Tonight's the Night

Tonight I'll board a school bus with the team.  We'll travel an hour and twenty minutes to our destination where we'll play a basketball game.  An coach once told me that basketball is the simplest sport there is.  You have a ball and a hoop; all you have to do is put the ball IN the hoop; do that more times than you opponent and you win. Simple. Tonight it's do or die, win or go home, stay alive to play another game or end our season.  To say we're an underdog is completely accurate.  We're 3-21 (2-6 in the region), they're 14-7 (8-0 in the region). We're young and undersized and young, they are season veterans.   Yet I am still optimistic about our chances tonight.  Because you never know what is going to happen when you step onto that court, especially when it's tournament time and you know that if you don't win, you're done.  It creates a sense of urgency, a hunger that was not present during the rest of the season.  At that point ability is just part of it, heart and desire become what it's about.  It comes down to who wants it the most.


From the video:
Here's the thing that makes life so interesting: The Theory of Evolution claims that "only the strong shall survive." Maybe so, maybe so. But the Theory of Competition says "just because they're the strong doesn't mean they can't get their asses kicked." That's right. 

See, what every long-shot, come-from-behind underdog will tell you is this: The other guy may in fact be the favorite; the odds may be stacked against you. Fair enough ...

But what the odds don't know is this isn't a math test. This is a completely different kind of test. One where passion has a funny way of trumping logic. So before you step up to the starting line, before the whistle blows and the clock starts ticking, just remember: out here, the results don't always add up.

No matter what the stats may say and the experts may think and the commentators may have predicted, when the race is on, all bets are off. Don't be surprised if someone decides to flip the script and take a pass on yelling "uncle". And then suddenly, as the old saying goes, "We got ourselves a game." 

Doesn't matter how many times I watch it....I still get goosebumps every time.

Let's Go Lady Tigers!