Basketball Diaries

Fourteen months ago Jarom was graduating from the University of Tennessee and amid a particularly fruitless job search when on a trip to Delaware for Thanksgiving his wife spoke to his brother and found out about a job opportunity in Richmond. Nate agreed to assist in the hiring process, speaking with his boss and essentially helping him to get through the preliminary stages, with only one condition: if Jarom got the job, he had to live within the same ward boundaries so that they could play basketball together.

Well Jarom got that job, and he has been playing basketball with Nate roughly every week since his arrival. Usually this means pickup ball, but during the winter months it also means playing for the church team. Last year Nate and Jarom were central characters in a feisty game against the nearby Innsbrook ward. Multiple technical fouls were called and according to some witnesses it nearly came to blows. Unfortunately, many of the people on the Innsbrook team were among the group that played pickup basketball each Wednesday. Soon after that game they decided to switch the night that they played to Tuesday, and asked the Winns to not make the switch with them. Some feelings were hurt, but both Nate and Jarom have managed to carry on with their lives.

Flash forward to January 28, 2011, when Jarom and Nate get to play the Innsbrook ward once again. For the purposes of this story I will tell you that while there are many people on the Innsbrook team that are whiny and annoying and do not like the Winn brethren, there is one in particular who seems to lead the way. I don’t know his name, so we will simply call him #12. Now it seems that #12 had not forgotten the events of last year, because as soon as Jarom entered the game and touched the ball he began to complain in his best little brother voice about how Jarom was constantly carrying the ball. When he was not in the game he would whine from the bench, and when he was in the game he would whine on the court. He whined to the refs, but to his great consternation they seemed unwilling to call the obvious violation. He whined to Jarom, who thanked him for his concern and referred him back to the refs. And yet not once was the violation called.

Actual photo of #12

This does not mean that his complaining did not yield any results. Because when Jarom knows that there is something that really annoys someone, he is an expert at snidely bringing it up over and over, until the person’s head explodes or they grow up and get over it. It gives him great joy to get inside another player's head. Nate also took notice of the griping and decided to react in his own way.

It is important to understand a little about Nate and basketball. No one would call Nate a great basketball player, but Jarom very much enjoys playing with him because he does a few things very well, he knows what those things are, and he doesn’t try to do anything outside of his skill set. He plays good interior defense, he gets rebounds, both offensive and defensive, and he sets picks. And setting picks is his favorite thing to do when opposing teams bother him, because it is the best way for him to capitalize on the mass advantage he enjoys over other people. So as soon as #12 began running his mouth, both Jarom and Nate knew what needed to happen. Jarom brought the ball down the court, guarded tightly by #12. Nate came just outside of the 3-point arc and set his feet. Jarom started to go right, then changed directions and drove hard towards the left. #12 was working feverishly to stay with Jarom and never even looked up. He practically bounced off of Nate and crumpled to the ground as Jarom calmly sank the now wide open 15-footer, and it was impossible for either Winn brother to keep from smiling as they ran back on defense and watched #12 slowly pick himself up and immediately seek out a ref to let him know that he had just been hit by an illegal moving screen. It made me a little sad that Bruce could not have been there to see his boys in action. In my mind’s eye I envision him jumping out of his chair on the sideline, sticking his tongue out and squinting while flicking his wrists frantically. He would have been so proud.

The whining continued throughout the game, which was an edge-of-the-seat, overtime victory for the Winn’s team, followed by a less than cordial hand shake between Jarom and #12 and a passive aggressive apology for all of the carrying violations he had committed. Ah, the joys of being mentally superior to an opponent. Both Nate and Jarom spent the next day or so on cloud nine, because there is no feeling that is better than beating a whiny, complainy little girl who really deserves it. I can’t wait till next year.