On Saturday, the basketball team had our first semi-official game of the 2008-2009 season. We scrimmaged Whitko at our home gym in front of a pretty good crowd. The starters were freshmen Zach Terrell at the point guard, junior Desmon Powers at the shooting guard, me at the small forward, sophomore Evan Rhoades at the power forward, and junior Jay Curry at the center. We started off somewhat slow, but by the third quarter, the team started to click and we pulled away from the Wildcats. The great thing about our team is that we have great depth when it comes to a bench. We have guys who can come off the bench and hit a three pointer, grab a rebound, make an assist, or defend someone from scoring. That gives some of the guys a sense of comfort when it comes to leads in big games.
I wanted to get a dunk in the game, but the chance never presented itself. I will dunk in a game before the season is over; it's a guarantee. A lot of people ask me why I don't dunk enough and what these don't realize is that it is very difficult. I can not just stand under the basket, jump straight up, and flush the ball through the hoop. Rather, I need to get some momentum so I can take off with a better velocity to get up above the rim to throw the ball down. I can tell my critics that if and when the opportunity arises, I will be dunking the ball like a cop dunks a donut into his or her coffee. It's that simple. So until it happens, get off my back.
We ended up winning the scrimmage by about twenty or twenty-two points. A pretty solid performance overall. I finished the game with around sixteen or eighteen points. The scoring was spread amongst the guys fairly well, showing the balance our team has which will help us in the long run against deep teams. So now that this scrimmage is in the rearview mirror, our next target is Harding, who beat us last year sixty-one to fifty-eight in overtime. I'm excited to get the regular season started, but I'm not excited for my senior season to end. This entire season will have a bittersweet feeling.
Stepping away from basketball, Thanksgiving is the upcoming holiday on Thursday. However, I will not be eating turkey and all those goodies with my family. No, they will be in Seaside, Florida for Thanksgiving. I, however, will be home alone because I need to attend basketball practice on Wednesday after school, Friday morning, and Saturday morning. I am used to this feeling of abandonment, as it has happened to me twice in the past and will happen again once more after Thanksgiving. Last year, I was home alone for Thanksgiving break and for eight days over Winter Break. Although I knew my family was in fun places such as New York City and Seaside, I did pretty well on my own. I found that the freedom to do whatever I wanted to was actually a pretty fun and relaxing time. I would of course love to be in Florida during these bitterly cold winter weeks, but I am excited to get some rest and relaxation in the comfort of my home. I have been invited to eat at my Aunt Kathy's house for Thanksgiving in town and I have also been invited to eat with my good friend Mac Finley and his family. I'm basically set. Also, as a parting gift, my mother ordered me two Junior's New York Cheesecakes straight from the city themselves. Junior's possibly makes THE greatest cheesecakes in the world. And because cheesecake is my favorite dessert, I will be in heaven during the break just chowing away at the luscious treat. I will also be delivering Arby's to my friends Kyle Beutler and Patrick Veerkamp as they endevour on a brave journey to the Best Buy parking lot on Thanksgiving night to participate in the Black Friday festivities. If it were not for basketball practice the next morning at 10 a.m., I would be right there next to them wrapped up in my sleeping bag, sitting next to the battery powered space heater, inside a tiny tent, eating the pizza provided by Mrs. Hirschy.
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