Editorials

A reminder from the past May 5, 2008 - No reporter cited

There was no way I could pass it up. My neighbor Scott had lowered his driveway basketball goal to nine feet.

And I have a serious basketball addiction.

Suddenly, I was transformed into a seven foot two-inch center. Given that the competition was an 11-year-old girl, her 10-year-old brother, and Scott’s six-year-old son, I could not pass up the opportunity to dominate underneath the boards.

In a split second, a 60-year-old white guy could see a bit of what it must feel like to be Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O’Neal.

Neighbor Scott obliged me by making high passes underneath the basket which I could catch and slam dunk over the kids.

We spotted them a three basket lead but our one-two punch was just too much for them.

It looked like we were going to win. The old skills I used to have were rusting away.

But the 10-year-old somehow managed to get beneath my legs when I jumped to dunk and I came down funny on my left leg.

Uh oh! My rejuvenated career was suddenly at an end. I limped from the court and headed into the house.

Turns out I had strained my left knee. Nothing serious, but it would take a few days to heal.

The injury brought my daily walks to a temporary end as well as my work day climb up five flights of stairs.

My dog Cash is the one who is suffering the most. He is a big muscular black lab. He loves his daily walks, especially because I take him to this creek pool where he can cool his black fur. When I come home he grabs his toy football and starts jumping for joy anticipating a game of catch. We still play that game but I can’t follow it with a walk.

As luck would have it, I ran into two of my friends from the old downtown YMCA basketball days in Little Rock. They asked me why I was limping and I had to explain.

They both laughed, but they both understood. We joked that none of us were probably going to be drafted by the NBA.

At the end of the day, I hope pro basketball players appreciate what a special talent they have as they soar down the court and slam the basketball home.

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