The Shot Heard 'Round the World

(If your world consists entirely of AAS that is) Originally penned by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his poem "Concord Hymn" to refer to the first shots of the American Revolutionary War, the phrase "The Shot Heard Around the World" has, over the centuries, been used to describe monumental, historically significant occasions. In sports, this phrase refers to Bobby Thomson's homerun to win the 1951 National League Pennant. For those of you who know nothing about baseball, just nod your heads and imagine something very important. Now, for the first time in the history of the Anglo-American School of Sofia, there is an event that can be included in the pantheon of sports mythology. At 2:56 on Saturday, January 21st, the Anglo-American School of Sofia's high school boys basketball team made a free-throw. What made this event even more significant was the fact that the team also made two other free-throws and that this sudden ability to get the ball in the basket without anyone defending them coincided with their second win of the season. During their first four games of the season, the AAS basketball team had been unwilling, or possibly unable, to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them from the so called "charity stripe." In fact, their struggles in this area had become such a problem that Head Coach Paul Brecht refused to utter the word "free-throw" around his team for fear that one of his players would start choking, as they seemed to do when faced with the idea of such an event. In fact, during their first four games, the team was a combined 0 for 53 at "the line" (or to translate for our British readers, "the queue" (why does that word have so many letters?)). However, this all changed on January 21st. The curse was broken. The lid was removed from the basket. Perhaps the free-throw line was moved forward twenty centimeters. Whatever the case, something changed. Two minutes into the game, superstar guard Kyle Schultz was fouled. After missing his first free-throw, his second clanked around the rim and rolled in. A giant cheer erupted amongst the five spectators* cheering on the team. Coach Brecht and Coach Swann both breathed out a simultaneous sigh of relief, as they had feared that teams might simply start fouling on every other possession in order to significantly reduce the chances of AAS ever scoring. Two more free throws were added throughout the course of the game: one by the speedy, bolt of lightning known as Jamie Le Roux and one by the fearsome beast in the paint, more commonly called Ivan Dimitrov. Admittedly, the team still posted a measly 8.456% free throw percentage, but their accomplishments overshadow such statistics. On a side note. Or maybe on a related note, or an adjacent note, possibly a note in the same octave, these three free-throws occurred during AAS's second win of the young season. They now sit at an impressive 2-3 record. Making this all the more remarkable is the fact that AAS currently sits on top of its conference** and sit one game away from .500. They have already doubled their win total from the previous season and have the opportunity to triple, quadruple or evenumm multiply that number by five. Indeed, the future looks bright for this young team that has shown it can inconsistently hit the rare free-throw. *Five spectators. C'mon AAS. That's pathetic. Come to the games and support your team, you might even see them make a free-throw! **AAS is a member of BIG 1 conference, which consists of one team- AAS.