I play old man’s basketball every week in the fall and winter. We are all mature men with ages ranging from 40-55 and homes, families and jobs. We all carry around the badges of pain from these Monday night games. No one wants to hurt anyone seriously and certainly doesn’t want to get hurt himself.  That is until the pressure of the game ramps up to the point where men turn into maniacs and want to rip out each others eyes.

Think hard, you can even picture the guy. Every team has one right back to the days of grade 5-6. You know, the dude who always takes things the wrong way, gets into the face of someone much bigger than them on the other team and needs everyone to bail him out. Some describe him as the heart and soul of a team but most others just call him “that idiot”. I call them Jassholes. Jerk assholes. Let’s be clear. I have had my scrapes over the years. Usually not initiated by me but certainly I have thrown my share of gas on the fire. I try to be the voice of reason amongst a group of Jassholes but sometimes it gets the best of all of us.

Men’s league wouldn’t be as fun without these Jassholes. Every guy on the floor knows who they are and you know they are going to do something or say something that will push things over the edge. Some guys turn into wallflowers around it, some try to calm the herd, I like to stoke their fire. I love the confrontation with the team Jasshole, including the ones on my team. They are always looking to bully their way through something and probably live their real lives the same way. I can’t get enough of them and the art of pissing them off.

In some ways these guys ruin a bit of good exercise and fun, in a life full of other challenges. Sometimes I feel badly for stoking these guys into something stupid but I can’t resist seeing how the mood changes and the spirit of the game rises. It makes me feel young again and frankly it makes me excited to be there. When I lose my spunk for the thrill of this hunt, I will hang up the laces. For now, I continue to pick these Jassholes out of the rosters of old men and expose their inner stupidity. It takes one to know one I guess.