Before the season started, I made a list of my goals for the basketball season. The season is quickly drawing to a close. Just a few games left in the regular season. It has flown by.
In looking back at my goals, I have done a pretty good job achieving them. One part I did not get to was covering Payton and Lincoln Park. I also did not get a story about a girls’ game published. I tried to do those things. There just was not enough time among to press of other matters.
Several years ago, I wrote that the season was four three different parts. Thanksgiving to Christmas, Christmas, regular season in January and February and finally playoffs. That is a little different for me now. It’s more like there are two different seasons going on at the same time: tournaments and shootouts and League games.
The tournaments and shootouts are about seeing how good one’s team is and getting ready for the league games and the playoffs.
The league games are the ones that matter. The playoffs are, well, the playoffs. The first rule of fight club (playoffs) is you do not talk about fight club (playoffs). Until the playoffs. Even so, I have spent a lot of time studying the sectional assignments evaluating the various paths of many teams through the playoffs. But I will not speculate about that here.
I ought to have stopped to reflect on the season before this point. I might have enjoyed the season more had I done so. I have enjoyed the work of it. I have enjoyed getting better, and faster, as a writer. I still need to keep working on getting better as a photographer. I have concentrated more on the writing because that needed a lot more work.
With the photography, I have scaled back on taking, processing and publishing so many photos. I have tried to take better photos. Photos that I find interesting. I have tried, and mostly failed, to get at least one Kirsten Stickney signature reaction shot. It eludes me. I will keep trying.
I have enjoyed the season very much. It’s been great fun watching a team have some much success but not let it go to their heads. Somehow, they are remarkable grounded. Not really impressed with themselves. Not at all upset about a lack of sufficient recognition. They are just playing the games on the schedule and having fun doing it.
So here we are, the last few games of the season. Then the playoffs. Crunch time. Strangely, I am not the least bit nervous. I am just looking forward to seeing what happens. Let’s go.
