Breakfast with the Moms

The high school basketball coaches held their annual breakfast with the moms on Saturday, December 16, 2007. It was a great opportunity for moms to learn some basketball lingo and get to know the coaches and each other a little better at the start of the season. I love that the coaches do this for us.

This year the coaches taught us the meaning of all those hand signals they use during the game. Of course, I promptly forgot what these complex charades stand for. But at least I know the coaches and players are actually communicating using these signs and not just waving to each other. Perhaps I'll develop some hand signals to use at home. I have a good one planned for "clean your room." Anyone out there have a hand signal for "take out the garbage"?

Long basketball shorts on the way out?

Since all fashion is cyclical, I'm pretty sure basketball shorts will stop being knickers someday soon. Recent photos of the pros show that basketball hemlines appear to have bottomed out and may be heading up again.

Basketball Fashion Timeline

Our kids may look back in horror at the long, sagging, gouchos they call shorts today. They'll ask, "Mother, why did you let me wear shorts that hung down past my knees? Those were hard to run in! I had to keep pulling them up throughout the game and it broke my concentration."

Until then, we'll continue hearing our teenagers snigger when they see images of basketball players from the past. And with our superior knowledge of fashion trends, we'll resist the urge to say, "I told you so." a few years from now.

Cheering vs. yelling

My daughter told me I yelled too loud at the last game. Oops. Fact is, I do yell at basketball games. But I call it cheering. She was sitting right in front of me so maybe it was just my volume that got on her nerves. Or [self-analysis here] perhaps I was yelling and not cheering. The truth is that one person's cheering is another person's unsportsmanlike conduct. And it's a lot easier to tell the difference in others than it is in yourself. We've all heard someone in the stands yell "Defense!" and by their inflection knew they meant "Go team! Play good-D!" And we've also heard someone yell the the same word "Defense!" and knew from their tone that they really meant "You idiots, do you even know how to play defense?!!!" I'd rather be in the first group. So maybe at the next game I'll just clap. It's hard to misinterpret a clap.

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