Hippity-Hooping

Fumble-Fingers Ferggie GAME TEN

GAME TEN
FUMBLE-FINGERS FERGGIE

I haven’t been on the basketball court for three weeks in a row and it really showed last night. I got winded way before my time, and even though we had three extra players, and I was forced to sit out for a lot of the game, I was still feeling exhausted at every quarter. I had many opportunities to make some pretty superb shots, but I managed to miss every time. Not only that, I couldn’t seem to get my hands on the ball. Whenever it came my way, or whenever I was close enough to do something with it, I fumbled. Every single time. I couldn’t do anything right.

When I talked to Linda about it, afterwards, she said she thinks I’m doing great. She reminded me of how I had played the first few times I joined the team and when I compared myself to the way I used to be, I had to agree with her. I mean, I caused many, many fouls against the other team last night. Twice on one player in one play. Both Vikki and Linda grinned at that one. I am a very aggressive player, when I’m not pooped, and I’ve discovered I enjoy playing offensively. I had never thought I would ever say that about myself. When I was a kid I was the last one you’d expect to be good at playing offense.

We had two new players on our team, Ruth and Rochelle, who had played for the Bunnies for the first time on the night we were scheduled for a late game and I couldn’t make it because Norm was too tired to take me. They both did wonderfully. Especially Rochelle. She has so much talent, she looked as though she’s been playing for years. She swears this was only the second game she’s ever played in her life, but you wouldn’t have guessed that.

Both Ruth and Rochelle are much younger than I am, as are most of the players on our team. In fact, I believe I may be the oldest player we have. When Rochelle’s mother, Sandy, showed up with her daughter, everyone asked her if she was going to stick around and play with us, but she insisted she was too old for the sport. I know that if she had known what my age is, she wouldn’t have said that.

I had a marvelous time in spite of myself, and that’s what counts. Norm showed up for the last half hour of play. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to perform for him. (That ball just refused to enter that basket!) He did notice how aggressively I was playing, though, and said it was good to see me running around and having a ball. He took me to Hungry Jack’s afterwards so I could enjoy a cool, refreshing choc-top soft serve. Now that went down nicely!