Playing Hoops with Eeyore

I received the information for the article and an invitation to participate in the game.

Kim also asked if I knew of anyone else that would be interested in playing. I immediately asked my colleague at the Democrat, George Anderson to play the game.

It took some convincing, but George agreed to play as long as we were on the same team.

Kim said she had no problem with the requirement and so we were in the game.

The time for the game arrived and we met our teammates and opposition. All individuals involved in the game were asked to meet out the side door of the Kennett Middle School Armory, where the game was hosted.

Outside we were given our rules and suggestions. These included not getting on the left side of the donkey, sliding off the front of the donkey if he drops his head, and not standing on the donkeys.

The guy explained to us that if we attempted to get on the donkey on the left side, then the donkey would immediately take off running. In this process we would be thrown from the donkey.

The same result, being thrown from the donkey, would be found if we did not slide off of the front of the donkey when his head was lowered, according to the guy giving instructions.

The last rule was asked in a joking manner by one of the guys on the opposition. He jokingly asked if he could stand on his donkey. The response from the man was somber and serious as he said "not anymore."

He added that a donkey had recently died because a guy had stood on its back.

Let me repeat that, the donkey died, not the player who stood on his back and should have broken his neck, but the donkey.

The first half went by and our team played terrible because we were newbies, but by the second half we had it figured out and made a dramatic come back to lose by two points. This included George making a buzzer shot at the end of the fourth quarter.

Speaking of George, he took a massive fall from his donkey while leaning back to try to retrieve the basketball in the air. He was on the ground for a few minutes but recovered with just the wind being knocked out of him.

On a final note, I would like to say, while I will gladly participate in next year's Donkey Basketball game, I will be bringing my own helmet because the provided helmets smell like a 100-year-old rotting corpse that has been repeatedly urinated upon.

This is Josh Payne reminding everyone

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