by Alan B. Gibson

Back to our regularly scheduled season

Losses.

None are fun, especially for a true competitor.

Some are expected, others are predicted. Some are completely unexpected and others – like the one Clinton County’s Bulldogs suffered at the hands of Glasgow on Monday night, are just plain painful.

Some hurt worse than others, and for most Clinton County fans who made the hour-long trek to Glasgow to cheer on our Lady Dawgs and the Bulldogs in the quarter-round game of the 4th Region Touchstone Energy All ‘A’ Classic, this was certainly the case.

That feeling in the pit of our stomach as those final two minutes played out – with three starters on the bench and two more hampered with four personal fouls – turned from mildly sick to an outright burn pretty quick.

A game that had moved past the three-minute mark with a tied score of 60-60, suddenly took a turn for the worse, and there just wasn’t enough left on the floor to stop the bleeding.

Sure, it would be easy to play the blame game here, and on the way home Monday night, there was plenty of that going on in our truck. Three officials who were certainly overzealous and inconsistent in what they were considering to be fouls comes to mind first.

But did those three zebras cost Clinton County the game and most certainly the right to advance on to an appearance in the All “A” State Tourney?

Probably.

But then again, on the other hand, it was in this very column a couple of weeks ago that I talked about how Monday night’s lineup between Clinton County and Glasgow – two teams separated by less than a single rating point in the state rankings – would likely be the premier game being held in this great basketball state of Kentucky that night.

While the end score was an 11 point separation when the buzzer finally ended the contest, my prediction was right. It was a great game – right up until those final two-plus minutes when the Scotties managed to overtake the Bulldogs and sprint to the finish line to claim the win.

Blame the refs – if that makes you feel better, go ahead. But in the morning light – I had some other ideas.

Lots of factors have to be considered – Glasgow coming off back to back losses that came due to some unforeseen injuries and key players missing games. Give Glasgow the home court advantage despite the contest being played at Barren County High School.

Clinton missing a big game Friday night due to snow. You could go on and on, but that’s not what we’re doing here – we’re teaching – teaching the game of basketball and the game of life, to a group of young men.

I wasn’t in Coach Todd Messer’s post-game dressing room talk with his players and staff – but I would bet a big plate of Hooter’s wings that very, very little of that talk was directed toward those three officials. Instead, I’m betting Coach Messer did what he has been doing all along, ever since he arrived in Clinton County.

He told his boys to leave with their heads held high. He told them to think about some of the things that went wrong during Monday night’s game, and then, he told them to use those lessons to make themselves better players, a better team and most importantly – better young men.

You see, Messer is doing what he is supposed to be doing – teaching lessons to our young men – about the game of basketball – but more importantly, about the game of life, and one of those lessons that we all learn as athletes is to pick yourself up after a good hard kick in the teeth, and shake it off.

Blaming someone else for your loss is the easy way out, but that’s not what gets you ahead in life. Learning from your losses, and making yourself a better player – regardless of the “game” is the important lesson here.

Says here, Monday night’s loss was one of those that was especially hard to take – for Bulldog fans. Also says here that there’s plenty of good basketball in front of us – and plenty of fun in store for fans in what will certainly continue to be a highly successful season ahead.

Also says here that there is still another big tournament ahead – and it’s a big one – and Clinton County is still one of the best around and will continue to turn plenty of heads as we move toward March.

Chins up Dawgs – and Lady Dawgs – it ain’t nowhere near over yet!