The Big Game

Japanese class had ended as I begin my strut to the TRAC. Strut turned to walk, walk turned to shuffle; I was nervous as ever. I hadn’t played on a basketball team since fourth grade – that’s when everyone started growing, and I…well, I didn’t. But that’s okay… small stature, huge heart I say! :)

I put my books into my car and walked into the TRAC where I found a few people on both sides of the court already shooting around. Cool. The north-side bleachers were out and a couple of students were already seated comfortably awaiting the action.

I showed up about an hour early to get plenty of warm-up time in, and to meet my teammates. I was by far the shortest male on team by far. However, I think I may have been taller than the two women on the team, “Socks” and “Speedy.” Again, say it with me: small stature, huge heart! That’s right.

Our coach was Bubsy from 99.7FM, which was cool. He was a nice dude looking to win, but also wanted to have fun. The first half went very well as we headed into half-time with a good lead. With about 2 minutes left in the game, our lead had been as great as 12 when things started to take a turn for the worse. By the time the buzzer sounded, the other team had tied it, forcing us into a 3 minute overtime.

Overtime went…not so well for us. We ended up not winning 51 – 57. However, if it weren’t for the experienced players: Diesel, M-Dub, and Stretch to name a few, it could have been much worse.

However, I would like to point out that absolutely no faculty played on the opposing team which surely would have secured our win. Honestly, I have no hard feelings at all… it was a very fun game. Although, I do think that at least one current faculty member should play on the team, if only for at least a couple of minutes, so as to incorporate all three facets of the opposing team: Alumni, Staff and Faculty.

As for points scored, I had a big ol’ goose egg. But I did have several assists, which I’ll gladly take credit for. Fellow friend (and opposing player *grr*) Jeremy Wilburn sunk a 3 from darn near half-court, which was awesome. Once the ball made its trip through the net, he pointed to his fiancée’ in the stands. It was ridiculously cheesy, but very fun to see. Lord knows I would have done the exact same thing if my wife was in the stands.

Yup, basketball is most certainly not my calling. Though it was fun to participate, I think I’ll choose to remember and relive my championship game winning RBI single from a recent softball tournament instead. As for next year, I reckon I’ll cover the student/f.a.s. b-ball game from the stands. After all, it’s only been an hour and a half since the game ended and I’m already sore.

And I have a 12 mile bike ride bright and early tomorrow morning as I am helping out with the Macoupin County Special Olympics which should be very fun. I’ll let ya’ll know how that goes.

Hope all is well with everyone out there.

~ N.