My immediate family never really followed sports growing up. We'd watch the Olympics, my mom loved the Blue Jays, and my Dad could pop dingers at will in our family softball tournaments (which took place every 3-5 years). We were more an All Creatures Great and Small \ Victory Garden type of family. How I became such a passionate basketball fan, both on the court and off, is somewhat of a mystery.
Personally, I don't remember having a strong desire to play sports in my earliest years of rec league action. I played soccer for much of my early childhood but it never really caught on (ie I sucked really badly and never could improve enough to develop an early love for it). I then started playing baseball. Summer sports were all sewn up, but thinking back that is not where my athletic passion was born.
Most kids growing up in the 80s in Canada played hockey. Not coming from a typically Canadian family we had no allegiance to the sport. When it came time to pick a winter sport, basketball got the call. I'm guessing the decision had it's genesis with a neighbor of ours. His son was a classmate of mine and a heck of a good basketball player. He was also the coach of a local rec team in the YBC, or Youth Basketball Clinic, and had tried out for the Detroit Pistons (I believe) in his earlier years. I suppose after talking to my mom he invited me to play on his team ... chock full of ringers.
I was HORRIBLE in my first year of play (roughly grade 4), but I loved it. I remember the highlight of the season was the pizza party at the end in which the entire league and their parents packed a local school auditorium and watched the latest NBA videos on the big screen. I can still recall the goose bumps I'd get watching Isiah, Bird, Magic, Dominique and Jordan doing their thing while eating pizza with my friends and teammates. The memory has stuck and is still one of my favourites to look back upon.
Anyway, that's enough for this instalment. I'll check back later with another post in this series.
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