Thank goodness it’s basketball season again! I know, you’re wondering why I’m talking about basketball when in fact football season just began. Hoops doesn’t start until the end of October. But in our family, basketball season started early this year. You see, my son has gotten a liking for hoops again and he can’t get enough of it. But let’s rewind. This story starts way back when Braden was an infant.

The only sport I really ever cared about was basketball. Yes, I used to catch it on TV once in a while, but more than that I really loved getting in on some pick-up games at the local park. Today I’m still drawn to basketball hoops. If I see a rim I’m jones’ing to shoot some hoops. When Braden was just months old I routinely took him to the basketball court at the park. I did this often. He was home with Mom all day, so when I got home from work around 5:30pm I grabbed him, his stroller, his play-n-pack, his toys, the basketball, and headed to the nearest vacant hoop.

Follow up:

Prior to Braden I would avoid vacant hoops in favor of a busy park with some guys running 3-on-3. But, with my son, I wanted a quiet park where I could set up his play-n-pack a safe distance from the hoop and yet still shoot on my own while involving him with some dribbling around his little polyester cage. So we did this often. That’s probably where his love for basketball began.

As Braden grew (he is now 8) he was always exposed to basketball. For a while he had little 4T sized replica NBA jerseys hanging around his room like it was the hall of fame. He’s had several pairs of lil Jordan’s. And don’t forget his first basketball; that cute little plush basketball. Awwwwwww! And it even had “My First Basketball” stitched on it. Sometimes I’d have basketball games on TV. I installed a little plastic hoop in his room, which he used to love playing on until I dunked on it one too many times and broke it. So I replaced it with a miniature model of a real hoop, steel rim and all. No joking. This hoop isn’t going anywhere. A 200 pound man could do pull-ups on it. He has little NCAA pennants hanging all around his room now. And guess what he’s going to be for Halloween this year? Yep, a little basketball player.

My boy loves to shoot hoops. When I get home from work we head to the basketball court. Like I said, he can’t get enough. And, of course, I love shooting hoops too. He shoots on one end and I shoot on the other. But this just started up again a couple months ago. For a while he was in a basketball drought where it didn’t seem to interest him. But his basketball jones is back.

Last night we went out to shoot. Mom came with us. We have two balls. One of them is nicer than the other. In fact, one of them we picked up at a garage sale for 50 cents. It’s tired and wore out pretty good. Last night was it’s end. It’s got a slow leak that requires me to air it up every few days. Well, after we finished playing I told him that ball was garbage. It didn’t have much air in it. It was time to part with it. And, as we were leaving the park, I threw it out onto the grass beside the basketball court and we drove off. BIG MISTAKE. Braden didn’t understand what was going on. That lit his fuse, and like a firecracker, he began fuming. The meltdown came next and we had to listen to him the whole way home. Whoops. Dad made a boo-boo.

We got home and Braden was still having a fit. I told him we’d get on the computer and find a new ball on eBay. That didn’t help. His fit continued even as me and him were browsing eBay on his iPad.

Within 15 minutes we ended up going to the store and buying him a new basketball. Me and Braden drove to the local Hell-Mart and waited in line forever until the cashier had time to ignore us while we gave her money. I didn’t feel like going to the store. I don’t like stores. We really don’t need two basketballs. But, now we have two again. Lesson learned. And, for the record, Mom was right. She told me I should not have tossed his basketball out and I did it anyways.