Tag: basketball

Margerumalia – Bullying

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – February 20, 2026

It was just before the Seventh Grade Basketball try-outs.

I joined the dozens of other boys under one of the baskets hoping to catch a rebound and have a chance to try a shot. But I never even touched a ball. There were just too many guys and most of them were taller than me.

Off to the side I saw a single tall boy shooting a single basketball at a single hoop. So I walked over to him, watched him shoot several times and then caught the ball when it came to me.

He put out his hands. “Gimme it.” 

“I want to shoot it,” I said. 

He stepped closer and jammed his knee into my crotch, taking the ball when I crumpled to the floor. He went back to shooting while I rolled on the floor in agony and surprise. No one had ever done that to me before.

And no one, NO ONE, made any effort to see if I was okay.

A few minutes later everyone was called over to the edge of the gym to hear the instructions for the try-outs. I pulled myself from the floor and staggered over to join them. I was embarrassed because the other boys and the coaches were acting like nothing had happened.

I’d always been an outgoing kid with a smile for everyone, so this was a completely new experience. I knew my name would be among the first ones cut from the roster, but was I crazy? He kneed me in the balls!

I was grateful not to make the team. Who wants that?

Bullying was not a problem for me. I pretty much got along with everyone. Thank goodness I found my place and my people in the Junior High Follies where I auditioned to be an emcee and four girls who were auditioning as a group invited me to join them. The five of us emceed together and introduced each act with a short skit of our own creation. Think Saturday Night Live before SNL even began. 

Fast forward about twenty years to Los Angeles. My agent sent me to audition for a Sprite commercial where they lined us up in front of big bright lights in a gymnasium and told us to boogie to the music they played. Okay, sounds fun. 

I was placed at the end of the line and when the music began I put on my best party face and danced. Until the tall guy next to me shoved me off the line and into the dark where I stumbled and stood stunned. This kind of thing hadn’t happened since junior high! 

And no one. NO ONE made any effort to see if I was okay.

I rejoined the line and tried my best to smile for the camera but my heart wasn’t in it. And I was watching everything the creep next to me did to make sure I wouldn’t get shoved again. I was embarrassed because everyone else was acting like nothing had happened.

Let’s be clear. Despite what certain people say, might does NOT make right. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

The tech bros who spout off about moving fast and breaking things are forgetting that people get hurt when you break things.

It takes so very little to say, “Hey, are you okay?” That’s what human beings are set on this Earth to do. That’s why we say humane when someone treats someone well, and inhumane when they don’t.

Don’t tell me we need to teach more civics in school. It takes a civil society to do that. Teach civility first.

In high school I had developed the habit of “skiing” down a steep set of concrete stairs, letting my sneakers glide over the smooth edges of the steps leading down to the theatre and the boys locker rooms. One day I lost control and fell headlong toward the bottom of the stairwell.

The guy who had kneed me in the groin in junior high school was three steps ahead of me and quickly turned to catch my fall by extending his arm. “Careful,” he said kindly. “It’s kinda slippery.”

I always said he saved my life. If I had been alone I would have fallen head first into a concrete stairwell between the doors to the theatre and the boys locker room. I feel like he payed his debt to me and I’ll always remember that he took just a moment to help me. He made an effort to see if I was okay.

TTFN

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WEBSITES ABOUT BULLYING

Searching for an image to use with this newsletter, I ran across several helpful websites that I want to share here.

stopbullying.gov – A website from the US government addressing issues of bullying and prevention, including a section on “Race, Ethnicity, National Origin & Religion.”

psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bullying – A highly regarded magazine with dozens of articles about bullying, and how to deal with it.

BucketsOverBullying.org – A sports-centric initiative committed to eliminating cyberbullying among children and teens.

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Margerumalia – Winter at the Wellness Center

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – February 21, 2025

PHOTO: I took this photo at the Wellness Center on a cold January morning. The flags were still at half mast commemorating Jimmy Carter. The sun was trying its best to squeeze some light between the clouds, giving a feckless mood to the day.

BOOK NEWS: I was able to add The Best 10-Minute Plays 2024 to my author page on Amazon. Once they understood that there were, in fact, fifty authors (playwrights) featured in this volume, and that I was one of them, they promptly added this title to my name. Sometimes all you have to do is ask!

As I wrote before, I get nothing when this book is sold, but I do hold performance rights for my play. When I was a theatre professor at Carthage College I bought several such collections as a resource for my annual one-act play festival, faithfully paying for the rights to mount many short plays over seven years. Hopefully someone will want to send me money to perform “Just Book Club.”

WINTER AT THE WELLNESS CENTER

I’m doing a lot of indoor walking these days when the mornings are staying below 25 F (-3.89 C) striding around a three-lane oval that overlooks three basketball courts. It’s far less interesting than my daily hike through the woods, so I began creating labels for the other people I’m passing or getting passed by. 

The Thockers – These are the people playing pickleball—THOCK—in the first basketball court—THOCK, THOCK—below me. They come in all varieties—THOCK—but their paddles sure do make a noise when they hit that pickle. THOCK!

The Scofflaw – Meanwhile, above the Thockers, the sign for the oval track clearly labels the three lanes: inside lane for walkers, middle lane for joggers, outside lane for runners. The Scofflaw doesn’t give a damn about the rules and intentionally crosses lanes to suit his own impulses.

The Enforcer – This guy is running on the outside lane and comes up behind people to startle them with his shout, “Behind you!” Or to instruct them on the rules, “Walkers on the inside lane!” He may be getting an adrenaline rush from these righteous announcements, because he seems to run faster afterwards.

The Woo Girl – The third basketball court is mostly devoted to aerobics classes. The Woo Girl turns the music up to nine and sets her head mic at eleven, shouting out instructions and adding a “WOO” in her best soprano, cutting through the malaise of the morning like a pair of scissors in the hands of a running child.

The Zigzagger – Like The Enforcer, The Zigzagger is a serious athlete who runs with purpose. Unlike The Enforcer, he doesn’t worry about the locations of others on the track, he cuts between groups and around individuals with a dancer’s grace that would be the envy of any parkour competitor. 

The Reader – With a phone held in front of her, The Reader is a multitasker who walks AND reduces the size of her TBR pile at the same time. She gets very little exercise due to her slow pace, but at least she’s not doing it while driving. (I really hope she’s not!)

The BFF’s – It’s so nice that the Wellness Center provides a place for these middle-aged ladies to walk side-by-side or three abreast and discuss the state of the world, their families, and their grandchildren… “Oh, did I show you a picture? He’s the cutest thing! Just let me find it…!” The Enforcer began his vigilante ways after encountering too many BFF’s.

The Bro Crew – This is a pack of 30-somethings are desperately trying to outrun forty. With their glory days of team sports in the rearview mirror, the fraternal order of young professionals joke and jostle around the track, zigzagging as needed, and performing the occasional straightaway sprint to show they still can.

The Wild Child – One of the Bro Crew’s little girl who enjoyed the first time around the oval but soon grew weary of the tedium of it all. She’s camped out with her collection of stuffed animals at one of the rest stops, dashing out to tag daddy when her attention meter gets low. She’s a natural actor, speaking the dialogue of all her animals with all the enthusiasm of a true creative. Sign that kid up!

Grandpa Fred – He’s doing a very good job of keeping up the pace in spite of his age and he follows the rules like any good Boomer, but he has a weakness. No, not his belt which he keeps pulling tighter around his jeans and flannel shirt, his weakness is companionship. He’ll turn on anyone coming up behind him to mention the cold weather or say how noisy it is in there. Grandpa Fred is a good guy but doesn’t seem to have good timing. Once in a while someone will slow down and talk with him before moving on. That’s all he wants.

Strider – This is me. I can’t see myself as others see me so I visualize my upright posture, lengthen my stride, and imagine I’m on an adventurous trek around this labyrinth of humanity. I use the middle lane—because I’m a middle child—walk at a pace just short of a jog, and keep my eyes on the road because “The Road goes ever on and on…” (J.R.R. Tolkien)  

TTFN 

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