Very nice! I didn't know where you were going with this until the first half was over. Clever organization with the countdown, too. I am not a sports lover -- I almost didn't read the rest of your essay because reading about sports doesn't interest me much. But now I'm impressed by the way you used basketball to express some pretty deep things, including bell hooks' thoughts about love. Yes, I have read her book - in fact, I have two copies.
Thank you, Connie! I wanted it to feel bouncy, kind of like the game, but it did almost get away from me! haha! But that bell hooks' definition of love really moves me and lives with me at all times! I see it many places, which is one of her gifts. Thank you for reading!
I’m not a sportsball person at all, but basketball is really the only ball sport I’ve ever played, on our church’s god-awful (pun intended) team in the Greek Orthodox Youth of America “league.” (Basically we traveled up and down the mid-Atlantic to play terrible games by day and have supervised Greek + American dance parties at night.)
And I loved this. I loved the part where the sports-crying lets you get out all the other-crying. (I guess this is how boys/men are all the time.) And…people know people so differently! And…intimacy in more shapes! Finally, I LOVE that your team was named the Snapping Turtles. Would love even more if there are actually snapping turtles on Mt. Tabor??? Somewhere, somehow???
Side note: I had no idea the college women’s games were getting so much fanfare. I was only vaguely aware that the Moda Center messed up the 3-point line for the WNBA championships, lol/not lol. I do wonder, per your comment about players being well-marketed, if this change is due to the change in the Name, Image, Likeness rule. (And, probably/despondently as a result, increased exposure to male eyes and dollars.) Or maybe The Sports Bra is singlehandedly changing the national landscape. :)
I actually had a section in here in previous drafts about how the basketball court facilitates men showing more tender emotions, but that's not really my story to tell. But yeah, I love how when men and women play together in rec basketball, we get to model other ways of moving through the world for each other. I love how for men it can be this safe space to show emotions that in other contexts would be called emasculating and for women it's this safe space to show aggression and pride!
I remember when we chose the name the Snapping Turtles! It felt really... tough! haha!
The Sports Bra is a miracle! But yeah the NIL rule hugely changed the publicity college players get, and interestingly the women are getting the sponsorships and the male college players are... not as much!? I need to spend more time generally thinking about this but I think a huge reason people didn't follow women's basketball is because... they literally couldn't! It was hardly shown on tv. No media covered it. It was unreachable. And that's changed for many reasons, including NIL and the perceived value... still muddling on all of it so keep sending me ideas!
Very nice! I didn't know where you were going with this until the first half was over. Clever organization with the countdown, too. I am not a sports lover -- I almost didn't read the rest of your essay because reading about sports doesn't interest me much. But now I'm impressed by the way you used basketball to express some pretty deep things, including bell hooks' thoughts about love. Yes, I have read her book - in fact, I have two copies.
Thank you, Connie! I wanted it to feel bouncy, kind of like the game, but it did almost get away from me! haha! But that bell hooks' definition of love really moves me and lives with me at all times! I see it many places, which is one of her gifts. Thank you for reading!
I’m not a sportsball person at all, but basketball is really the only ball sport I’ve ever played, on our church’s god-awful (pun intended) team in the Greek Orthodox Youth of America “league.” (Basically we traveled up and down the mid-Atlantic to play terrible games by day and have supervised Greek + American dance parties at night.)
And I loved this. I loved the part where the sports-crying lets you get out all the other-crying. (I guess this is how boys/men are all the time.) And…people know people so differently! And…intimacy in more shapes! Finally, I LOVE that your team was named the Snapping Turtles. Would love even more if there are actually snapping turtles on Mt. Tabor??? Somewhere, somehow???
Side note: I had no idea the college women’s games were getting so much fanfare. I was only vaguely aware that the Moda Center messed up the 3-point line for the WNBA championships, lol/not lol. I do wonder, per your comment about players being well-marketed, if this change is due to the change in the Name, Image, Likeness rule. (And, probably/despondently as a result, increased exposure to male eyes and dollars.) Or maybe The Sports Bra is singlehandedly changing the national landscape. :)
I actually had a section in here in previous drafts about how the basketball court facilitates men showing more tender emotions, but that's not really my story to tell. But yeah, I love how when men and women play together in rec basketball, we get to model other ways of moving through the world for each other. I love how for men it can be this safe space to show emotions that in other contexts would be called emasculating and for women it's this safe space to show aggression and pride!
I remember when we chose the name the Snapping Turtles! It felt really... tough! haha!
The Sports Bra is a miracle! But yeah the NIL rule hugely changed the publicity college players get, and interestingly the women are getting the sponsorships and the male college players are... not as much!? I need to spend more time generally thinking about this but I think a huge reason people didn't follow women's basketball is because... they literally couldn't! It was hardly shown on tv. No media covered it. It was unreachable. And that's changed for many reasons, including NIL and the perceived value... still muddling on all of it so keep sending me ideas!