You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

I scared a child, and it made me walk around the rest of the night with a dopey grin on my face. I like scaring children.

A group of five kids, ages ranging from probably 8 to probably 12, were sitting close to courtside without apparent adult accompaniment. All five were standing in the aisle as close to the court as they could get. And they weren't moving on. We give you the benefit of the doubt. We let you have a minute. You set up camp, though, and action must be taken!

So I walked down and asked them to return to their seats. They did. As soon as I walked back up, they were in the aisle again. I walked down and told them to return to their seats. They did. As soon as I walked back up, they were in the aisle again. I walked down and told them to return to their seats. They did.

By the time I walked back up, another usher had come over from another position to work that section. I told him about the kids, and as I was pointing them out to him (his eyesight wasn't that great), the oldest kid turned and looked up at me. She saw me pointing at them and discussing them with the other usher. He still wasn't sure who I was talking about, so I smiled and waved at her, and she tentatively waved back.

"There, you see her waving? That's them. Just keep an eye on them. They've been standing in the aisle."

The next time her younger siblings jumped up into the aisle, she wrangled them back into their seats. Then she ran up the stairs to where the other usher and I were standing and said, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"That's OK," I said.

"About before. When we were standing."

"You don't have to apologize."

"It's my brothers. I won't let them do it again."

"We just need to keep the aisles clear."

"OK, we will."

"Thanks!"

And for the rest of the half, she always knew exactly where I was. She kept an eye on me. And on her brothers. I moved from section to section, trying to look like I was supervising. But whenever I looked back in their direction, she had her eye on me. And whenever her brothers jumped up to dance in the aisles during timeouts trying to get the cameraman to put them on the scoreboard video screen, she always had them sitting nicely in their seats by the time the action resumed.

She was waiting for me to bring the hammer down.

And it made me glad.