A strange experience

Last year I went to see my cousin play basketball against Gallaudet University, which is the world's only university for the deaf and hard of hearing, according to their website. I think I mentioned that I was surprised at how it was just a regular basketball game (and yes, a little disappointed, to be honest). I don't know what strange things I was expecting, but the only different thing about the game was that their players and coaches didn't yell a whole lot.

Fast forward to this weekend, when I went to see the same two schools again, only the men this time. I was on the mostly CUA fans side, opposite the GU bench. It was a much different experience because of the GU fans on the other side of the gym, behind their team's bench. For one thing, there were a lot more of them that last I saw. For another, they were LOUD. Probably louder than the Catholic fans. It's really bizarre to watch a hoard of deaf (or hard of hearing) kids heckle an opposing player trying to shoot foul shots. Even more bizarre to watch them do it to a jackass CUA student who got thrown out for arguing with the ref.

So what makes this bizarre? Maybe the fact that we (and when I say "we", I mean "me") tend to generalize people who are handicapped in one way or another. Those poor people who don't fit in with society and are happy just to get by any way they can. So it's like getting doused with cold water to realize that they're passionate about sports and winning and not backing down in the other team's gym. One student in the middle appeared to be the ringleader, and a good job by him. Whenever the CUA cheerleaders came out during a halftime, a few GU girls would stand in front of their section and dance it up (and in the interests of full disclosure, some of those girls were pretty darn attractive. I need to learn me some ASL). They yelled for traveling. They yelled for fouls. They yelled for possession on out-of-bounds calls. I think they even had an organized "Bison!" cheer at one point.

Now when I say they "yelled" for things, it usually meant pointing or gesturing and shouting something like "WOOT!" And it was "woot" for just about the entire game. After a while, it started to remind me of an old western movie when the Indians charged the white settlement.

At one point, Catholic was up by ten or twelve in the second half and the GU fans were doing their thing, and one moron on the Catholic side started yelling "Scoreboard!" at them. Yes, they were loud and yes, they were challenging and yes, maybe some people thought they were annoying. But what kind of loser yells "Scoreboard" at a bunch of deaf students? Please.

There was also a close call on some sort of confrontation on their side of the gym. I saw them all pointing at somebody, and security threw somebody out, though I don't know if they were GU or CUA. But it reminded me that just because you have a handicap doesn't mean you can't be a jerk.

Way more annoying than anything else in the gym was the guy I ended up sitting next to. He knew all the Catholic players by name, number, and class. He yelled at them and the refs all game long (on a first-name basis, of course, if not a nickname). Calling out what the defense was. Imploring them to set good screens. Take your time. Finish it. Don't let him get the ball. Call the foul on 22 gold. Call the foul on 23 gold. That's a T. Stop protecting them. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul. That's a foul.

At the beginning of the second half, he thought he might be getting my way and apologized, telling me to let him know if I couldn't see. This wasn't really a problem. "You got unlucky sitting next to me," he said. He had no idea how right he was.

On the court, it was just basketball. Catholic by ten.