Basketballin'

This is my writing from tonight's BY session. I'm not crazy about it, but I've been having a lot of trouble writing this year...the summer got me off track and I haven't quite found my groove again. So, I spent the first 40 minutes tonight coming up with ideas for future writing...then in the last 15 minutes or so, I jotted this down. If it seems a little random, blame little Lila--she was downstairs, craning her neck to grin at me and playing with my toes...how could I pay attention to my writing?!

I spent my weekend with basketball. In 3 days, I went to 4 games. Friday night, some work friends convinced me to join them for the HC men's game--the gym was packed. The game was being broadcast on ESPNU and it was Purple Pride Day--purple being HC's official color. Students were decked out in purple t-shirts, purple shorts, purple wigs, purple tights, purple boas and purple body paint. After the national anthem, they stayed on their feet and stood for the next 2 hours, jumping up and down, cheering and cursing at the refs every now and then. The end result was a HC victory--nice way to kick off the weekend.

Saturday afternoon, the HC women were up. I am a season ticket holder, and though we were off to a shaky 2-4 start in the league, thanks to 2 players blowing out their ACLs, I was hopeful. THe coach had provided me with tickets for my own 7th and 8th grade team and several of the girls were joining me. When I arrived at the gym, Emily, Emily and Bethie were waiting inside the door, already donning newly purchased purple t-shirts and rub-on tatoos. We waited for Ethel and Claire to arrive--they also had to buy purple t-shirts and wait in line for HC sophomores to apply Crusader head tatoos to their hands and cheeks.

Finally, we headed inside. I let the girls pick our seats--they wanted to sit next to the band, right under the basket--my least favorite vantage point. Quickly after tip-off, I realized that my vision of sitting and watching the game with the girls, discussing screens, offensive sets, and man to man defensewasn't going to happen. My girls were more interested in gossiping about boys at school and having their pictures taken with our big politacally incorrect Crusader mascot.

Sunday rolled around and it was time to coach. My head was so into the game (should we press? How can I get Michaela and Alysha in the game at the same time?) that I missed my exit. When I got to the gym, the girls were already warming up on the floor. 45 minutes, 4 time outs and lots of pacing later, we'd lost by 4. We played a good game and if 2 more of our shots had fallen, we'd have won.

To round off the weekend, I stayed and watched the game after ours. The team we (barely) beat last weekend was playing the team we will play next weekend. I wasn't planning to stay, but Michaela asked me to stay and watch the game--and discuss our loss. So, I watched my 4th game of the weekend, noting who we need to stop next weekend adn what we need to do to get a win--how to dominate in a 7th and 8th grade Catholic school league.

I need a new hobby.