Photo by Ahnika Mango Licker - Staff Fruitophile
Rivalries in sports are quite common, and most people can probably list a few off the top of their heads, such as the Los Angeles Lakers versus the Boston Celtics, Duke University versus the University of North Carolina (UNC), and the Boston Red Sox versus New York Yankees. One particularly notable rivalry is between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers, and two members of the Pinewood community are on conflicting sides of this aged conflict. Math teacher Scott Green is a diehard Chicago Bears fan, but Sophomore Arjun Kelkar is an unwavering Green Bay Packers supporter.
Back in the 2019-2020 school year, Kelkar was a student in one of Green’s geometry classes. This led to entertaining clashes between the two, and created the feeling that the other students were watching a movie.
“My god. Arjun was a pain. The thought that I was teaching a kid who supported the [Green Bay] Packers was just unbearable to me,” Green said.
Kelkar had an equally powerful distaste for his teacher’s football team.
“How is it even possible for someone to be a fan of a team whose starting quarterback is Mitch Trubisky?” Kelkar said.
Such a conflict led to a terrible time in H-block geometry for the both of them, as even looking at each other had horrific consequences. An example of this came during Jersey Day, where students and faculty at Pinewood were encouraged to wear a sports jersey to school. This, unfortunately, led to Green and Kelkar sporting opposing team jerseys, which provided a great source of laughter for all the students.
“That deformed pillow case is the color of puke,” Green said. “How do you actually think wearing that would look good on you?”
“Let’s be honest, who actually likes the color orange?” Kelkar said. “Plus, why would you put such a disgusting color with dark blue? And to top it all off, wear it to school? That’s a violation to the eyes of human beings!”
Fast forward to today, and Kelkar is well on his way to becoming a student in another one of Green’s classes: Advanced Placement Calculus AB. Neither Green or Kelkar is looking forward to seeing the other in a classroom again.
“It took so much maturity from me not to just instantly fail him the last time I had him. This time around I do not know if I can resist the temptation to do so,” Green said.
Similarly, Kelkar also harvests feelings of resentment against Green.
“I contemplated quitting Geometry last time, and I am kicking myself that I did not choose to do so,” Kelkar said. “Now the opportunity has come for me to redeem myself. I will try every method to skip that class so I don’t have to share a room with someone that supports a team with a 6-11 record.”