The Season Ends

2008-2009 Northampton YMCA Basketball League UMass Squad

UMass' forward waits to get into the game.

Today is that special day of the year when workplace productivity across the land plummets as everyone scurries to fill out their NCAA brackets. I'm not different, but I looked over my picks in a much more somber mood than I have in the past, because the 2009 YMCA Youth Basketball League season, or YBL, ended Saturday with a sad thud.

Actually, the championship game won't happen until March 28th, but for me, the season is over after my son's team lost, in overtime, in the first round of the playoffs.

Before the game, I ran into the league director and told him how much I've enjoyed the season. The whole thing began back in November, with a six-week pre-season program that taught the kids the basics and established a lot of camaraderie among the players. Then the players were divided into six teams and the season began, with one practice a week and games on Saturday afternoons. It was amazing to watch the kids improve from week-to-week and to see them work hard in every game and practice. At the end of each game, whether they won or lost, they lined up and shook hands with their opponents and said "good game," and I could tell that they actually meant it.

My son's team lost far more games than they won, but no one on the team took a loss too hard, for too long that I saw. Yet, I could also see how that might be a fleeting situation, as these seven to twelve year olds are not immune to the competetive pressures that exist in our society and I fear that too soon they will have to deal with all that is bad about competitive sports. So, I mourn not just the end of the season and a nice way to pass those winter Saturdays, surrounded by friends on the stands in the gym at the Y, but the inevitable loss of innocence that will happen, probably sooner than later.

So thank God and the NCAA for providing me with an opportunity to gamble and take my mind off of my troubles.

It was a great season.