Modern Stories of Atlas

As I enter the living room, I hear the familiar blare of the T.V.. A Suns vs Spurs game is on. My mom is working in the Livingroom and watching the game. Occasionally, I hear her say something to the T.V. in frustration or joy. Barefoot, I'm dancing around the upper Livingroom, as I did back then, and jumping on a chair that could fully spin around. For some reason, that day, I sit on the long-step down to our Livingroom and watch. I saw the players on the court and the seats full of fans. It was all so fast-paced and exciting. After 5 minutes my mom is explaining little bits of what is going on in the game. After about 20 minutes I'm rooting for the Suns. 30 mintues I tell her "I don't like that guy", a player who had just fouled a Suns player, and possibly also because he was out working my team. If my memory is correct, it was David Robinson I said that about. The next time I would say that, it would be about Patrick Ewing. That guy always bothered me when he was on the court. My mom laughed and smiled. Now, when I think back to that memory I recognize amusement in her expression when I say that. She responded "Who?". She started saying numbers on the jerseys. I got up and pointed him out on the T.V. and repeated the number after I decided I knew what number it was. I was young. After pointing out the culprit her smile widened and she said, "Really. Why? Yeah, he's good". We both smiled and continued watching. The first time I saw him play is stuck in my memory along with the feeling of frustration for my team. It took a lot back then to sit and be still for an entire game, but I watched the whole game that one day way back when. That's the day I became a fan of the NBA. It's also the first time I realized my mom, a woman, could be as informed and hold her own in a conversation with any man or woman, on sports. She is a fan with a pure love for sports and more specifically basketball.
This moment, so small, would have an immense effect on me. I'd reflect on it when my mom was stuck in a hospital due to cancer. Days I needed a distraction from reality.  She could still make me smile when I heard her asking nurses if they were laker fans. If they weren't, and they cheered for the team against them, especially in key games, she'd ask them to leave. Most thought she was kidding, I knew she wasn't. Cancer was frustrating enough! If they were fans, she'd have them stay and watch a bit with her. This reassured me she was still in it. She had strength in her still. I hadn't lost her. On days when I had a great day, and my teams won, it seemed that much better. As if god was reassuring me that everything was meant to be fine.
The Suns, the Nuggets, and the Lakers all bring back memories of my mom, as well as the places we moved to. Always followed by a feeling of normalcy in a new strange place. A part of home. A possibility of hope. A hope that could be achieved, unlike so many other forms.

For her it was about the sport, the analytics, the knowledge. For me it was a team to cheer for, sharing an interest with her and people, and a distraction from school or things going on in the world.

As a kid, I played PIG and HORSE a lot. I'd occasionally play basketball games with friends. I never played on an organized team. I danced. After experiencing both I would take a strong stance that dance is as much a physical sport as basketball. In some ways as competitive too. I was asked by multiple coaches to join teams, but I shied away from it. I still feel for the coaches who saw me as a new student, saw my height, my athletic ability and could never sway me to try out. I was their Patrick Ewing and David Robinson who never was. I think that's worse in a way. My joy came from watching it, not playing it, unless casually. I always suspected if I had been pushed to play it on an organized professional team, my love for it would be squashed out. For every good coach there are examples of the opposite. I stayed determined to keep this one thing I have with my mom.

I know I should say basketball is about team work and how that can translate to life, but I think more importantly it's about balance. Sometimes the efforts and skill of one can make all the difference. Other times all the pieces are there, but the efforts equal nothing except a loss. It's the balance and willingness of the players to acknowledge where they can be effective and hone in on that. The support a player provides to the team mates is more important than the single skill or few skills he/she may provide individually. However, that being said, individual talent can't be ignored either. Knowing when to showcase an individual strength is equally as important. It's a balancing act being played out each game. Every fan is witness to and given lessons on each game. Not unlike life. This balance is so rare and difficult to achieve because there is always so many factors and like monopoly a hard to account for chance aspect. In life we balance money, nutrition, time, relationships, information, etc etc etc. Sometimes disguised relationships. Basketball is a microcosm for life in general while also existing as it's own world, a macrocosm of athletics, sports and celebrity lifestyle. All involved searching for the right balance individually and as a member of a team. It's this challenge that exists for us all on earth and should be our unifying aspect. A quality we all understand, but it's not that simple as a game of basketball will show you. It becomes a balancing act of what's controllable and what isn't and working with in those parameters. For me, my time of playing basketball is done. Most days I'm lucky to fit in a yoga stretching session after I finish my day. I often wonder how I would have played, would it have changed anything for me. Would playing it have given me more than watching it? I honestly don't think so, but I will never know. Charles Barkley, Jeff Hornecek, kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, etc were great starting teachers along with so many other greats like Jordan, Robinson, Bird, Kareem, Malone, Pippen, etc. Later I'd be all about the Lakers and Kobe, Gasol, Odom, etc as I attempted to balance school and life. There are so many greats to watch accross all the teams, but the truely great and blessed find a balance, a harmony in the chaos. I never forgot about my Sun roots and that first day I started watching with my mom, and possibly how it helped shape me.





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