To most, Sprite is simply a refreshing beverage used to quench ones thirst at any moment in time.
To those of the basketball community, 'Sprite' is a term of endearment used when someone tries to climb upstairs and throw down a vicious dunk, only to be met by the cold, and unforgiving front of the rim.
There are several words that can be used in place of 'Sprite' (spine-tingler, hung, rim-checked, etc). Whichever way you say it, it doesn't matter...
It is always embarrassing.
With that said, I present you this...
Nice picture, right?
I wish the story was as nice.
I recall finishing up a practice and listening to the instructions regarding that night's event to usher in the new basketball season. There was a team dunk contest, and my name was being tossed around as a potential contestant.
Considering we hadn't played a game yet, practices were exceptionally challenging and took a toll on the body. I was not sure how I would fair in such a contest
Looking back at it, once the season started, my weekly basketball activity did not increase too much more, so I should have been ready.
In other words, I got court-side seats for every game, and rarely broke a sweat. Do the math.
That being said, I loved it, but was not in love with the possibility of living out exactly what happened in this photo.
As I said before, the instructions for that night's event were being detailed and I got thrown into the dunk contest, primarily due to the fact that my smaller stature compared to my contemporaries would be must see TV.
Now let's not get things twisted here...I could flirt with the rim in my day, but this day was not one of them.
This was one of those days where I knew I had done far too much running and jumping prior to the contest, and the time between practice and the contest was only going to make matters worse.
But, of course...I took on the challenge, and the rest was history.
I came out strong.
During our layup lines, I felt the juice and was able to slam a couple home. I felt confident and not confident at the same time, as I felt my daily dunk quota rapidly approaching.
To make matters even better for the audience (worse for me) there were several other contests before the show-stopping dunk contest. I don't recall how many, but there were just enough to stiffen all the muscles that practice had fought with all morning.
They called my name, the crowd roared, and I said to myself , "I just hope I can get a good Facebook picture from this..."
Call me pessimistic, but I knew this wasn't going to fair well.....
And for those of you itching to find out what happened that forgetful night...just know that I didn't make a single dunk.
So yeah...I posted this picture to my Facebook years ago knowing that I didn't make the dunk. I figured no one would ask.
And if someone did ask, I just would not respond. This story would be far too long for anyone's Facebook comment.
So what good could come from this?
Not much...but an important lesson I took from this was not to take myself too seriously. Certainly it was embarrassing for about 2 seconds, once I realized I wasted all my dunks prior to the show, but after, I realized how unimportant that embarrassment really was.
For all intents and purposes, no one would have ever known, had I not just snitched on myself today. I didn't lose any friends, my grades in school weren't affected, and my family still loved me.
Often, we tend to magnify minuscule issues. It is a habit that can debilitate someone from reaping greater benefits from any situation.
I mean look at me...I took this photo with a disastrous story line and created a whole post off of it....
Okay, maybe that isn't a huge benefit, but you catch my drift.
Sometimes, you just have to laugh. Even when you are embarrassed. It may not feel good, but time heals all wounds. Look at the bright side of things and you won't even have to worry about whatever it was that humiliated you. Sometimes when we jump for something, we can come up short...trust me, I would know. That is never a reason to sulk or give up. Find the humor and laugh about it. There are a lot more serious things going on in life to try and understand besides why your legs couldn't even give you one dunk...
And for the record, I was on the way up on that photo...I don't care what anyone says...
Until next time,
Long Live The People
Comments