Posted by Serenity in things I love | 30 Comments
Iron Hoop, Leather Ball, Swoon
I bet it would surprise you to know I’m a sports fan, especially with all the Hollywood talk around here.
Felic (older sis – awesome blog) became a sports fan in junior high, I think. Mom says it’s because she wanted to have something to talk about with the boys. Felic adds that Sports Illustrated sold her on it with all the human interest stories wrapped in jerseys and sweat socks. She eased me into it – pointing out the cute boys, replaying heroics from college basketball, and choosing Hoosiers every time she had the movie pick. The rest of us siblings kinda griped when she chose it. Then we’d inevitably end up in a ball of tears, conceding it was the best movie ever. Still, I pretty much went along to high school games back then just to see the boys, learning to hate the third quarter of the girls’ games when they all left the stands to dress out.
After high school, my ranking on the sports-fan-o-meter was somewhere between fair-weather and the-sound-of-sneakers-on-wood-is-lovely-to-nap-to.
Lately, though, thanks to entering The Yearbook Years with my own kids, I’ve fallen completely over the edge. A caveat, it pretty much has to be small-town for me to swoon. Wherever my kids are playing and the local high schools: that’s my thing. My current sports crush is the LaPlata Bulldogs, a lonely-bench sized high school team a few miles away. These guys are the hoosiers, I’m telling you. They’re handsome, hard-working, clean-cut (not a shaggy head on the team), and good. Their coach, an old high school friend of my dad’s, is tough as nails – kinda like the Hoosiers coach without the “I love you guys” at the end, making these boys’ dedication even more impressive.
When I played basketball in seventh grade, we were still taught to do that thing where you raise your hand when you foul. I kinda miss that. And nobody does it anymore – not even my bulldogs – but they remind me of that.
When I watch these guys play, I’m not happy because I’m nostalgic for my own high school days. I’m not happy because I’m picturing my own boys at that age. I’m happy because I’m there. It’s one of the most in-the-moment things I have in life right now.
And then there’s this… One of the Bulldog dads is my own son’s coach on a little, lonely-bench fifth-and-sixth-grade traveling team. They’re handsome, hard-working, clean-cut, and good. And the last time I went to watch them play, the whole team gathered around me on the bleachers. And their faces were so bright and so proud, it would have been enough. Then they handed me a frame. It had the two pictures in it that you see in this post. And it said, “Team Serenity Fight Like a Girl Play Like a Boy!” Their signatures and notes were scrawled across a card that said, “Life is like the game of basketball, it can’t be played alone.”
Consider me undone. Consider me a fan. For life.
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I.love.this.post.
!!! Thank you for sharing this story =)
Boys are awesome for so many reasons. I’m a sucker for small-town sports too. Can’t handle the NBA at all, but love me a good high school nail-biter.
What a wonderful gift, not only for you, but for them, too, to know that for the best results, they must all work together! Go, Team Serenity (and Bulldogs, and Hornets, etc.)!
That made me cry.
Well Seren, you got me real good on this one! Loved it! By the way, you are a fabulous team player!!!
As you may already know, in the old days the player committing the foul raised his hand so the scorekeeper could record it. However, another player may raise his hand to keep someone who might be getting into foul trouble from receiving another one. To preempt that, the official now signals the number of the player committing the foul thereby eliminating the need for the player to raise his hand.
So, it was to keep people from cheating. Nice. I’ll stick to my romanticized version in which it was just good manners – taking responsibility and all that. :)
What a beautiful story…not just because I am a La Plata Bulldogs fan for life, or because I am the mother of a little boy who will grow up to be a Bulldog…but mostly because it IS the little things in life that are important and because you have such a wonderful way of sharing these things and putting them in the most awesome perspective for others to read. Thank you.
Whew! What a story! I actually think of Hoosiers often when listening to the local sports news. Fred Beck reports it as if it was the NBA was talking about instead of, say, Scotland County. And how amazing that gift you received from the boys. Not just the actual pictures, but the “We’re all in this together” (see High School Musical)part of it. Wonderful indeed.
Me too. What Char said.
Oh, my goodness, do I love to watch little boys play basketball! And bigger boys, too. I call most of the MU Tigers by their first names while I watch, imagining that if they heard me yelling it would straighten them up. I just love this game.
Love EVERYTHING about this post! –You really got me on this one!
A great gift. A wonderful post.
And thanks for the clarification on the hand-raising…despite the element of cheating that kinda crumbles the whole idea of it, the element of teamwork, taking the guilt of another, that whole concept could evoke a many of its own thoughts.
What an amazing story. Such a blessing to read of your bravery. May God bless you and keep you strong.
Seren,
Rog WAS one of those LaPlata Bulldogs right along with that fierce coach that is there now, and the old gym looked just like the one in the movies Hoosiers–yes, my hubby’s all time favorite movie.
When he and Dave were on the same team in HS I think they made it all the way to state. I have some AWESOME shots of my hunk husband on the court making shots, in the air, (kinda like John over the swimming pool this last summer), and I swoon every time I look at them.
What a great post! What an Awesome bunch of handsome, hard-working, clean-cut, and good young men. May they turn out to be as awesome and handsome and hardworking, and GOOD as the ones who played before them.
You should be undone–I am!
Sniff. Sniff. Those boys are YOUR fans for life, I would bet.
I love small-town sports, too. Pro sports has too much money and swagger in it for me. Give me high school football, D-2 college ball, and anything related to MY high school or college. Especially when it involves people I know.
That does it, Serenity…I am going to have place a box of tissue next to my computer monitor because your posts undo my heart and my nasal passages – everytime!
Us handsome, hard-working, clean cut guys, play the game and dedicate the time because we know there’s people like you in the stands watching…
Bulldog #34, you ROCK for commenting. Thank you!
um… yeah… tears and cheers! What an awesome team! =)
Great Post! Thank you for all your support and may God bless you and your family. Also, good luck to those future dogs!
Your friend the Post-Man
And I married the Bulldog score-keeper from the Roger and Dave days!!! Pretty big deal, since I was an Atlanta Hornet. I think it is lovely that we produced a Bulldog fan. And the Bulldogs of today just stole my heart.
For the record: you only sat in the stands at the high school games to see ONE boy.
I didn’t cry until I tried to tell your dad about this post. Now, I’m joining the undone.
Did I tell you or what? Thank you Post-Man for helping to prove my point so thoroughly and for your good wishes. I know your name(s), but I’ll call you 44 (and 34) since that’s how you signed it. I’ll be so happy if I can see more games this season or at least post-season where I know you’re headed.
Loved it! From the mom of the “one” boy you went to the games for :)
It doesn’t get any better than this—so heartwarming!! Coach Norman Dale couldn’t of said it better— “I love you guys”
GO–FIGHT–WIN
Team (Serenity, Bulldogs and Rage)
Serenity,
You don’t know me but we share a friend, Lisa McHenry, (actually the whole McHenry family.) I enjoyed reading this post. I, too, shared your sentiments about sports in my younger years…played in junior high (if you can call it that!) just because it was the thing to do, attended sports in high school for social reasons, and never cared to watch any of it on tv. Now I have a 10 year-old son who sleeps, breathes, and lives for sports! I am having so much fun watching him grow and play, alongside his best pals—-I even took a class called “Football for Dummies” so that I could understand the game more…which he loved! I even enjoy watching sports on tv now–with him–kind of a bonding thing. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that your words here, captured my feelings perfectly. Lisa has told me your story, and I want you to know that I am praying for you. Good luck with your fight! You are an inspiration!! ~Juanita Waller, Macon
Oh man, I hate it when I’m late to the party! For some reason the notification thing hasn’t been telling me about your posts til a whole day later.
This is such a lovely post. That’s a Mama’s love right there. Not just tolerating their passions, but learning to love and even celebrate with them.
It’s lovely to meet you, Juanita! Thank you for commenting. And, Molly, it’s probably in my feedburner settings. I have the email version set to send between 11 and 1 if I have any updates, and lately I’ve been publishing a post in the afternoon.
I’m late too. And totally undone! I love the gift they gave you and the their amazing words with it!
Hey Serenity, I have really enjoyed your blog. Thank you for the kind words and thoughts of our team. It means a lot to me that we are able to provide entertainment for someone like yourself. God bless you and your family.
Sincerely, The Point Man
Thanks for writing, Point Man! You guys have made my WEEK.
This post will forever make me a fan of you. We work hard everyday because we know there are fans like you that just as hard. And we are forever grateful.