HUMBLE PIE

The air was warm and moist as i retied my shoe. My fingers felt thick and sweaty as i tied the double knot slowly. My shoes really had not needed to be tied but i was tired and this was a way to rest without calling a timeout...besides i had two big free throws in front of me that would help determine the outcome of this game! Why not be fresh? Finally i stood and faced the basket; the ref threw me the ball. It was dry and perfect! I lined up my right foot with the nail on the free throw line. My mind wandered, and i realized that 95% of human beings and even basketball fans probably did not know that this nail existed. There it was dependable as the north star lined up perfectly with the basket. I set my left foot about half a foot behind and a shoulder width away from the other. I dribbled now three times and caught the ball. I lined up my fingers in the grooves they call seems...it felt like home. Two drops of my own sweat dropped on the balls surface and started to slowly drip down its side,"just like tears running down your cheeks when you cry i thought." With my finger pads on the ball I lifted it near my head; my right hand under the ball with my elbow forming a right angle. My left hand caressing the left side of the ball serving as a guide. "Now for the easy part," i thought..."just reach over the front of the rim and flick the wrist." The motion was fluid as it should be, seeing that i had shot the shot over 50,000 times. It was like art! The ball floated with perfect arch and back spin through the air...it clanked over the front of the rim and fell in! "Shooters touch," I thought, "the next shot would not be so lucky. My mind and body adjusted...this one would touch nothing but the net!" I repeated the process almost flawlessly and my confidence was not in famine! As the ball floated through the air i thought of the circumstances, "down by two and now one. When this one went in we would be tied with the enemy. I am a hero." at that moment i saw the ball going long. "Oh no!" The ball hit the rim in back and than in front and then on one side and than it fell off and right into the hands of their center. The game was over and i had lost it for my boys. This time tears really were falling down my cheeks. HUMBLED.
HAAHAHAHAHAHA that is poetry in motion my friends!