breathing coming in loud gasps and wheezes. Roy called over to him. “You okay partner?” Gage clutched a hand to his ribs. “No…jerk…elbowed me.” Gagging he rolled on his side, trying to catch his breath. It took all his strength to push himself up from the bench. Dragging his feet, Roy made his way over to Gage. He tried to kneel beside him and dropped to the floor, cracking his kneecaps in the process. “Damn it!” Sitting on his butt, he rested a tired hand on Gage’s shoulder. “Lemme’ see.” Gage slowly rolled onto his back. His eyes were closed, his face showing the pain he was in. Lifting his hands off of his chest, Roy pulled Gage’s tank top up and frowned as he saw a large bruise beginning to form. “That dirty…which guy was it?” Gage opened his pain filled eyes and looked at Roy. He thought for a second. “The big one.” Roy rolled his eyes. Cap yelled over to them. “They’re all big you twit! They’re not human!” Marco and Mike nodded in agreement. They would have said something, but they were too out of breath to speak. Chet, who having lost his shooting skills and was now sitting the bench again spoke up. “I think I saw number twenty on the late night horror movie last week.” Gage nodded his head. “That’s the guy…twenty. Bastard elbowed me.” Roy who had remained sitting next to Gage now slithered to the floor to lie down. “I give up.” The only noises in the locker room were the sounds of their combined heavy breathing. A few minutes passed, then the half time buzzer went off. Gage slowly sat up and pulled himself up using the nearest bench as a crutch. Standing, he made his way to the locker room door. Pausing, he looked at the prone figures of his fellow teammates. “You guys comin’?” One by one, with various moans and groans, they made their way out of the room and back to the court. ******************************************** Cap lay slumped against a wall, the sweat dripping off his nose and onto the floor. He held an unopened can of beer against his sprained wrist. “Ninety-eight to forty-two.” Looking up, he smiled as it hit him. “They didn’t make a hundred.” His smile grew wider and he pushed himself up the wall and into a standing position. Looking around the room, he chuckled. “They didn’t score a hundred points! We suck and they didn’t score a hundred!” Roy gave Gage a worried look. “Did he hit his head?” Gage shifted from his position on the floor and smiled. “Damn…he’s right. Hey guys, Cap’s right!” Struggling to his feet, Gage made his way over to the cooler full of beer. Grabbing one, he fumbled once or twice before getting it open. Walking over to Cap, he clinked his can against his. Marco, Mike and Chet all frowned. Roy was beginning to really get worried. Both Cap and Gage had played the hardest of them all and had gotten banged up quite a bit. Did they manage to suffer concussions and he missed the signs? When Gage and Cap hugged one another, Roy’s blood ran cold. They had been hurt worse than he had thought. “Chet call an ambulance.” Cap and Gage pulled apart and Gage hobbled over to Roy. Without any warning he began to poor his ice-cold beer over Roy’s head. Sputtering, Roy scrambled to his feet. “Jesus that’s cold! Johnny what in the hell is wrong with you?!” Chet was slowly making his way toward the door. Roy was right, they needed an ambulance. Cap and Gage were nuts. Cap rushed over to Chet and drug him back into the room. “We need to celebrate!” Chet frowned. “But we got killed! What’s there to celebrate?” Gage chuckled gleefully and Cap smiled down at Chet. “Chet my man…we suck. That team out there…they should have scored over a hundred points against us with no problem. We humiliated them!” Gage nodded in agreement. “Yeah guys, Cap’s right! We kicked their butts!” With a loud war whoop, he danced around the locker room. Everyone but Cap thought Gage was nuts…he had to be. Where else would he have gotten his renewed energy? Chet, Marco and Roy were all shocked when Mike jumped up and cheered loudly. “They’re right! We don’t suck!” Grabbing a beer, he snapped it open and guzzled it down. Cap and Gage joined him. Looking at one another, Chet, Marco and Roy all shrugged their shoulders. Roy smiled slightly. “I guess it was something of a victory.” ******************************************** Walking down the hall, two dejected figures grumbled to one another. “I can’t believe it. Can you believe it Roger?! We suck!” “Oh come on Mark, we scored ninety-eight points against those losers, what more do you want?” “You don’t understand! That’s the worst team in the league. They shouldn’t have even been in the playoff and we couldn’t get a hundred against them!” Roger cocked his head to the side. He and Mark stopped as they heard loud whoops and yells coming from behind the door they were passing. Pushing it open slightly, Roger peered in. He saw the five members of the team they had just defeated running around the locker room in various stages of undress. Towels were being snapped at bare asses and beer was being thrown around like it was water. It looked like a team celebrating a championship. Letting the door close he looked directly at Mark. “You’re right. We suck big time.” Two dejected figures walked slowly down the hall and out of the gym while five teammates continued to celebrate their moral victory. End  return to main page