First, Preparation
Month: April 2008
I’m not their Coach anymore
In our practice this morning one of my players got into a fight. It was getting ugly so I stopped the game and told the two to come over. I got the opposing player to stand with me, I was holding his wrist. I was calling out to my player Leo, and he wouldn’t come.
He stood around the edge of the court shuffling his feet and muttering nonsense, while everyone watching was jeering and having a whale of a time. I called him again and again to come over, to just stand beside me so he could hear what I’d say, but he didn’t come. Finally he along with my other players left without me. I patted the other player on the back, I think his name was AJ, and I told him he was a good boy. Coming together after a fight, especially a silly basketball one (they are all silly), is a good sign.
I think I’ve been doing my part for these kids, after coaching them on and off for two years we’ve come up with this:
Dang
I still can’t believe that people actually fell for this one. After all the fun we had with it and just when I thought it died down, I started to receive emails and comments that proved otherwise.
Post Bar Exam err.. Post
3 days after the announcement we’re still pretty happy. Ok about 10% happy and 90% relieved that it’s finally done and over with. I was with Jill on Friday when the announcement was supposed to have come out originally, learning it was postponed when it was too late and I was already on my way to her place. I’ve given it time to marinate in my brain and this is what I’ve come up with.
It’s good that in our society, there are still things difficult to achieve – I read a book a few months ago about Indiana State’s high school basketball program, the very one that produced the miracle team Milan, depicted in the film Hoosiers in 1954 (ok I know this sounds like I’m digressing into basketball talk but hear me out). Back in those days, Indiana high schools regardless of size compete in a single tournament for a single championship, making their win even more dramatic considering they only had a population of 165. This changed in the 90s when, due to overzealous parents (accdg to the book) who wanted their kids to taste a championship at least once in their lives, divided the tournament, resulting in different ‘championships’ throughout the state. Obviously this watered it down and consequently (possibly without their realizing it), negating the glory that came with it.