Mr. Receiver vs The State Rep

At haft time of the Chester vs Upper Darby playoff basketball game there was a weird foul shooting contest between the Chester Upland School District receiver, Joe Watkins, and Chester’s long time State Rep, Thaddeus Kirkland.

It was weird for several reasons. 

One, no one in the audience knew it was going to occur. In fact, when Mr. Receiver took the court to warm up, the public address announcer told him to get off the floor.

Two, Thad Kirkland took forever to take off his suit coat and tie, lace up his sneakers, and come on the floor. Upper Darby’s team was already into their layup drill and the Chester team had to sit on the bench and wait the contest out. 

Three, the half time clock was stopped so they could finish the contest before the start of the 2nd half.

Four, no one knew the rules and the public address announcer wasn’t keeping count.

In other words, the entire contest was a hot mess.

I heard Mr. Receiver had challenged Mayor Linder to a foul shooting contest but the Mayor was smart and sent Thad instead. 

The contest wasn’t close. Mr. Receiver, with his nearly 10 minutes of warm up time, made 15 out of 20 foul shots. Thad Kirkland maybe made 5 out of 20. At one point, the sympathetic Chester High cheerleaders surrounded Kirkland to encourage his shot. It didn’t work. He missed 3 more. 

After the contest, both men smiled and embraced. If I read his lips correctly, Thad told Mr. Receiver that he got beat fair and square shooting foul shots, but he bet he’d beat him in an election.