Basketball, Basketball

Its that time of year........you know what I'm talking about........there's colorful lights involved:

And lots of suspense-filled anticipation:

Has your mind reached out and grabbed hold of my meaning yet?


Of course it has.......its high school basketball season! We found ourselves parked on bleachers the last two evenings. In the above photos our squad was battling the team from Parkersburg, the town whose school was blown away by the tornado last May. Should our team have been kind, sympathetically allowing the other team to win? No, sirree......we managed to get way behind in the first half, but then came back and won!
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Though he's not the tallest guy on the team, my son is the designated center court jumper. In the next photo he goes up against a MUCH taller opponent. Not surprisingly, my son did not get the tip, but one of his teammates did nab the ball to get the game rolling.

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What goes around, comes around, they say.......on the second night, we had a firm lead by halftime, but squandered it badly and eventually lost the game.



Being an aggressively defensive player, Son has a frustrating knack for racking up fouls. In both games, he found himself benched with three violations by early in the second quarter. He needs to work on that. In the first game he ended up with more fouls than points---much to his chagrin---but in the second contest he sank two three-point shots, assuring that the first game's stat situation would not be repeated.

After sitting and thinking about it for awhile, Son was able to play with more focus and awareness......here in the next photo he (#20) has planted his feet and making a concerted effort to avoid touching his opponent and hence be called for a foul. Sometimes you just have to let the guy go on by for a score.


Bear with me, here........sometimes I get bored during time-outs and start shooting at odd-ball scenes. We were sitting right behind the scorer's table last night and at one point I glanced down and spied this intriguingly random combination of the microphone and a Starburst. The Starburst was actually yellow and the paper was white, of course. This photo was redone in honor of our school colors, black and gold.



It was fun sitting there so close to each team's bench; we were privy to the coaches' excitedly animated pep-talks during time-outs and quarter breaks. The opponent's bench had two coaches, sitting side by side and dressed in identical team sweatsuits. One coach barked and the other one rasped......they steered their team in tandem as if they were a two-headed creature......it was quite entertaining!

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We had arrived at the gym in time to watch part of the girls' game. Cheerfulness abounded by the time this photo was taken---at a late stage in the game, with our team holding a commanding lead (click the photo to hopefully be able to read the scoreboard way over on the left). Daughter had driven home from college for the evening to watch her little brother play basketball. What a considerate sister!
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I may have to put myself under a blogging moratorium next week in order to focus on Christmas shopping. I can't get enthused about going shopping, but must take a stab at it so the family won't consider me a complete Scrooge. Mostly, I need to buy gift certificates, which won't be difficult.......that's how gift-buying goes as kids get older, I've found. Fortunately, my newly-married son and daughter-in-law still have a bridal registry list at Target, for them I can choose something from there. My college daughter wanted an iPod, which I have already purchased, so she is taken care of. My high school son wants clothes, hence he will receive gift certificates, as will my older married daughter and son-in-law. I don't wish to get into the habit of giving what-nots that sit around the house.......my own house is cluttered with stuff that well-meaning relatives and friends have kindly given me over the years. But then, sad to say, I never have the heart to get rid of any of it!!
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