Basketball and I

" Basketball? Nah, boring sport. What's the point of tossing the orange ball here and there like a mad guy? I prefer badminton. " If you asked me for my favourite sport in ten years ago, I would presumably give you such an answer. But it is utterly different now.

I love basketball much more than any other sports. My perspective towards basketball was twisted soon after my father brought me to watch a final basketball match. The indoor atmosphere was tense. Everyone held their breath when the scores of both the teams were chasing each other while the time left was not plenteous. Unfortunately a key player sprained his ankle and was forced to be substituted. Despite enduring his excruciating pain, he was back on the court just after about five minutes when seeing his team was going to lose the final match. He made a fabulous half-court-shoot just before the opponent team could declare their victory in hand by 10 points lead. All the players were spurred, incredibly forcing the game to an extra time. However, they was defeated after all. They won the applause, the respect, the glory and the honour.

My father bought me a small basketball then. The old basketball court behind my previous house had become my childhood heaven. I could still remember the high and loose basketball rings without net, the slippery ground surface and the lines that could hardly be seen. Although all of the kids there were ignorant towards the basketball rules, we enjoyed ourselves by tossing the ball once we got the ball and normally it ended up as an air-ball ( not hitting the ring ) However there was another threat all the small kids had to face, not the hidden snakes in the two-feet-long bushes, not the bees from the huge bee hive, but they were the local teenage residents who forcibly occupied the basketball and changed it to a football field. Everyone must take his own risk to step into the court once they started kicking their football because the ball might slam at his face at anytime and anywhere. You might be still wondering how they could play football there since there were only two standing basketball posts. Ya right, the posts were their targets. The loud banging sound heard indicated there was a goal and soon the scorer would be showing his insaneness by taking off his shirt and screaming like a mad guy.

Sometime we were lucky, they were willing to play with us, but the kids (included me) could just watch the ball flying above our heads without touching the ball once although all of us did chase the ball hard. It would be considered lucky when you had a chance to snatch the bouncing ball, but unfortunately the ball would be gone just after a couple of seconds. They showed no mercy towards the small kids. There were also some moments when I managed to score and I would be very glad thinking the picture for the whole day. I was just innocent.