On Winning

I've been to a lot of basketball games in my life. Grade school, middle school, high school, college. I've had the pleasure of cheering in the middle of Rupp Arena during the Sweet 16, and I've also known the agony of going home the first round of district tournament. I may not know basketball, but I know about winning.

Winners are those who never give up. They are the ones who scrap for the ball, who hustle, who keep on keeping on even when the calls aren't going their way and the elbows are flying and nothing gets called. When the ball goes out of bounds and you KNOW you weren't the last one to touch it, but the ref calls it out on you anyway. Winners are the ones who give 110% in the gym before the game, during the summer, on the weekends, where there isn't a crowd and a band and cheerleaders, there's just them and the basketball, and a million shots from the free throw line. A million sprints, and a million and one yells from a crazy coach who they sometimes hate.

Winners are winners when maybe the score board doesn't always show it. Then, there are those times when it does. When you are down with 5:00 to go, and the coach's wife heart is pumping so hard and her hands are shaking so bad that she can't even check Facebook. (Even though it is just a regular season game, there's something about adrenaline that just keys this old coach's wife up...). When you fight back... really fight. When you are not the biggest on the court but you make up for it in heart, and in love for your sisters. And before you know it, your Senior has left it all on the court as she fights for the rebound, and your Junior drives it up the court and bounce passes it to the other Junior for a shot under the basket. When your little guards play like they aren't so little. When your sophomore checks in and does her part underneath, and the freshmen don't play like freshmen. When those 8th graders come in with ice in their veins, and everyone on the team has a part. EVERYONE. Each person on that bench, and those parents in the stands, and the coaches and the administrators. And yes, me... a Sports Mama. No girls of my own, but I couldn't be any prouder. I've known you girls were winners for a long time. I've seen your sacrificies. Tonight, you showed them on the scoreboard. You pulled together and made this ball game lover get tears in her eyes as I watched you celebrate, because it is everything that all of you deserve. Tonight, we are winners. You have shown us how it is done... and as always, it is great to be a Jackson Tiger.