Winner - A Tribute to Rec. League Basketball

The last time I played "rec. league" basketball was 7 years ago. A group of my high school friends who for many summers congregated at the school yard to play pick-up games decided to join a league. From that day we were known simply as "The Living Legends", a name that derived from a popular hip hop group, but not a reflection of our skills as ball players (maybe it was wishful thinking).

We had a decent team and as I recall, we were a force to be reckoned with among other teenage teams in the area. We were all decent athletes, we pushed the ball and played a fast-paced game, which in retrospect I'm sure was a characteristic we picked up from watching "And 1" videos and our Lakers (who were '3-peat' World Champions at that point). But our team's tragic flaw was our short tempers.

Unfortunately our season came to an abrupt end one hot summer night. Tensions rose during a close game against another young team in our league. An elbow was thrown after a basket and one of our guys lost his cool. I took the ball down court and watched my teammate sprint out ahead of me. I soon realized he wasn't making a cut to the basket, but rather a bee-line to the guy who elbowed him. He charged up to him and collard his sweat-drenched white tee. I caught a glance of the rage in his eye and knew at that point the game was over. The benches cleared and fists flew from both sides. Let's just say the rest was a blur. Ten minutes later we stood huddled outside the entrance to the gym like some helpless kids stuck out in the rain. The director stood on the steps above us and banned us from the league for life.

Today I'm playing rec. league basketball again. I play on my office's team. I would say we are equally tenacious as the "Living Legends" and a slightly more civil team of economists, paralegals and trial attorneys. But what we have in civility does not make up for the heart and competitive spirit that defined the "Living Legends" With a 5-0 record we're one game away from clinching the 1 seed in the playoffs. And on that note, here is a tune that makes me feel like a winner. Enjoy. Go play basketball!