You get 'em Conval

The Dessert Banquet has passed. The bibleschool is gone. I could share about either one of those events, but I won't.

Last night we went to a basketball game. Two, in fact. The first was the Conval's JV team, that in case you haven't heard, Clyde is now coaching. The poor kids got slaughtered. . . . they lost 21 to 43. Also one of our point guards sprained his ankle or something. Point guards are usually shorter, and this guy was no exception. He was probably a freshman, or maybe a sophomore, and the poor guy was lying on the floor covering his face with his jersey so people wouldn't see him cry.

The varsity game was sheer pleasure. Oh, wow, watching them just made me remember how much I love watching this sport! Somehow highschool basketball is most enjoyable to me, and it brings back so many memories of the countless games I watched when Clyde used to play basketball. It's especially fun when you know the guys, or are familiar with them anyway. We lost Kuk (nickname), one of our best players, since he's now graduated, but this year some of the other guys have improved. There was Eric, #2, playing as pointguard. Fiesty defense, bad passer. Oh good, he's gotten better! Daddy commented that he thinks he's no longer "strippable," meaning he's not as easy to steal the ball from. Peter "Firebrand," #10, was playing excellently--was it just me or was he taller? Oh yeah, there's Joe and Caleb. Hurray, I can see they've improved too. Somehow it fascinates me how someone like them who are in MY grade can be 6'4"! And they started playing varsity as freshman too! Big surprise. Now I see massive Ian, #32, a good player, but lazy. And Danny, #12, making fouls just like ever, but he made one sweet shot just before the buzzer at half time. Then there were others, ones I recognized but couldn't remember their names, but still others who I didn't know at all, probably since they played JV last year. Now I've bored you going through them, but it's kind of been to illustrate a point. Ever since I started watching a lot of games back when Clyde used to play, I've gotten to know the guys. You can hardly help it when you watch them play so much and hear Clyde and Daddy talking about them. So it's little wonder that I feel as if those guys are my real friends. But what's so strange, is that they aren't!!!! They don't even know I exist, unless if they've wondered at the strange girl sitting behind them who helps her dad keep stats for the team. Nevertheless, it's odd how I feel a kinship with these guys that I'm rooting for, when I don't even really know them.

Anyway, as I said quite awhile ago, the game was sheer pleasure, and I was liking it right from the start. I must have been appreciating the guys' skills after watching the JV, because at half time I almost couldn't believe that they were down by twenty points against Kingswood! Yet in spite of it, Conval made a super come back. It's funny, because sometimes I think I do more praying during a basketball game than I do all day!

The crowd was going wild, as the guys kept stealing the ball and making shot after shot. Pretty soon the score was 58-60. There was only about three minutes on the clock. The other team started toying with the ball. This is an excellent strategy to let the clock run and stay ahead, but the technique drives me crazy nonetheless. The guys started fouling them. This is also an excellent strategy, but this helps gain time, even though it risks letting the other team add a few points at the free throw line. Oooh, I was anxious. I had given up sitting in the last quarter or so. My dad and I had pulled up chairs behind the guys, and sometimes it was tricky to see, even though I was fine until I was at the point where I didn't want to miss a thing. Then things got more tense and exciting, and of course the players in the bench had to stand up too--but this didn't help me to have a row of guys in front of me averaging 6'2", so I found myself pacing with the game. You can do it, Conval!!! There were just a few seconds left on the clock, Pete had the ball and made his shot--it went in just before the buzzer!!!

But we had lost. The score was 63-67 Kingswood. The guys were frustrated and let down. I felt drained. Sure, I was disappointed they had lost, but I think they played one swell game! After all, in the second half they made forty points while the other team made only like twenty-four. That alone is something to be proud of.

And that was the first home game. Thus begins another basketball season.

You get 'em Conval.