35. The Big Bugball Game

Chapter 35: The Big Bugball Game

You know how I know I've been here too long? Because today is Harvest Day, the frog answer to Thanksgiving, and I'm looking at the freaky giant turkey-shaped bug they have on display and thinking, a little gravy, a little stuffing, and I am so there. My dad makes this special Thai brine that gives the bird so much flavor, I wonder if I could mix up a batch of it here…

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. This is the start of your classic sports story. A tale of plucky underdogs – uh, underfrogs taking on overwhelming odds to beat a team of arrogant bullies. We've seen it play out a dozen times, in classics like The Bad Luck Bulls, The Fighting Geese, Ga-Ga Ball: A Feel-Good Drama, Necessary Toughness, and so, so many others.

See, every Harvest Day, there's a big bugball game between the Farmers (i.e. the average Wartwoodian frogs) and the Townies (i.e. Mayor Toadstool and whatever ringers he can hire). And every year… shockingly… the Townies wreck the Farmers and subject them to public humiliation.

Now here's something about me; I've always been a natural athlete. It was basically my thing; it was how I fit the whole cheerleader-jock-nerd friend dynamic. But aside from when they'd force you to in gym class, I've never been much for team sports. I've always preferred things like tennis, where I didn't have to rely on anyone's abilities but my own. I've always felt more comfortable that way.

So when Hop Pop noticed that I was pretty good at sinking baskets and asked me to join the farmers' team, I was all ready to politely turn him down. That's when Mayor Toadstool showed up to brag about his team and just be a big jerk in general. And you know me. I am all about proving jerks wrong. Especially Mayor Jerk. So, despite having no idea what bugball was at the time, I joined up officially. I mean, how hard could it be? Sure these guys were professionals, and they even had some kind of frog version of Michael Jordan, but I'm like twice the size of any of them and I've got a lifetime of athletic conditioning. This was gonna be cake.

So, bugball is basically just basketball, expect the ball is a bug. And yes, I did my best not to think about it the whole time. Our team was me, Hop Pop, Sprig, Mrs. Croaker, and this little guy who talked about tulips a lot.

Anyway, HP wanted to go over a whole bunch of strategy, but it really didn't seem worth bothering with since I figured I could just dominate the other team on my own. And when the Townies should up to push us off the practice field and challenged us to a pre-game, I figured a chance to humiliate them early would be just the thing to whet my appetite for the moment when I crushed them for real.

It… didn't go that way. Actually, we got really, really badly beaten, to the point where the Townies figured they didn't even need to practice, because we were so bad. Talk about a real comedown! Yeah, turns out the part I'm playing in this feel-good sports underdog story is the arrogant new guy who thinks she's better than everyone and needs to learn humility.

For the next few hours, I had to relearn everything I knew about sports. No more showboating, no more focusing only on myself. I had to learn how to depend on my teammates, how to let others have the spotlight now and then. It was hard, but it was something I just had to deal with.

For the final test, HP blindfolded me and I was forced to depend entirely on listening to my teammates to figure out what to do, where to go, who to pass to. Moreso, entirely on the trust I had developed in my teammates.

I… I think I get it now. It's more than just me. It's us. I make them stronger, and they make me stronger. We're all stronger together.

Finally, the moment of the big game arrived. Not surprisingly, the Townies' entire strategy was centered around covering me. Based on my performance earlier, they assumed I'd be playing the same way. It never occurred to them that I might've learned extremely complicated strategies like… passing.

Yeah, the actual game went a lot different from the practice one.

Don't get me wrong, the Townies still put up a fight, but they didn't walk all over us like they did before In fact, as the game wound down, the score was tied, with only one minute left. Either team could have won.

So naturally with the game on the line, the Townies had no choice but to resort to dirty tricks. On the next toss-up, Toadie hit me in the face with blinding powder. I guess they figured that even now that I was a team player, I was still their anchor.

They didn't know that I was prepared to play blind.

Long story short, I followed my teams prompts to dodge the Townies, go in for the shot… and set Sprig up to sink his first-ever basket, which, honestly, felt even better than if I'd gotten to sink it myself.

Farmers win. Townies got humiliated, as cheaters deserve. All was right in the world.

Though I could've done without the celebratory bug juice dump, which would've been okay if there weren't live bugs floating in it… and if I didn't have to endure my team eating them off me…

I guess victory can be bittersweet.

A.N.: Another short one. Sports are hard to write.

Schweenieboy: True dat, though after this he definitely starts a face turn…

Jose: Yep

Hyena 11123: …hmm… when am I going to do that…

Next: Combat Camp