When you watch basketball players out on the street, in the rec center, high school, college or even the NBA; you know the guys who love the game. You can see the passion, the enthusiasm and the motivation displayed by the ones who truly love the game.
Day 9 – Do it for Love
“I lived there that summer (Schoolyard). I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but there was just something about the game. I loved it instantly.”
-Billy Cunningham
Those were Cunningham’s words after he received a basketball for his fifth birthday. Many players have that same feeling Cunningham had that morning he went over to St. Rose of Lima’s schoolyard to play basketball. Does playing basketball make you come alive? Do you look forward to working out? Do you play for the glory of the game and not the awards?
When and where does a love affair begin for a basketball player? Does it start at Christmas time when you receive a brand new basketball under the Christmas tree? You open up your other gifts but always keeping the ball by your side. After all the presents are opened you get dressed and run outside to get some shots up.
Maybe the love affair begins while the temperature is 15 degrees outside, there’s snow on the ground and you get the gloves out and shovel the snow. Does it start in the driveway, shooting with your mom, dad or sibling? I lived in the gym watching my dad's teams practice, sneaking up shots on the far end of the court.
Maybe you’re alone; just you, the ball and the basket. Or maybe you’re at the club playing with friends? Or maybe it starts in your basement with a coat hanger bent into the shape of a hoop wedged between your door and the doorway using a rolled up pair of socks for the ball?
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The love starts early in the Silk Household |
“I had signed a contract for X amount of dollars and was obligated to play for that. The thing I value, that Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and all your other older, great players ever valued, is our love of the game. I mean that if you took money out of the game, we’d still play it somewhere for free just as hard.”
-Michael Jordan
I definitely love the game of basketball. When I was in my teens, if someone told me someday I was going to get married to a basketball (but I'm glad I chose my wife instead:)
“I loved the game so much I would just go out there and play all day and night. Whatever I was carrying groceries, or running an errand for my mom or dad, I always had one hand free dribbling that basketball.”
-Magic Johnson
