The view from the end of the bench

Dan Shaughnessy wrote a thoughtful column in today's Boston Globe (relax, I'm as surprised as you are) about how high school coaches should, whenever possible, make sure all his players get to play.

"In a lifetime of being a ballplayer, a parent, and a professional sportswriter, I have seen it all, and I care about this issue deeply. The best coaches are the ones who find a way to include everybody. And the worst ones are small minds who stop seeing the kids at the end of the bench."

That's the end of the column. Earlier, he wrote that he probably believes so strongly about the issue because he was the 12th player on his high school basketball team, with a "coach who was smart enough to get all of us on the floor when there was a spot for it."

I don't remember how many players were on my high school basketball team, but however many there were, I was the last one. At least I was at the end of the bench on merit, because I was a terrible basketball player, compounded by the fact that I would get so nervous I could barely move when I knew I was going to play.

One time, when we had a bunch of players foul out in an overtime game and the only players left to go in were me and a starter who was dressed but was being held out of the game because he had mouthed off in practice, the coach stuck to his guns and put me in. There were groans; I heard them. We lost, but it wasn't because I screwed anything up.

I was a garbage-time guy on a good team my junior year and a bad one my senior year, and there wasn't really much difference, other than I was always happier when the team won, of course. On both teams, the starters didn't think too much of the bench-warmers, so much so that in my senior year we turned down a trip to the postseason (it was an open competition), probably because we knew we were going to get blown out and because we were just tired of being around each other.

Yesterday at the end of the Syracuse-Virginia game, the crowd went wild after senior former walk-on Thomas Rogers hit a three-pointer at the end of the game. As always, I wondered whether it was a sincere cheer for a player who worked hard and finally got a reward or just a final chance to laugh at the end of a blowout.

When I would go into a game, I could hear people in the crowd whenever I touched the ball, especially ones who yelled "Shoot!" (The gyms were small, plus I knew where everyone I knew was sitting. As Yogi said, "You can observe a lot by watching," and I did a lot of watching during my high school basketball games.)

I'm sure some of it was friends and family who wanted me to do well, but it also felt like there were people (mostly students) looking for a chance to laugh ... either at the opponent, or me. To be fair, due to other issues from my high school days, perhaps I was a bit too sensitive.

So while Shaughnessy's advice was for the coaches, mine is for the fans. When the kids on the end of the bench go in, cheer for them.

And mean it.