The Crowd Went Wild

I haven’t felt inspired to write in a while, but this weekend that changed because I watched some soccer players play basketball. Now I feel quite ready to tackle anything. My 15 year old son and 5 of his friends signed up for a basketball tournament. None of these boys had ever played basketball. They are soccer players. Why did they sign up for a basketball tournament? Why not? And for the love of the game.

They were truly the underdogs. They barely had enough players, they made their own uniforms, no one had proper basketball shoes, 2 of their players bailed, and they had no coach. Their unconventional moves put them somewhere between the Harlem Globetrotters and The Bad News Bears. The crowd went wild.

When the games began, everyone seemed to be wondering why they were there. Between their mismatched uniforms and mismatched skills, it wasn’t obvious. When they kept playing at 100% despite the score of something like 13- 42 in the first period, and not just playing, but smiling and having a great time, it became obvious. These young men just loved the game and wanted to be a part of it.

By the end of the day, everyone knew about those “soccer boys” and they had kids begging to play with them, cheering for them, and yelling encouragement. Other players from all over rushed the court at halftime and rallied around them. They lost. They lost big. But they were the winners. And the crowd went wild.