Donkey Basketball

I kid you not, folks. I. Kid. You. Not. This truly exists.

Last Friday I was sitting on the couch playing some horrifically stupid yet addicting Facebook game around 4:30 p.m., when I got a text from our new vet, Dr. A saying, "are you going to donkey basketball at the school tonight? we are coming over and then having dinner if you're interested."

I kind of just stared at my phone for a minute. Donkey Basketball?! WTF? Are the donkey's playing basketball? Are people playing basketball on donkey's? Is it real donkey's??

So I sent a text back saying, "donkey basketball?! never heard of it!"

She replied with, "ffa fundraiser at 6:30."

Of course I replied with "see you there." I mean, who would not go and witness a possible total absurdity. It's not like you'd see something like this in the big city.

I drove to the high school (whose initials are SV which totally works for my made up town of Sticksville!) at 6:30 which is just a few blocks from my house and drove by it to find parking and saw a line out the gym door. There wasn't a place to park for three blocks in some cases. I found one about a block away. I paid my $9 to get in and found Dr. A and her friend L. A couple other gals from work were also there, E and C. Oh, and for those of you who are unaware, FFA stands for Future Farmers of America; it starts in high school and there's also a collegiate form as well, promoting ag education and all that jazz.

The gym was full. They had to set up folding chairs on the small stage for people because the bleachers were full. And there were still people standing. Evidently, this is quite the popular event, but I don't think it's necessarily advertised very well. I guess this happens every year, a basketball game between girls/boys varsity and the faculty and it's an FFA fundraiser.

The basic rules were thus: One person from each team was in the center circle - they had to keep at least one foot in it at all times. A player could get off the donkey to get the ball, but had to take their donkey with them (which is much harder than one thinks, trust me). To shoot the ball the player had to mounted on their donkey.

And then it happened. A side door opened and in trotted donkey's with high school kids and faculty. And thus the laughter began. And continued until the game was over. I laughed so hard I cried.

 

Oh and you bet your blogging asses I took video. Even though my phone battery was dying, I totally took video. Unfortunately, you'll hear me and L laughing our butts off (okay, so it's probably mostly me). And don't worry, the donkey's had rubber cushions attached to their hooves so they couldn't slip on the gym floor. This first one is mostly the warm-up lap.

Now, this second video will feature a, um, "cheerleader". In fact, in the first half of the game, he was part of the pooper-scooper team (one carried a shovel, and the other carried a broom to sweep the gym apples and they wore ponchos and sombreros. I'm so not kidding. The second half was a bit wilder than the first . . . in the sense that the antics from the folks in the center circle, as the pushing got a bit rougher, and then cheerleader guy started trying to mess with the faculty guy in the center, so that the students would win the game.

In the end, the students one, 24-22.

After laughing so hard my stomach and my face hurt and my face was also streaked from the tears of laughter, four of us went to dinner - myself, Dr. A, E and L. Where we laughed even more. I'm so proud of myself for having two social engagements last week. They are pretty much the only two I've had since I moved up here that were technically not work (i.e. cattle vet office) related. I had so much fun!

And I'm sooooo going again next year!