i love this game

i love sports. i played volleyball and basketball in jr. high and high school. not necessarily because i was good, but because i went to a small private school and everybody got a chance to play.

but my favorite sport of all time is basketball. i love everything about it. basketball is one area that always tested my testimony as a christian. i'm not even kidding you. every game that i played in high school was a lesson in holding my temper. don't ask me how that turned out. it's not a nice story. i'm just so passionate about basketball. there's something about the game that makes me feel alive, even if i'm sitting on the couch eating a bag of m&ms and drinking a dr. pepper.

i will watch a basketball game in any context. every time i watch a game, i can still hear my coach yelling at us, telling us our plays and giving us pointers as we ran up and down the court. i keep thinking that one of these days i'm gonna get back in shape and play every day. but please, let's not get carried away here.

so i was thrilled when ryan started playing on a select basketball team. i love watching those boys play every thursday night. i have a feeling i'm a little bit too animated for some of those mothers, though.

a couple of weeks ago, i went to watch ryan play. he was guarding this short little boy who also happened to be pretty fast. so when he picked up his dribble, i yelled out to ryan, "smother him, ryan! smother him!"

the little boy's mom didn't like that. i didn't actually look at her, but i could see her glaring at me from the corner of my eye.

apparently she doesn't know that i was only yelling that ryan should smother him since the little boy had picked up his dribble. if ryan was all over him, then he had a bigger chance of stealing the ball.

besides, it wasn't like i told ryan to hurt the poor kid. all i yelled was "smother him!"

sheesh.