Anyone who has seen Space Jam has heard the song “Basketball Jones.” My favorite part of that song is Barry White’s voiceover:
Jones: an obsession, a burning desire; the undeniable passion; the love for someone or something…Yes, he was the victim of a basketball jones.
Recently I was out for a little while with a sprained ankle. Today I realized that not being able to play or practice has only intensified my passion for this sport. (My heart goes out to Allison right now. Girl, get better soon.) With the exception for this past week, I have not been injured enough to not practice or play games since my senior year of high school. I was out the entire year with a stress fracture, and it broke my heart to watch girls play the game I love with such apathy. Over the course of the past few years, I have not felt the “basketball jones” that I had felt at that time—sitting on the sidelines dribbling two basketballs, just hoping I would magically heal so I could get in the game and actually score points…so I could chest bump a teammate that made a sick play...so I wouldn’t have to see a statline that read “Christina Spencer – DNP.” I wanted nothing more than to be able to play. I craved basketball. I have been “fortunate” enough to have sprained my ankle, and as a result, get my basketball jones back.
[Don’t get me wrong, I have loved this sport every season I have been here at Oberlin, but the actual act of craving the game has been a bit buried. My work ethic stemmed solely from wanting to see more playing time in games, rather than playing for the love of basketball.]
I love this game. There really is no other sport in the whole entire world that beats basketball. Yes, there are times that I find myself wanting to take a nap instead of hitting the gym at 4:45...It's a long day, and Oberlin classes certainly can drain a person. But you know what? It's part of the sport. It's part of getting better. It's a sacrifice we have to make as student athletes. And you want to know something else? It's worth it. There is no better feeling than hearing the swish of the net after making the three-pointer you have shot thousands of time at practice, or witnessing the beauty of a back-door layup, or being able to beat your defender due to the countless number of sprints you have run in the pre-season. Practice is painful. Your muscles hurt, your lungs burn, your stomach cramps... But capturing a W in a neck-and-neck game because you can outrun or outshoot an opponent in the fourth quarter is worth every second of pain, every sore muscle, every stomach cramp, every minute of lost sleep, and every sprained ankle.
Sometimes we feel sorry for ourselves. I'm too tired to run...I can't finish this ab workout...I can't lift anymore...I'm too sore...My body hurts...
I found myself committing this very act of feeling sorry today in practice. My ankle hurts... But then a light went off. Yes, I am still injured...BUT we have two tournaments this month. I need to be in shape. I need to suck it up. I WANT to start off our season with a beautiful line that reads:
Oberlin College 1-0
I can rest on the weekend. Of course I am not suggesting that every injured athlete should continue to practice under extremely painful or health-threatening circumstances. Quite frankly, if this were last week, it would have been VERY ill-advised for me to practice. But today was a different story. Yes, I am still in pain...but I would rather endure this (not-so-severe) pain for a few more days and be in shape, rather than milking it and watching my team get better without me. (And let me say, playing defense today after not being able to for a solid week, felt GREAT.) Basketball deserves a 110% effort. So do my teammates. I pushed through those last few sprints, and felt very satisfied as I limped to our end-of-practice huddle. Ice will help. I'll be fine tomorrow. Instead of half-heartedly jogging the last few sprints and gaining absolutely nothing, I was able dig deep, and therefore leave practice with the contentment of knowing that today I got just a little bit better.
Coach talked yesterday about finding our “second wind.” I found mine today. My motivation comes from the deep love and passion that I feel for this sport, and I truly believe that hard work will be rewarded.
Basketball jones…I gotta basketball jones…
-Christina Spencer #23
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Kelly
The underlying message of this story is to live in the present and not dwell on the past or future except to learn from it. The present is what you have now, so take from it all that you can.
Post from Ellen
Sorry this is late!
The most important idea I took away from "The Precious Present" is that we are solely in charge of our own happiness. While the old man could have just told the boy the exact meaning of the precious present, the boy was able to make that discovery for himself, empowering his own happiness and his own present. The story encourages us to take control of and remain active in the present. We can learn from he past and have hopes for the future, but it all boils down to what we do at this moment that truly shapes who we are.
The most important idea I took away from "The Precious Present" is that we are solely in charge of our own happiness. While the old man could have just told the boy the exact meaning of the precious present, the boy was able to make that discovery for himself, empowering his own happiness and his own present. The story encourages us to take control of and remain active in the present. We can learn from he past and have hopes for the future, but it all boils down to what we do at this moment that truly shapes who we are.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
C-Nasty's Review of the Precious Present
After reading The Precious Present, discussing the story with teammates, and reading everyone’s blogs, I think it is safe to say that there is a consensus that the Precious Present’s takeaway is to “live in the present” and to really preserve the unique experience of being present. The author conveys this message as the only means to true happiness—that one cannot dwell on past occurrences or spend each day hoping for a better tomorrow, for these are wasted moments. I have seen this theme repeated in several axioms (one being, “today is a gift—that’s why they call it the present”) so I figure it must have a pretty substantial amount of validity. It can indeed apply to this year’s basketball team upcoming basketball season.
Example: No matter how much I miss the girls from last year, I cannot carry those feelings of sadness into this season, for they are part of a basketball team in my past, and not part of the present. It will be a purposeless and in no way beneficial to the success of this team. I must live in the present—and cherish the people and experiences of the now. (I love you girls!) J
Additionally, I cannot brush off this season and instead focus my attention to next year when there will be more than eight players. A this-season-doesn’t-matter attitude is certainly no way to win basketball games.
Though The Precious Present delivers a significant account of the notion of being present, I would argue that the author makes a mistake in downplaying the importance of the past and future. One’s present is codependent with his past and future. The past is essentially the determining factor of one’s present state. Different pasts yield different presents, and as a basketball player, it is necessary to revisit the past from time to time.
Example] I am on the bus ride home from an away game in which I continued to allow my man to score. Instead of just forgetting about it and being “in the present”—sitting in silence while many girls are talking to their parents on the phone or are sleeping—it is much more practical to examine my recent past. Why did I let her score? What was I doing (or not doing) to allow her to get to the hoop? It is important to get to the root of my mistakes that way I will not let it happen in the next game.
Which brings me to my next point. As a basketball player, it is vital to look towards the future. (Isn’t that, in essence, what going over a scouting report is all about?)
Example] Same scenario as before: My girl kept scoring on me. Well, after visiting the past and realizing what went wrong, it is now time to ask the question of what I can do next time to prevent this from happening.
The past, present, and future are all very reliant on one another, for just as different pasts yield different presents, different futures yield different presents.
Example: My man kept scoring on me because I was not in a defensive stance. If my past was different, namely, if I had been in a defensive stance, my present would be different in that my man would not have scored on me, in addition to the fact that I would not currently be even thinking about this topic.
After I realized what I had been doing wrong—not being in a defensive stance—I will have then decided to make the necessary changes in my workout to ensure that my girl will no longer keep scoring on me. I will have thus looked towards the future to make certain that I will have a particular present.
Okay, so I never really intended to write this much...I think ideas kept coming to me as I was writing. I feel as if I have just written a philosophy paper. But you get the point. Yes, it is important to live in the present, and I truly believe that this will unearth a whole lot of happiness, but one can never neglect the past or ignore the future to maintain whatever happiness the present may generate.
So (my) moral of the story: Live your life AAAaaayyyyyy AAaaayyyy Aaayyy
[On a side note: Why couldn’t the old main just explain to the boy what the “precious present” was? Instead, the boy wandered through life looking for something that he probably would have found out sooner, had the old man never even mentioned it. Just a thought.]
-Christina "C-Na$ty" Spencer #23
Example: No matter how much I miss the girls from last year, I cannot carry those feelings of sadness into this season, for they are part of a basketball team in my past, and not part of the present. It will be a purposeless and in no way beneficial to the success of this team. I must live in the present—and cherish the people and experiences of the now. (I love you girls!) J
Additionally, I cannot brush off this season and instead focus my attention to next year when there will be more than eight players. A this-season-doesn’t-matter attitude is certainly no way to win basketball games.
Though The Precious Present delivers a significant account of the notion of being present, I would argue that the author makes a mistake in downplaying the importance of the past and future. One’s present is codependent with his past and future. The past is essentially the determining factor of one’s present state. Different pasts yield different presents, and as a basketball player, it is necessary to revisit the past from time to time.
Example] I am on the bus ride home from an away game in which I continued to allow my man to score. Instead of just forgetting about it and being “in the present”—sitting in silence while many girls are talking to their parents on the phone or are sleeping—it is much more practical to examine my recent past. Why did I let her score? What was I doing (or not doing) to allow her to get to the hoop? It is important to get to the root of my mistakes that way I will not let it happen in the next game.
Which brings me to my next point. As a basketball player, it is vital to look towards the future. (Isn’t that, in essence, what going over a scouting report is all about?)
Example] Same scenario as before: My girl kept scoring on me. Well, after visiting the past and realizing what went wrong, it is now time to ask the question of what I can do next time to prevent this from happening.
The past, present, and future are all very reliant on one another, for just as different pasts yield different presents, different futures yield different presents.
Example: My man kept scoring on me because I was not in a defensive stance. If my past was different, namely, if I had been in a defensive stance, my present would be different in that my man would not have scored on me, in addition to the fact that I would not currently be even thinking about this topic.
After I realized what I had been doing wrong—not being in a defensive stance—I will have then decided to make the necessary changes in my workout to ensure that my girl will no longer keep scoring on me. I will have thus looked towards the future to make certain that I will have a particular present.
Okay, so I never really intended to write this much...I think ideas kept coming to me as I was writing. I feel as if I have just written a philosophy paper. But you get the point. Yes, it is important to live in the present, and I truly believe that this will unearth a whole lot of happiness, but one can never neglect the past or ignore the future to maintain whatever happiness the present may generate.
So (my) moral of the story: Live your life AAAaaayyyyyy AAaaayyyy Aaayyy
[On a side note: Why couldn’t the old main just explain to the boy what the “precious present” was? Instead, the boy wandered through life looking for something that he probably would have found out sooner, had the old man never even mentioned it. Just a thought.]
-Christina "C-Na$ty" Spencer #23
Post from Megan
The Precious Present sends an important message. It teaches us that the present is a gift given to everyone, a gift that most take for granted or never realize they have. To live in the past can only hurt your future. So relish the present. Do not waste time worrying or hoping for things to happen, but go out and make them happen for yourself.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Post from Allison
After reading the book, it made me realize that you shouldn't take the present for granted because it's all you really have, and that you should make the most of it. Dwelling on the past and worrying about the future brings nothing good. I think this can be applied to our basketball season in the sense that we should take it one game at a time and not focus on the games ahead or what happened in the previous game. We should learn from the past and prepare for the future, but concentrate on what is currently in front of us.
Post from Kayla!
The most important message that I took away from this book is that the best thing anyone could do is not to waste time wishing or worrying. Live in the present but reflect on the past and prepare for the future. These three things will only lead to happiness and contentment in the precious present.
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