To: Luke
From: Owen
My friends here invited me to their 6-year-old daughter's basketball game on Saturday. Her team is in fact coached by Bev Smith, the former head coach of the University of Oregon's women's team, who carries one hell of a resume for anyone who's ever coached in a middle school gym. Smith was also a two-time all-American as a player at Oregon, a two-time medalist on Canada's Olympic team, and in 2004 was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn. With that kind of pedigree, an overwhelming victory was not unexpected. Her team, the Greyhounds, breezed.
Then again, you're talking about first graders, so it's not like Smith has to coach the finer points of a dribble-drive motion offense. Traveling and double-dribble aren't called, so the kids run up and down the court at will and passing is often accomplished by missing a shot. Still, getting five children at that age to think of others, share the ball, and try to work as a team is a sizeable enough task.
The mother of another girl on this team lamented her daughter's shyness and anxiety about shooting the ball and promised her a quarter for every shot the little girl took and a dollar for every one she made. She paid a $1.75 bounty for a 1-for-4 afternoon.
Some other highlights of the weekend:
Woman Loses 112 lbs., Thanks Wii Fit
Kojima Apologizes, Says 'No Greater Crime' Than a Delay
Kotaku 'Shop Contest: iSlate iPad Edition Winners
Bungie Definitively Shuts Down Halo: Reach/Natal Speculation
System Shock 2's Surprise Ending - for Ken Levine, Anyway
Stick Jockey: The Replacements, Still Replaced in Video Games
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