Hooping it Up

The Fall sports season is over, and so we bid a fond farewell to baseball and soccer (just in time, since lately we've been losing daylight and gaining nippy breezes:  NOT pleasing to outdoor spectators!).  We had a nice lull of two weeks or so in which to regroup...but now it's time to jump into basketball.

Derek is playing organized ball for the first time, in a 4th/5th grade league. This week's practice was held at a local middle school, and when I walked in with Derek to meet his team, I thought I had tripped right back into the 1980s.  (Historical note: that's when I was a Statistician for the boys basketball program at my high school.  Very important and prestigious position.  Okay, not really.  It mostly involved watching the game and making tally marks on a sheet of paper for assists, shots, fouls, etc. But we got to spend lots of quality time...with sweaty, smelly boys...oh, nevermind.)  Everything seemed exactly as I remembered it: the fluorescent lights (do they have to be that dim in gymnasiums? what's that about?); the clocks behind metal cages (not even set to the right time, so what's the point?); the wooden bleachers (although I'm sure they're some kind of neo-plastic-substance nowadays--I'll have to check when they're pulled out for a game); the vaguely sneakerish-smell (hopefully that's the ONLY odor on the air as the season progresses); the slightly spongy floor (for cushioning my skinny guy when some huge 5th grader plows him over).  It seemed so familiar that I found myself looking around for the concession stand, where I used to buy my Twizzlers and M&Ms for dinner on game nights (in my obviously pre-nutrition-conscious days. I probably washed it down with Diet Coke as well.)

Eventually I snapped out of my nostalgic reverie and actually paid attention to my son, who was busily running drills and scrimmaging with his teammates.  He was dripping wet and tamale-red and appeared to be having a fantastic time. Maybe in a few weeks when he has his first game, I'll fill out a Stats Chart for him...while eating my M&Ms.