As the WNBA is getting ready for the playoffs, the college teams are starting to practice getting ready for their season.
Wednesday night I went to the CSULB meet and greet with the coaching staff. A bunch of us season ticket holders went to socialize, talk about the upcoming season. I can’t wait for the season to start.
This year I have been fortunate to attend almost all of the Sparks home games. I have friends with season tickets who always seem to have a spare ticket so I am always willing to go. The last three games we have all carpooled up, 4 or 5 of us packed in my gas guzzling SUV for 45 minutes to an hour commute. I LOVE women’s basketball, college more then pro, but I LOVE it. Our conversations in the car for the most part is Basketball. My travel companions are not just lovers of the game they have lived/live the game. It goes beyond me how their brain capacity manages to remember people in the game, their highlights, their weaknesses. I can remember stand-out players 4 years maybe 8 years back, but these women remember everything about the game. They really LOVE it.
One of my passengers has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, she also was on the 1984 Gold medal Olympic team, her resume goes on and on, but you get the drift. I am not using names because of the google. When we walk through the Staples Center, (basketball arena) she gets noticed. She is a down to earth local hero. (UCLA) She will stop and talk Basketball with her “fans” which she kindly refers to as friends or acquaintances. She might not know their names, but she has seen the same women for years at the games. I realized while I stuck with her, as our other travel companions ran ahead to get in the beer line that she has a gleam in her eyes when people talk “shop” with her. I know in the past, for me when standing in a room or passing a basketball great, that I have always been to shy to stop and say hi, or tell them, “hey I remember that time you made that basket in the last few seconds of that game against blah blah.” I think hanging out with her at the last few games has given me more confidence to approach these “heroes” of mine. (Watch out Pat Summit!)
As much as I love Basketball, I don’t even compare it to the love of basketball some of these women have. I try to rationalize me talking about Airplanes with a gleam in my eye, or excitement like they have. They work/breathe and live basketball. I work on airplanes during the day and rarely ever talk shop outside of work, and I love my job. I guess it is just a different kind of love.