This Is Why I Love Basketball

I love basketball.

Tonight our school played for the district championship. Neither team played "great," but both teams played really, really hard. The game was always close. Both teams made good runs at each other. It was just a fun game to watch.

And before the night was over, I saw just about every single thing that makes basketball so awesome.

I saw kids from two neighboring schools - players and cheerleaders - sit in our student cheering section. Their faces were painted in our school colors. We had competed against these kids all year. Tonight they were all just friends cheering for the same team.

I saw role players make timely plays. I saw the girl who was a cheerleader last year score four points in a do-or-die game. We only won by three! I saw a freshman make a jumper out of the corner. Then I saw a girl who wasn't even on the team last year make two clutch free throws in the fourth quarter.

Did I mention that we only won by three?

I saw a girl on our team get knocked down, smashed, ankle busted... she got up limping, fighting back tears. The ref stopped the game to check on her. She gave the thumbs up and refused to come out of the game. (That ref told me later, "You have some hard nosed kids!")

I saw the opposing team get down early and make an incredible comeback. Then I saw them get down by 10 in the third quarter and make an even better comeback. They never quit.

I saw our leading scorer play the worst half of her life. Then I saw her make a stupid mental mistake in the third quarter. Then I saw her score four points in a row to seal the game in the last two minutes.

I saw a kid, an unlikely hero, in a tie game, bank in a three with 1:44 left in the game! Did I mention we only won by three?

I saw a senior, with her leading scorer on the bench, and her whole team in foul trouble, TAKE THE GAME OVER. I saw her make big shot after big shot after big shot. #IceWater #ColdBlooded

I saw one team win and one team lose. I saw one group of kids hug each other and cry because they lost. I saw one group of kids cry and hug each other because they won.

I saw parents with their kids, out there on the floor after the game, everybody talking about the game. For some, it would be the last time they would enjoy that moment. For others, there was the promise of one more game.

I saw one group of seniors, sad that they had to take off that jersey for the last time. I saw another group of seniors, glad they got to put that jersey on one more time.

I saw a basketball game, a playoff basketball game, and it was so much fun. My team won, which made it even more fun.

So we get to play again. Don't you love basketball? I do! And even if we lose the next one, it will be fun. It's basketball. It's always fun.

#JWT #SurviveAndAdvance