It is hard to believe that it is barely 2014 and the suppression of free speech has already reared its ugly head.  My original blog post was entitled, ‘Full-Court Press Cookies-Expressions through Confections ‘.  It was a charming little story about how I took my basketball team of scallywags and went head-to-head with a seasoned coach and his well-groomed team.  I would love to tell you that the basketball gods smiled on us and we pulled out a victory with a last second shot at the buzzer or other such Hoosier-inspired happy ending.  It would be a story about underdogs scratching their way to a victory over impossible odds.  Yeah…no such thing happened.  We got our asses handed to us!

 

Kevin and I are polar opposites in many ways.  He stands just a hair under 6’8” tall and I am stand 5’4” with my boots on!  He is rational, practical, and speaks only words that need to be spoken.  I tend to be a little irrational, a tad quirky and have been known to engage him in long in-depth conversations debating such topics as chupacabra, Big Foot, and the intellectual potential of our two incredibly smart dogs.  NOTE: By saying ‘engage in conversation’, I mean I talk non-stop until he agrees with me or says he will ‘think about it’, which means he will never agree with me, but wants desperately for me to shut up.  Although we are completely different in many ways, he is the love of my life and patiently puts up with my compulsive tardiness, occasional sassiness, and my complete affinity for ridiculousness.  So, it doesn’t exactly surprise me that he threw the brakes on the Full Court Press Cookies.

 

I don’t think his opposition to me sharing the story is rooted in our embarrassing loss or the fact that I took a group of boys that nobody else wanted to coach and gave them an opportunity to play ball.  He is a real coach.  He knows more about the game than just about anyone I know.  He knows how to win and although he doesn’t like to lose, he does so with dignity and class.  So, when our little gang of castaways were within four points just before the end of the first half, I have to think he was secretly, albeit quietly, proud of us.  I am almost certain that it isn’t what happened in the second half that makes him skittish about me posting.  Even though he won’t admit it, I know what kind of coach he is.  When his team play teams which are considerably weaker, he always has the scorekeeper quit putting points on the scoreboard if his team is ahead by 20 or more.  So, as the favored team pulled further and further ahead of us and they didn’t pull off the press, he knew my frustration was justified.  My passive-aggressive response to the decision to keep the full court pressure on until the game ending buzzer is probably the source of his resistance.

 

You see, Kevin is good friends with the coach who ran up the score on me and my band of lost boys!   Kevin insists that I let too much emotion bleed into whatever it is I am doing and I just needed to stifle myself.   It wasn’t a big deal.  His answer:  ‘just let it go’.  I tried.  However, when Coach took his place at the card table in our basement on poker night, I seized the opportunity to make a point.  I baked dozens of chocolate chip cookies and when the last batch was still warm, I sent my daughter down to the poker table with the platter of cookies and the following note attached:

 

These are not ordinary cookies.  These are FULL COURT PRESS COOKIES.  Everyone can eat as many as he wants with ONE exception…  Coach can only start eating cookies after everyone else is 30 cookies ahead of him.  Enjoy!

 

In my defense, I think my use of cookies was a harmless and fun way to express my differing views on game strategy.   I was thankful that Coach was a good sport about my little cookie rant.  I think too often adults get in the way of the true purpose of youth sports and that saddens me.  As a parent, I have been on a journey to bring things into focus.  I have forced myself to step back and look at the BIG picture and ask myself the following questions when I feel the pull of  the “victory-by-association” trying to steer my reactions and actions:  1. In the big scheme of things, how much does this (race, win, loss, scratch, DQ) really matter?  2. What do I want my athlete to take away from this experience? 3. Is she/he still having fun?  4. Are my reactions supporting or hindering his/her development?  Perhaps, somewhere along this journey of mine, Kevin will give his blessing for me to share the story of the FCP Cookies 😉