The Not-so-sweet Victory

"Who are we?"

"B-E!"

"What do we do?"

"DESTROY!"

For the last couple of weeks, I've been playing flag football with the girls in my dorm. We've been practicing for the annual flag football game against LAR-- the other all-girls dorm on campus. From the beginning I've been amused by the competitiveness the coaches (two RAs) exuded. I mostly was there because I miss playing sports and because, I must admit, I want to learn to understand football. Oh, the fabulous thing about flag football is that I've now met several girls in my dorm who LOVE basketball. Bonus =].

So, I've begun to learn a little more about football. I think I understand downs. I'm positive I know what a touch down is. I'm still confused about knowing what side you're on and who gets the ball when... but hey, its an improvement.

Yesterday was our game. We looked fierce with torn-up black shirts and red handprints on our faces. I was really excited, though I was still nervous about actually playing football, since I don't think I've ever watched an entire game.

When we got to the field LAR instantly began doing cheers about how they were the best and how they were going to destroy us. I thought it was a joke and was quite amused. We began warming up and practicing a bit, and I could tell that the girls on my team were ready to actually destroy someone. Before the game started we cheered nice and loudly the words at the beginning of this post. I actually felt a little bit uncomfortable, but I let it slide.

The game started and we had possession first. I played defense so I watched uneasily from the sidelines. After a touchdown (yeah, we scored right away =]) it was my turn to get on the field. We kept pulling the flags off the girls RIGHT AFTER they had passed 10 yards, so unfortunately, they eventually got a touch-down. This won't come to a surprise to any of you, but I realized how difficult it is to pull flags off without falling. Hahaha. Actually though, I got beat up (but yes, I got some flags =]).

During this part of the game, the other team's coach (an RA from LAR) and our coach got into an argument. They were yelling and when they finally stopped, tension was thick in the air. I, of course, was uncomfortable. The game continued and the tension continued to thicken between the two teams. Everyone was rude to each other. Competitiveness was no longer fun. My team looked for ways to make their belt hard to pull off. The other team gave us dirty looks (I'm sure they were returned).

We ended up winning, which was exciting... but for me, victory didn't taste that sweet. I didn't enjoy how rude our team had been. I hated feeling like we had walked over the other team. I hated our victory chants after winning. I mostly stayed silent. I didn't want to rub our win in their faces... yet thats all my team wanted to do. I guess, I'm going through another form of culture shock? At ECA I really learned how to play with good sportsmanship. I considered myself competitive, yet now, I'm not sure that's a good adjective for me. I would rather lose than win and be rude to the other team. I would rather lose than cheat to get there.