Back in '88, the Elgin High basketball team went 28 and 3. I was... er, not in high school yet, but I remember getting dragged to many games that season. Even though I could barely keep track of what was going on, it was exciting, and it was forced Father-Son time, and the good guys were winning a lot. I couldn't tell you who they played or any of the stats, I just know that 1988 is when I gained a respect for basketball and as the season wore on, came around to really enjoying staying up late with my dad, hanging out at a big scary high school talking about how well they played.
Last night, since the kids were cooped up most of the day, Chris was about to take the good cat and move back in with her parents, so I needed a plan badly. I called our friends with the 4 dogs and the wii, but they wisely screened out my call (I KNOW YOU WERE THERE, I COULD HEAR YOU GIGGLING AT MY DESPERATION!!!) But a quick look online showed that Belvidere High had a game tonight so the kids and I jumped into the car and headed off for another set of first in America. They caught onto basic rules of the game very quickly and thankfully, BHS has a nice big scoreboard that shows individual points and fouls so the kids had plenty of numbers to track throughout the game. Calling fouls 'pushes,' cleared up that whole concept. And when they found out that 5 pushes meant you were finished, the kids were really morbidly curious to see who would get kicked out of the game first.
Squeaky shoes, adjusting to gymnasium acoustics, climbing bleachers, begging for popcorn, seeing the dance team perform and a cheerleader flip-flop across the gym, watching the good guys come from behind to win, going down to the court afterwords and realizing how high the hoop actually is, getting home too late for book time.
All new, all exciting.
Yordi asked if girls play too. "Yes. Not tonight, but yes they do," I said. She smiled.
Of course today I'm paying the price as she's currently crying in the other room because she was too ramped up last night to sleep well, but at this point it was worth it.
1 comment:
You can bring them over here if they are getting cabin fever, I do have a Wii (yet only 1 remote at the moment)
What we lack in dogs we make up in that 8 foot air hockey table you helped me move a few years ago...remember that??? ;)
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