No More Heartbreaking Basketball

I don't want to see anymore heart breaking basketball. Not this season. I mean it. I am tired - fandom has got me emotionally drained. I can't watch another valiant attempt at victory in the face of insurmountable obstacles - i.e. other 6 footers. The one player I watched this year left his heart out there every time, an incredible thing to behold, but heartbreaking all the same.

I think it hurts when you develop an affection for the player, a hope that they will be successful no matter what. I mean, who else invoked so much emotion, but A.I. How many times did you watch his run with Philly in the playoffs a few years back and find yourself completely emotionally consumed, wasted from the pure magnitude of the effort that he put up, his heart bigger than reality, and certainly stronger than his physical.

I have seen that type of drive again this season, returning my love of the game. I used to watched basketball nonstop. Can't play a lick. Mesmerized by it, though. And this player took me there, to the times when I worked for the Wizards and the Mystics and determined that basketball, or representing it's players, would be my life. I walked away from that when I started having children, unable to cater to the daily demands of the career. But I love it again. At the same time, however, I can't take it anymore.

There has to be a great equilibrium, some fair balance for the players who give so much and still don't win the crown. I think of Chamique Holdsclaw - championships through highschool and college, nada in the pros. Happens alot. Maybe that's why this player couldn't get it, maybe there has to be something left for him to attain - (cause brotha shattered any record within his sights). SO I am ready for this player to experience fairness, to enjoy college and achieve what others only dream of while finally able to play with comparable talent and shine within the system, instead of having to work around five other players and four of his own teammates, going the length of the floor and getting slaughtered along the way - without foul calls- to slug out a mere two points.

What brought this to mind? Well, tonite I watched another heartbreaking game. No, not the player above, that season is over and his opportunity at the normal basketball experience is soon to come. And he is going to be alrite! But tonight I watched a women player for Maryland (i don't put other's children's names on the internet, if you haven't noticed) suffer heartbreak as the Lady Terps were upset by Ole Miss. Yes, I said Ole Miss. What in the world? How in the hizell did they let Ole Miss force 29 turnovers in the first half? And they were seeded 2. I shook my head, clucked in that dismissive way we sometimes do with women ball, until I saw my favorite player. A sweet person, my stomach knotted and my heart turned watching her sob during the last minutes of the game. I almost turned off the tube, but that seemed callous. So I watched and, the baby that I am, always feeling others emotions, I started crying too. SO, after a dedicated season, it came abruptly to an end for MD. And I felt unbelievably sad that she had to suffer that loss.

So yeah. That coupled with my son's first ever season inexplicably riding the oak, plucking splinters from his butt, polishing the pine, or whatever other term you can think of, has led me to one conclusion. I am ready for this basketball season to end, to release me from anymore heartbreaking games or circumstance. I think I'll take the summer to mentally recuperate.