Fifteen years ago I discovered something that literally changed my life. It made me part of who I am today, it helped give me confidence during a time in school when I had none, and it also made me realise that I was able to do well at some things, even a sport.
happy birthday to my discovery of...
Basketball.
14 years ago while watching tv on a sunday morning a black man with a babyface dribbling a ball came on the screen and spoke with enthusiasm and love for a sport as I had never seen. All i'd encountered beforehand was the usual yobbery of football, and while there was much passion in welsh rugby none came from me as I had grown tired of people telling me i should play simply because I'm rather beastly sized. This man introduced me to the basic principles of basketball, why its so loved in the states and the culture its a part of, this man had me engrossed. This was all part of the macdonalds world basketball tourney, and the first game i ever saw was the perth wildcats of australia versus the reigning houston rockets. I'd never been so amazed at a sport before, and soon after I found more about the nba and which team i decided to support.
what team better than a team that was also about to embark on an adventure and start its first term in the league? what better for me to learn about basketball the same time as canada would when they received their first (and now only) nba team?
Born. The Toronto Raptors.
Born. My love for basketball.
Damon stoudamire, rookie of the year, vince carter, the next dynasty. vince carter, the betrayal. the lost years. chris bosh, the new hope. I've seen players come and go, I've seen wins come and not even appear, but the loves always been there. As strong as day one. as strong til day none.
Its been just over fifteen years since that moment, and i've followed the team as best as I could while receiving little or no exposure in the UK, I've played and almost made it onto a university team, fitness just costing me of a chance to do something I would have loved even more. It made me discover nba jam on the snes and a wealth of nba games over the years, from nba live, nba street, fastbreak, total nba, nba2k and back to live, I've always been entertained with basketball in one form or another.
To fifteen years in love with a sport, to another fifteen plus.
scoop jackson, words from my mouth can never give enough thanks for dribbling that ball or passing the love that you shared for basketball to us. Thank you.
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