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Kid Said/ Dad Said on basketball
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Editor’s note: This week’s He Said/She Said is actually a Kid Said/Dad Said. Alison yielded her space to our 8-year-old son Garrett to tell about what he calls his "worst basketball game ever." For the sake of the reader, the all-caps, underlines and multiple exclamation marks have been excised by dad the editor.
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GARRETT WINGFIELD
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___Kid Said:
___On Saturday, I had my worst basketball game ever.
___First, we had our team pictures. Those weren’t sobad. But in the first quarter of the game, the other team scored 15 points, and we scored zero.
___In the second quarter, it wasn’t so bad. But still, they got five points, and we got two. And Number 25 hit one of our players, Matthew, down while the referee wasn’t looking. And he and his friends laughed at Matthew.
___In the third quarter, things got a lot worse. They scored 10 points, and we scored two again.
___ In the fourth quarter, they scored six points and won the game, 36-4.
___It was my worst game ever.
Mark Wingfield is managing editor of the Standard. Alison Wingfield is a freelance writer. The Wingfields moved to Texas from Louisville, Ky., where Mark had been editor of the Western Recorder, in which this column appeared weekly.
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___Dad Said:
___You’ve got to understand that having lived in Kentucky eight years, our family takes basketball seriously.
___From the time he was big enough to throw a small basketball at one of those kid-sized hoops in the backyard, Garrett has been honing his skills. As a kindergartner, he would spend nearly every free moment in the driveway practicing free
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MARK WINGFIELD
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throws, lay ups, long shots and fast breaks.
___ I sometimes feel guilty because when we moved to Dallas, we bought a house with a basketball hoop over the garage, which is at the top of a short, sloping driveway that leads directly into the alley. Because of the danger the alley represents, we won’t let the boys play out there without adult supervision. Which means they don’t practice basketball nearly as much anymore.
___ The third graders we went up against Saturday must have full-size practice courts in their living rooms. It was obvious they practice a lot. One skinny little kid hit three-point shots on the fly, barely looking at the goal.
___ The dad of another one of our players and I sat next to each other slack-jawed at what we were witnessing. Halfway through the first quarter, we knew our boys were doomed. And we knew there was nothing we could do about it.
___ Our coaches made a noble effort to bolster our defenses, and they effectively stopped the runaway scoring. But too much damage had already been done--both on the scoreboard and in the psyches of our boys.
___ The whole experience reminds me of an old hymn we don’t sing anymore, "Work for the Night is Coming." In the game of life, as in basketball, you never know what challenge you’re going to face. There comes a point when it’s too late to practice, to get ready. All you can do is proceed with what you’ve got.
___ The only sure defense is lots of disciplined practice—whether that’s lay ups or prayer.
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PREVIOUS HE SAID/ SHE SAID COLUMNS:
1999: 6/16, 6/23, 6/30, 7/14, 7/21, 7/28, 8/4, 8/11, 8/18, 8/25, 9/1, 9/8, 9/15, 9/29, 10/6, 10/13, 10/20, 10/27 11/17, 11/24, 12/1, 12/8, 12/15, 12/22,
2000: 1/5, 1/19, 1/26, 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23, 3/1, 3/8, 3/22, 3/27, 4/3, 4/10, 4/17, 4/24, 5/1, 5/8, 5/15, 5/22, 5/29, 6/5, 6/12, 6/19, 6/26, 7/10, 6/26, 6/19, 7/17, 7/24, 7/31, 8/7, 8/14, 8/21, 8/28, 9/4, 9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 11/6, 11/20, 11/27, 12/11.
2001: 1/1, 1/8
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