Why I Love Basketball

When my hubby and I were first engaged and he moved me to Oklahoma I was a little bit thrown by the football culture. I believe I even tried to argue with him about why basketball is a better sport than football. Big Mistake. Over time I have adapted to my new home and become a very willing fan of football. In fact, I didn't even realize how much I had missed basketball- until we hosted the New Orleans Hornets when they were displaced after Katrina. Hubby and I split season tickets with some other couples for the two year Hornet stay and had so much fun going to the games. When the Thunder arrived to stay I was very excited, and now just a couple years later I have evolved back into a rabid fan- complete with a whole new wardrobe of blue and white shirts.

Growing up in Illinois I started watching basketball at a young age. While I was in middle school the University of Illinois made it to the Final Four in Seattle and I watched about every game that year. The best part was when we played Iowa and we got to call and taunt my grandmother when we beat them (little did I know I would turncoat and attend Iowa just a few years down the road). Then came the Bulls Dynasty. MJ, Pippin, BJ, enough said. I watched a lot of great basketball in those years.

So, here in no particular order are a few of the reasons I love Basketball:
1. It is fast and furious -it is exciting to watch.
2. You don't have to devote 9 hours of your day to a game when you attend in person.
3. Every game is a display of amazing athleticism. These guys are so strong, agile, and talented.
4. You can enjoy a game no matter what the weather is like outside. I have been to football games in the rain. Enough said.
5. The game is a lot more straightforward than many others. If you had never seen a game before you would figure out pretty quickly how things work. I still need help on a regular basis for football rules.

I could go on, but you get the point. As we have entered this playoff season I find myself thinking about my Grandma Gusty. She became a basketball fan late in life after she became a widow. Living in Fort Dodge, Iowa means enduring some seriously long, hard winters. Basketball became a way she and her good friends passed the time on long winter nights. I will never forget going to her house for a weekend while I was in college and meeting up with her two lifelong girlfriends for lunch. They talked NBA basketball the whole time- I had almost no idea what they were talking about! I do know this- she would have loved the Thunder. Their story, the hard work and humble attitudes would have gotten her attention. I think that she would have gotten a kick out of the fact that her great grandkids (especially her namesake, Zella) are loving basketball as much as she did.