We Still Lost The Game But...

I couldn't have been more than 14 or 15 years old... that awkward age when you're just starting to grow, your voice is starting to get deep, and you're so unsure of yourself. It would be here at the neighborhood YMCA, where we would learn a couple of lessons that would go a long way towards making us sure of ourselves.

My friends and I used to go to the neighborhood Y" every Saturday to play basketball. Well, we thought we were playing basketball. As it turns out though, we weren't that good... not at team basketball. We would play "horse", in which one guy would make a shot from some seemingly impossible angle and then you had to match it. We would then play a game called "Twenty-One", which was really every man for himself. The person who scored twenty-one points first, won the game. It could be up to 20-30 guys playing twenty-one at a given time.

My friends and I seldom bothered anyone else but, this one particular time, we got challenged to a "real game" of full-court by some other guys from the south side of 52nd Street. We didn't know them but, they seemed to have a certain menace about them in the way they "asked" us to play against them. It seemed like we didn't really have a choice and it also seemed as though they were a little older and bigger than us too.

My friends and I thought that we could play but, these guys could really play. What started out as a "friendly" game of full-court, soon turned into a spectator sport. Several girls came over to watch and they brought their friends and (I guess) their friends' cousins too. Once we started playing, it soon became apparent that we were in over our heads.

My friend, Eddie C., fed me the ball, I went in for a smooth layup, and that was the last points we scored for a longgg while. Within what seemed like minutes, we were down 22-2. Whenever one of my guys got the ball, it got stolen from him. These guys committed hard fouls that were never called, they elbowed the crap out of us, and they had a fast break that would've made Magic Johnson and his showtime Lakers proud.

These guys knew each other and they played together quite well... with the passing, positioning, boxing out, and everything. They were making us look like fools and, at the same time, daring us to quit. The girls were laughing at us and I think all of us just wanted the game to be over so we could slink out of that gym with whatever dignity we had left.

By the time the score had ballooned to 30-4, people were cheering for us to just make a shot. These guys were putting on a clinic at our expense. I was praying that they didn't score 100 points on us. Which they could have very well have done. There was a guy sitting there in khaki pants, a pair of black "Chuck Taylors", and a doo-rag, watching the whole thing and shaking his head. He finally called "Time!" and put a stop to the farce. Didn't matter..we were two points from losing anyway.

One of the other guys said... "Hey, man! What you doin'?" He looked at the guy and said... "What did you say?" He must have held some kind of weight because none of the other guys opened their mouths again, including the one who asked him what he was doing. I found out later on that this guy had been in a gang and just recently got out of prison. He was well-known around there and folks didn't back-talk him too much.

He called me and my guys over to the side and said... "Man, y'all are gettin' killed out there!" I'm thinkin' (but, not saying), "Tell me somethin' I don't know." He said... "You know why? For one thing, y'all ain't playin' no defense. Another thing, y'all ain't playin' together. All you guys are just going for yourself. You gotta play together. You gotta play some "dee" and if you got somebody who can shoot, get him the ball. The main thing is, you lettin' them guys take your heart and if you scared of another man, he got you beat already. Now we gonna start this thing over again. Get in they faces and don't give them a shot. If they foul you hard, knock they asses down. Pass the ball if you get in trouble. If you see a guy open with no man on him, get him the ball." This guy had it in him to be a coach, had he of taken another path in life. Just that quick, he motivated us and whipped my little crew into shape.

The second game was much different. We got in these guys' faces and played some defense... not letting them get an easy score. My friend, Eddie C., was a little guy... he was fast and began "picking their pockets" with ease (stealing the ball, for those who don't know basketball lingo). My other friend, Big George (who lived down the street from my great-aunt), used his size to box out and grab rebounds. He blocked a number of their shots and got the ball to me, Eddie C., or Little Carl for easy lay-ups. We had the game tied at 30 a piece before long. No one was laughing at us now. In fact they were shocked at we had come back and played so different. It almost looked like we had snookered these guys into beleiving that we couldn't play in the first game. Of course, I knew , we all knew that that wasn't true. Some of the old heads were even reffing this game..so those other guys didn't get away with the hard fouls that they committed in the first game.

Like I said, these cats were good and they were used to playing with each other. An errant pass by Big George got picked off and one of their guys sunk a jumper that ended the second game with them winning 32-30 over us. This time, all of those girls clapped and cheered for us. We had lost the second game as well but we had played better together. I don't know about any of the other guys but I had learned some lessons... lessons that stayed with me for life. I wasn't sad about losing...(this time) I mean, I wasn't overjoyed either..but I was happy to have some self respect at least. Our "benefactor " came over to us and gave us dap saying-"That's Okay...you lost,but you didn't give the game away..you made those cats work....They'll think again before challenging you...you took your heart back." he said. Indeed. I learned three lessons that day-

(1) I never again let another man convince me that he was better than me. (2) I learned that we are not alone on this planet... we live with other people and sometimes it takes a united effort of working with many for the good of the whole group. (3) But, more importantly, I learned about courage, coming back from what (at first) seemed like impossible odds, and to never give up.

Just a simple little game in a sweaty little gymnasium but, such big life lessons. I was happy for those older guys who looked out for and helped us young bucks at the time. We need more of that today. Those guys were stone gangsters..but they felt responsible enough to help us, to mentor us in a fractured sort of way..A way that is sadly missing for young guys coming up today.