Secret Society

One of the things that draws people together in Eastern Montana is sports. No, not major league teams, or even minor league teams. Or even Class A or Class B size schools. Class C size. Do you know how small that is? Current enrollment is 267 kids....in grades K-12. No I'm not kidding! Stop laughing! But back to the sports thing...these people are SERIOUS about their sports. It's like they come out of the woodwork for these games, especially basketball. It just boggles my mind how many people actually are SO into high school basketball. As I've attended games, I have found there is like a secret society to Class C Basketball Game Code. Here are some of the rules I've learned:

1) Basketball games are a whole day ordeal. You don't just go for one game. You go for Girls JV, Boys JV, Girls Varsity and Boys Varsity. It makes for VERY long days. Thank GOD for my Blackberry during these games.

2) Get there early, or else you won't get a seat. Culbertson has a gym that fits probably 1,000 people, and it fills up nearly every home game. Again, with a town of 950 people, it's like "Where the hell have you all been hiding all this time??"

3) You MUST get popcorn. I don't know, everyone just does.

4) The home team has a pep band that plays at every game. They play the school song for the opposing team first, then their own home team second. This was SUPER weird to me. We NEVER played the other team's school song. That was like asking for our band and crowd to mutiny and start a frenzied riot.

5) You need to stand during BOTH the school songs. If not, you will have people shooting daggers at you with their eyes. Learned this one the hard way.

6) Everyone goes to the bar afterwards. NOT KIDDING. Last night, we went to the bar to eat after the game. Who walks in? The coaches from the other team. They were picking up food for the team to eat on their way home, and they stayed at the bar until the kids were done eating.

I'm still learning this secret society of Class C basketball, so if I happen to learn one of the other super secret things about it, I'll be sure to share!