You wouldn't expect a lot of laughter in a huddle in a basketball game where you are down by 19. You wouldn't expect your coach to be the one causing the laughter either. Over the weekend, during our game to tie for first place in the Ivy League, the least thing that I expected in fact happened. In a huddle, down by 19, the team bursted out laughing, yet again at Coach's expense.
Trying to motivate us, which Coach does in the weirdest of ways, Coach decided to tell us what the opposing team supposedly said about us before the game. Stumbling for words, and turning bright purple as usual, she started screaming, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAID BEFORE THE GAME? DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT THEY SAID?" The team sat there and anticipated what we assumed to be some grave insult that we would never be able to forgive. Instead, Coach said something that she doesn't realize girls in our generation hear everyday, probably more than they should.
" 'LET'S KILL THESE F**KING B*TCHES!' THATS WHAT THE SAID, I SWEAR, WE HEARD THEM SAY IT. THEY SAID IT, I SWEAR. I HEARD THEM."
No one was doubting you, Coach.
The second she said that, things got so incongruous and awkward that the team could only react with laughter. Coach sounded uncomfortable saying it, she looked uncomfortable saying it, and she was acting as if that was the worst insult you could ever say to a group of girls. She was trying so hard to motivate us, but she had no clue that it was just going to make us laugh instead. We were desperately looking for something to lighten the mood anyway, so we took advantage of the moment.
Coach is an older woman trying to fit into and relate to a generation in which she just doesn't belong. She digs herself into this deep holes where what she is doing cannot possibly be taking seriously. It instead just makes us feel so awkward and so confused that we just have to laugh. Maybe our laughter was to relieve the tension we felt from playing what was looking to be a horrible game, or maybe we laughed cause we actually wanted to cry at our situations instead. Whatever the deal was, however, we laughed, and the game took a turn for the better after that timeout.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Dating
Over the weekend, my friend, who has been seeing this guy for about 3 weeks, was supposed to go out on a legitimate date with him. She hasn't gone on a real "dinner date" in a long time, and even though she is comfortable around the guy, she felt incredibly awkward and kept trying to figure out ways to cancel. When describing the situation, she would make up stupid excuses as to why she shouldn't have to go, and my friends and I just sat there and told her to shut up and go. After a few minutes, he happened to come to where we were coincidentally, and they began to talk about when they were going to meet up. The awkward switch turned on, and my friend could not stop giggling and laughing and smiling.
She kept using the words "awkward" and "uncomfortable" to describe how she felt about "this kind of stuff," and the second he walked in you could tell that is exactly how she felt. She looked so nervous, and whenever he asked her a simple question about when to meet up and where they want to go, my friend kept laughing and smiling while responding with a stupid question. It was such a weird situation to witness that the entire table stopped what they were doing and started focusing on their conversation, and then WE felt awkward and all started to laugh.
Based on my friend and the table's reaction, it is clear that laughter is a definite tool that people use when they feel uncomfortable. When the table and I laughed, it was half out of feeling so awkward having to watch the interaction, and it was half out of relief that we didn't have to be the ones going through what the couple was going through at that point. Listening in on the conversation, we could not help but laugh and say to ourselves "oh my god this is so awkward," something that I find myself saying a lot. Many of the situations I find myself and others in support the idea that people laugh when they are nervous and uncomfortable, and that they use it as a sort of mask to hide how they really feel. But, in reality, it just makes how uncomfortable they feel more obvious, and the situation even more awkward...
She kept using the words "awkward" and "uncomfortable" to describe how she felt about "this kind of stuff," and the second he walked in you could tell that is exactly how she felt. She looked so nervous, and whenever he asked her a simple question about when to meet up and where they want to go, my friend kept laughing and smiling while responding with a stupid question. It was such a weird situation to witness that the entire table stopped what they were doing and started focusing on their conversation, and then WE felt awkward and all started to laugh.
Based on my friend and the table's reaction, it is clear that laughter is a definite tool that people use when they feel uncomfortable. When the table and I laughed, it was half out of feeling so awkward having to watch the interaction, and it was half out of relief that we didn't have to be the ones going through what the couple was going through at that point. Listening in on the conversation, we could not help but laugh and say to ourselves "oh my god this is so awkward," something that I find myself saying a lot. Many of the situations I find myself and others in support the idea that people laugh when they are nervous and uncomfortable, and that they use it as a sort of mask to hide how they really feel. But, in reality, it just makes how uncomfortable they feel more obvious, and the situation even more awkward...
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