Gen Y.

Thursday, 18 August 2011

So, Denny and I have a basketball team and we play in a social yet competitive league every Thursday night. Sometimes we play in A grade, sometimes in B grade, it really depends on what the current standard is as we're really more like a B+ team.  Anyways - there are about 4 of us more mature players who form the reliable core of this team from year to year. Which means we're often having to recruit players from season to season to make up our numbers and for no particular reason we always seem to end up with young players. As in Gen Y'ers. Often students as it happens. 

So you'd think this would be a good thing right - I  mean we're not that fast and we're not that skilled so you'd think a young person would be quite fast and hey they could maybe even shoot accurately unlike the rest of us.  Nup.  What we invariably end up getting is a succession of lame excuses and then a lost basketball top.   

I mean they are all nice, friendly, polite people but what they just don't get is the whole 'showing up' thing - which is really quite important on a basketball team with 6 players on a good night.   And the thing is, it's not just that they don't show up, it's also that they are not very good at letting us know beforehand so we can organise a replacement.

The following are some examples of when we have actually been treated to some forewarning (of sorts):

• SMS to Denny just before the game 'Sorry I can't play, I have glandular fever' [hmm.. that must have come on suddenly]
• SMS to Denny an hour before the game from a player who hadn't shown up for a few weeks 'Yep I'll definitely be there tonight'  [did she show? nup - and we've never heard from her again or seen our top. Unfortunately that particular occasion left us with 4 players for the grand final as I was injured].
• SMS to Denny after weeks of no-showing. Sorry I tried to call you but my mobile broke. [and your active Facebook page? and your email?]
• SMS to Denny an hour before a game' Sorry I can't play, my tattoo is infected' 
• SMS to Denny a few days before the game 'Sorry I can't play, I'm having my nails done' [WTF!]

We also have to pay a $50 game fee each week, so if we have 5 players it's 10 bucks each. If we only have 4 not only we lose, but we also have to fork out even more for the pleasure..

• Conversation with Denny right before the start of the game 'I'm sorry I can only play the first half tonight.. how much will that be?'  [words fail me]