Texas Equine Veterinary Association

www.texasequineva.com • page 26 I knew the fella they were talking about and was laughing from the very bottom of my belly as the story unfolded. Small town veterinary clinics often times are a great place to catch up on the happenings of the community. This day was no different; there was a group of county dwellers standing over by the cow chute telling a story about ole Ralph. High school sports are a big deal in the little part of America that I live in. I raised three daughters playing basketball every Tuesday and Friday night in some gym within a hundred miles or so of Lamesa. In these parts, people in the stands take these games way too serious. Gheeeeez, I have seen so many people kicked out of basketball games that it is almost unbelievable. I, myself, have a tendency to get a little too worked up. When the girls first started playing, I would scream and holler and get carried away to the point that I was embarrassed when the game was over. I decided to buy a camera and start taking pictures, that way I could only see the segment of the game that was occurring though the viewer on the back of the camera and this kept me away from scrutinizing the refs. For a while, this worked. But eventually I would just put the camera down and start hollering anyway. As the years passed, I learned it was best to just leave. If you know anyone that attended basketball games at Klondike High School from 2006 to about 2012, they will tell you that I left a lot of basketball games. It was almost a given, if Bo was walking toward the door, the game was close and he was leaving because it was just a matter of time before he started hollerin at the ref. I could at least control myself, ole Ralph couldn't. That poor guy loved to go to basketball games, and he loved to holler at the refs. In fact I think it was his favorite thing to do in life. I had seen that old rascal kicked out of at least 20 basketball games. He would get kicked out even when his team was winning. It was amazing. He is the kindest, most meek man you will ever meet until the first whistle blows and his team takes the court. Ralph is from a community that was huge rivals with Klondike. Most of the time we would beat his team so we got to see him turn all red faced and scream dozens of times. I always thought he was the most obnoxious fan in the world, and the story I was hearing by the squeeze chute confirmed that fact. Seems ole Ralph and his wife were headed to Dallas one Friday to visit some friends and family. Along the way they passed through a small town and Ralph noticed the gym parking lot was packed with cars. Ralph told his wife they should stop and watch the basketball game. This is a die hard high school basketball fan, aint it? Stop in a little town 200 miles from home on a Friday night where you don't know a soul, just to watch a basketball game? Come on Ralph. His wife had some reservations about the entire situation but before she could stop him, Ralph was parked and they were heading inside. No one standing around the cow chute was sure the events that occurred leading up the climax of the story, but whatever they were, they resulted in Ralph getting kicked out of the basketball game. Just think about that. Ralph is watching high school basketball 200 miles from home in a town where he doesn't know a single person, and he gets kicked out of the game. You just have to wonder what the fans were thinking as some guy that no one on either side of the gym even knows is hollering so much that it eventually leads to expulsion. I have to admit, it makes me laugh really hard every time I think about it. That is really hatin' on refs when you can get that mad at them and don't even know who you are pulling for. I think Ralph needs to start taking pictures when he goes to a game and if he can't, he just needs to get up and leave. Oh My. BASKETBALL GAMES IN WEST TEXAS by BO BROCK, DVM, DABVP

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