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We Miss You LeBron, But We’ll Catch You Later
The huge hole in our lives that the loss of NBA and NCAA basketball playoffs leaves is really not so bad after all.
Let’s begin with the basics. Unlike football or baseball which both require a lot of equipment and other people to play with, basketball requires neither. For any 10-year-old, all that is required is a ball and a hoop, a little “hand/eye coordination” and a good imagination… and you are on your way. And if you cannot afford a hoop, nine times out of ten there is usually a schoolyard or a playground within a bicycle ride of your home. And if you are one of those kids whose parents live way out in the country 10 miles from “East Bum Stuck Anywhere”, chances are by the time you are 10 years old either one of your parents or yourself are a “Do It Yourself” kind of person who already knows how to stick up a pole, with an attached backboard and hoop hanging from it. But if you fall into that category where even the bare bones minimum is not a possibility, then you have more problems than just your bad ZIP code. So, during these days of the Curse of The Covid-19, staying in place or social distancing is no problem at all for budding hoopsters from ages 10 to 50 everywhere. Any 10-year-old who has been bitten by the first sound of a basketball swishing through the nets has already played out 100's of game-winning scenarios in his/her head in which his/her “ 5,4,3,2,1,” last second shot is the game winner. Every 10-year-old who has felt or tasted that sound of a swish, even if it’s a metal net or sometimes no net at all (which swish you’re just hearing in your head) knows exactly what I’m talking about. And for those of you who do not not know what I’m talking about, this article is probably not for you anyway.
Even during rain or snow (or having to shovel the court off first), bloody fingertips, back aches and runny noses in the dead of winter are all Badges of Courage and Honor that you proudly complain about to your mother, who looks at you like she’s raising a child who is perhaps half-crazed out of his or her mind… which of course you happily are. So, while you practice your butt off, often in lone hours of happy, deranged discipline, you recognize that you are becoming better and better. And even if you know that there is no team that you are going to be making anytime soon, you realize that you are learning valuable lessons that will prove worthwhile for other aspects of your life.
And at 10 years old, the only better addiction that you have going for you is probably Mom’s home cooking. And if she’s too busy working to be cooking those meals that you crave so much, you don’t even mind working out while you’re hungry because two of your first lessons you begin to internalize early on is ”play hungry” and “no pain no gain”… because in your mind you are the toughest, hardest working 10 year old in the history of the game. So, for all of us Basketball Junkies, with our Basketball Jones, whether you’re just starting out at 10 years old, or just trying to keep in shape at 50-years-old… Yes, as fans we all miss the televised games and the roar of the fans sitting around us when we can attend. And as players, we particularly relish our “gym rat” status along with our endless, good-natured, hours of competitive trash talking insults, boasts and bragging rights (some of the best free mental health therapy in the world). But as long as we have active imaginations and a fairly decent jump shot, that gets us a swish now and then, we’re going to be all right. Definitely.
“Whatever doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger” is another playground staple. And that philosophy is why most of us are going to be smart, for the benefit of all of us. We will keep busy social distancing. And whatever else we do; we will ignore the lunatic in the White House. He doesn’t know jack about running a country, and he sure as hell don’t know jack about basketball. If it had been up to him, he would have kept the NCAA tournament going right along with the NBA playoffs, both “ca ching, ching chinging” all that money to make himself look like some kind of Presidential financial wizard… which phony image would have lasted only until his greed caused too much exposure to over one half of the premier basketball players on the planet, who would have all become infected with the Coronavirus, which would have made “President Reckless” look the fool that he really is. Thank God that the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, that tall skinny white dude with the big glasses knew the right thing to do, which was to cancel all further games. It helps to have a leader who knows how to handle his business. And Silver seems to understands hoops as well as anybody who has ever laced up a pair of sneakers or wrung out a sweat drenched jersey after a hard workout or a hard fought game.
Silver knew that the lives of his players are more important than profits, and that full court basketball is a game of heavy breathing and heavy sweating, great for good cardio workouts and strengthening immune systems; not so great to mix with a contagion that would score huge infections every game.
We “hoopster wannabees” and “hoopster has-beens” are all cool with our solitary or our family, one on one, cardio workouts. We can wait. There is always next season, and in the immortal words of John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach and winner of ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period, “Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail.” We are all going to prepare for the future… including practicing our 3 pointers, which will also serve us well as a form of social distancing LOL). We are going to remain patient and calm so we can be alive and well…and fully ready to go for next season.
