So I played with the BYU Basketball team last week. No kidding, I was straight up crashin' boards with the likes of Jimmer Fredette and Noah Hartsock. I felt like a kid in a candy shop, no joke! I was as excited as this kid, who looks like he's in a candy shop!
Or this kid (in an organic candy shop)...
... or maybe even this kid (not in a candy shop).
Yes I was that excited, yes I made that face.
Anyway, Tuesday afternoon I decided to shoot around in the RB because the NBA Playoffs are going on right now and they got me wanting to re-live my glory days.
I had been shooting around for maybe an hour (nobody else was even in the gym) when a few guys in byu basketball gear walk in! I didn't recognize the first few, but they looked pretty typical for BYU. Then something interesting happened.
A black guy walked in, and I was like, "wait a minute these guys look pretty legit". And then Noah Hartsock walked in.
Yup, legit.
It was at this point the lightbulb went off in my head. This was the basketball team.
"Yo are ya'll going to practice in here or something?" I said, indicating with my thumb that I could leave to a different gym.
"Oh nah, your good. We're just going to mess around,"said one of the friendly guys that I didn't recognize.
I'm tweeting about this right now.
So I kept shooting around as the team trickled on the court.
Side note, I was so nervous my first few shots with them in the gym I bricked the first three. Badly. The players mere presence caused me to literally tremble! My arms felt shaky as I was shooting. Is that sad? Nay I say, I stood in the presence of giants (literally) that day and I did not fall! The day may come when my courage fails me, but it was not that day! So what if I was a little shaky at first. I eventually got comfortable and started sinking my shots like a boat with a leak.
As the rest of the team arrived I saw Noah counting heads when all of a sudden the door started to glow. I looked over just in time to see the door creak open and The Jimmer walked in.
I noticed this at the same time that Noah Hartsock called over to me "Hey, you want to play? We need one to even the teams out."
I literally laughed out loud at him and had to apologize because I didn't want him to think he had said something wrong, or I was a jerk or something.
I'm totally posting this on facebook.
I finally realized what had just happened and said yes as I watched The Jimmer dribble around on the sideline.
"Cool, whats your name?'
Noah Hartsock now knows my name. He knows my name!
So I was on a team with Rogers, Hartsock, Carlino and some other guy that I don't know against Davies, Martineau, Zylstra and two guys that I didn't know. The Jimmer didn't play because he has some draft thing coming for some National Basketball Association and had to be healthy or something.
So the game started and here's how it went down.
(except I'm darker than this guy, but it was the most accurate representation I could find).
The game was actually pretty standard, I held my own, my guy didn't score any points and I got a few rebounds, layups and a steal off Zylstra!
When that game ended I sat down to watch the next game. The Jimmer was dribbling up and down the sidelines watching and I tried to figure out how to start a conversation with him. I carefully analyzed his every step to see if there was anyway I could get a few words with him when I noticed he was wearing Oklahoma City Thunder shorts.
First thought: The Thunder are a classy team, I kind of like them. Kevin Durant is a great guy.
Second thought: OH dang! The thunder are on a collision course to play my Mavs in the next round.
Third Thought: Too bad my Mavs are going to wipe the floor with them.
Fourth Thought: Why am I not talking to him about this?! Think of something witty... some trash talk or something...
"So uh...your a thunder fan, huh?" Seriously, you want to write witty stuff for a living and thats the best you got?
"What?" I point to his shorts. "oh, well I like them." The Jimmer said.
"Well they're going down against my Mavs." Strike two. I mean seriously, this is like middle school material your spitting out here.
"They got to get past the grizzlies first! Actually I have the mavs winning the western conference and losing to the heat."
Me to mind: Come on mind, think of something clever!
Mind to me: ...
"Oh, well, thats cool. hehe, I think we will win!" wow.
So we ended up just talking a bit about the play offs but I utterly failed to prove to Jimmer that I'm a really witty guy and he should want to be best friends with me. Oh well. At least I talked to him!
Not wanting to have an awkward moment I got up to leave when there was a lull in the conversation and so ends the story of the greatest half hour of my life.
Leave a comment, let me know what you think, seriously! Comments are like one of my reasons to live, so lets make sure I have plenty of them!
