My History with Basketball Prior to Liking It

I liked Jordan as a kid, but who didn’t. My mother told me that I used to recite facts about Jordan to her – height, birthday, and favorite food – as if she’d find them fascinating. She said that she asked me to keep it to myself one time, and that my eyes welled up about to cry. Then she told me I could keep talking.

There was a Jordan poster on the wall immediately above my pillow for a few years. I would often push my pillow up the wall as I slept, damaging the bottom part of the poster. I eventually threw it out and replaced it with a drawing of Yoshi that a middle school friend made for me.

My brother, who I shared a room with, hung up a Shawn Kemp pennant and bought a Vin Baker collectible figure. These were hung on the wall with Sesame Street posters, a White Sox windsock, and a calendar. I have no idea what has come of any of these items.

I played a lot of NBA Jam as a kid. One time, when my American grandparents visited, I convinced my grandpa to play the game with me. I remember that he scored two points and I scored the rest. I think we won, but in NBA Jam, if you win, it’s always by the skin of your teeth.

We had a basketball hoop put in next to the driveway to the family home. Sometimes, when I was really bored, I would shoot around. Nobody ever told me my shot form sucked. To this day I really can’t hit a shot.

I played basketball for some youth league in 5^th or 6^th grade, mostly because my brother did and I usually did the thing he did at that age. I feared getting the ball because I couldn’t dribble or shoot well. My point total for the season: four. We managed to get 4^th place overall. The parents of the other players wanted to get us trophies except for my mom. We didn’t win anything anyway and money was tight at that time. She backed out, but the rest of the parents chipped in extra to get me a trophy anyway. My trophy was a little different though; I got the “Most Improved Player” trophy.

My friend (and contributor) Nick and I played a lot of NBA Jam during the Bucks’ “Fear the Deer” season. Finding out that he actually watched the games, I too started watching. I didn’t want to be labeled a bandwagon fan, but I didn’t know how to avoid it. I told my brother this fear at Lucky’s on Regent one day. He told me the following story. He was listening to Milwaukee sports radio in the car during the Bucks postseason, and the radio host said that they had a poll up on their website asking whether listeners would rather hear stories about the Bucks’ postseason or the Brewers’ preseason. Listeners overwhelmingly voted for the Brewers.

That’s the day I started to like basketball.