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repsect my jumper..

So after kids club on Sat afternoon, I decided to play a pickup game with some of the guys at VB. There was a small crowd, some just visiting like usual  to play ball, others were youth from the apartment complex, and rest kids. I got drafted to play the winning team soon as the losing team walked off. I smile and greet others, as if I knew what all I was doing. The rules were simple, 4 on 4 team, call your own fouls (no wimpy ones allowed), lots of smack talk, expect rough play, and overall just good ole' fashioned streetball at its best. Play went as usual and next thing you know things are looking bad quickly, 8 pts to their 11, and our team still figuring out our teamwork. So we push it in gear and along with the rest of them, I decide to pull up for a few jumpers, not expecting anything great. After I make my first jumper, then quick second, I realize that our team is only one point short of a tie, and somehow the ball is passed to me again. I don't remember exactly what happened next, but as I pull up close the guy guarding me, and he steps back, thinking I'll miss, I shoot and miraculously watch my third jumper hit nuthin but net.  I catch a few of my youth with jaws wide open, kids jumping up and down in excitement, the other team yelling frantically for someone to guard the asian dude, and the overall uproar and yelling all around as if someone were going to Disneyland... HA! 

It doesnt hit me till my teamates walk by and I get a few high fives, that the last three shots were clutch shots totally unexpected by the other team, and even more so by the one man guarding me, seeing how out of shape and out of breath I was. Not only had we tied the game, but in the end, we won 16 to their 12. Our team took over the game and left fully drained but satisfied with the result. 

In the midst, I also realized that the yelling and the unusal praises didnt include the regular cursing and potty mouth humor, maybe out of respect, or something like that, since they knew I wasnt from around there. It really opened up an opportunity for me to chat with some of the adults, that I usually don't get to spend time with at all.

Can't tell you how much I enjoyed playing the games and the huge smiles on the faces of my youth that day.