THIS CLOSE TO RETIREMENT

I almost retired last night...from basketball. I'm sure some would say I should have retired long ago: I can't jump, can't run fast, and can't play inside by the basket very well (oh, wait - I've never been able to do those things). They might be right. But, based on what happened, or almost happened, last night, I seriously considered retirement from the game. Make no mistakes: I don't get paid for playing basketball. I just love the game. I love playing it. I have played it since growing up as a young boy in Iowa (no jokes please about playing in a corn field with an apple basket as my hoop).

When it comes to sports, I am a very competitive person. I like to win; or at least give my all in trying. I have coached sports teams as well, and although winning was never the most important thing, I did emphasise giving your very best to everything you do: including sports. So, perhaps you can understand, then, why I almost retired last night from this incredible game. I guess you need a few more details don't you?

I play in a basketball league at our church on Tuesday nights. One of the greatest things about this league is that there are very few guys, from any of the 8 teams, that actually go to our church. It was designed that way. And many of them do not yet have the most important thing in place in their lives: a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Sorry - that has nothing to do with my story.

So, last night, we were ready to play game 5 in a 10 game season, knowing that we were one of the two undefeated teams left in the league; and we were playing the othe undefeated team. That, normally, gets the "juices flowin" for any competitive athlete or team. But, that entusiasm was greatly diminished when we realized that the other team only had 4 players. For those of you who know nothing, and I mean nothing, about basketball, you use 5 players at a time for each team on the court. You can play with 4 but the other team can play with 5. If you even for a moment are wondering why we didn't just sit one of our guys down and "play fair" with 4 guys, you probably have no competitive bones in your body, and don' understand basketball (sorry to be so harsh, but it is simply my opinion)

But, there is a major problem with having 5 guys when the other team only has 4; especially when the team of 4 has very athletic, good basketball players out on the court: the team of 5, espcially with a couple of substitutes on the bench, loses the edge in their mind. They begin to relax a little, knowing they have 5 guys and there is just "no way" they are going to lose! But, what sometimes happens is that the team of 5 mentally "checks out" of the game, and the team of 4 gets excited about the possibility of an incredible upset and becomes laser focused on the game.

And that is the way it was going last night. They were the ones running down the floor and getting the easy baskets when we should have been. I can only remember one or two baskets where we had easy layups because we beat them down the floor. They were the ones rebounding with great hustle when we should have gotten every rebound, having an extra guy on the floor. They were playing with confidence and resolve and it seemed we were just warming up, like before a game, with no thought whatsoever that we could ever lose...to 4 guys!

Well, we were down by 3 points at halftme; and most of the way through the second half, they were very close, cutting it to 1 point, I believe, with just a couple of minutes left. At that time, I felt I let the team down, and even Dr. Naismith, who invented this incredible game 120 years ago. There is no way, if you play smart, that 4 guys should beat 5 guys, especially in a regulation game with referees, foul limits, etc. I wondered what retirement would look like, and how everytime I walked down the street, I would hang my head as passersbys would point and say: "weren't you the guy who played on and coached the team of 5 guys who lost to 4 guys"? Can you imagine the embarrasment?

To my relief, we got a couple of easy baskets and hit our foul shots near the end of the game, to win it. So, this morning, I am officially announcing that I am not retiring from basketball...not yet. Check in again next week. Have a great week, and don't forget to play some basketball!