Remember that part where I told you I’d totally screwed-up? Yeah, well that seems like yesterday, but it was actually the second week of January. Nineteen weeks of our lives have passed as we triple lettered in basketball, flag football and baseball. It’s been a blur of wardrobe changes, snacks, ski jackets and cheering. So I have a little catching-up to do.
This was our first year playing basketball and it shot me straight back to my fifth grade glory days and those dark weeknights rolling around in the back of our coach’s seat-free, blue moving van. These days we’d call it a kidnapper van, but it was the eighties. Memories of my best coach, Pete Gonzalez, flooded back just with the squeak of high-tops and the familiar backward shuffle. The skills I took from basketball made me a better player in every other sport. Pete taught us how to block-out the biggest, pushiest players, how to fall to the floor and rip the ball from someone else’s hands, and that you can’t lose if you have the best defense. Plus he’d buy us sodas at the gas station. He also swore like a sailor at us. We hadn’t even really noticed until another team’s parents complained.
This was only their first year and the boys were playing for the NBA. Nate played for the Utah Jazz. Jake played for the LA Lakers. Our first season of basketball was especially funny. There’s a lot of wayward tap-dancing and two-handed dribbling and six-step lay-ups. One game was especially cute as our team got confused and started shooting at our own basket. We threw it up and missed at least three times before realizing we were at the wrong end of the court.
Basketball was fast and exciting and indoors. During the season Nate was best known for his assists and his ability to make long passes. He made a number of baskets and was a good hustler. Jake was fast and a strong stealer. Similar to his favorite positions in soccer, he especially liked defense. I don’t remember Coach Sofi or Coach Riley swearing even once, but it was still fun. All in all, I’m hoping we’ll have a few more basketball seasons in us.
Meanwhile, our nightly dinner routine always needs a little spicing-up. I’ve done a bang-up job putting different versions of Thai curry into the rotation without too much resistance. The boys are pretty opinionated about anything new or different, but they’ve warmed-up to these new chicken options. One night Jake encourages his brother to give it a chance, “It’s good Nate. You’ll like it. It’s Steph Curry.”