Basketball Fridays

A couple of oddball weeks in a row, with mid-week holidays. It really makes it hard to keep track of what day it might be! We're planning to watch the Cotton Bowl tonight with Mizzou and Oklahoma State, so according to my NCAA Bowl schedule it must be Friday!

Cold January Fridays during high school usually meant basketball games. Even if there was a tournament at another school, I could occasionally talk Dad into driving to those games if we were playing for the championship. I can remember a few treks to Braymer for that tournament. The conference tournament was often at Tina-Avalon. Both of those were within what Dad considered reasonable driving distance.

If we had a game at home, then naturally we spent the day with the school smelling of fresh doughnuts. It was truly heavenly. There was a current of excitement in the air that carried throughout the day and into the evening.

My junior year of high school was my favorite, for a lot of reasons. One of the main reasons was that I got to function as student manager for the high school girls' basketball team. That meant I got to travel with the team and attend all games. Of course, it also meant I had to lug around the duffle bag of practice balls and the first aid kit.....on and off the bus, and around the gym. But it meant I got to attend every game, regardless of where it was played.

In the fall of that year, we moved off the farm to my grandmother's house, next door to the school. On game day, that meant getting home as quickly as possible – after a trek to the restaurant downtown for a soda, of course – and doing what chores and homework I had, then changing and heading back to school to either catch the bus or get ready for the girls' game. Sometimes on away games, that was a really quick turn-around.

Tournament weeks were tiring. They were usually planned so girls would play one night, boys the next. That was still a lot of later than usual nights and traveling. But it was such fun. I've always been glad that I had that one year of being involved.

By the time basketball was over, we were in the throes of rehearsing for the Junior-Senior Play and rehearsing for music contests. Music during high school always kept me busy. And as long as my cousin was still in high school with me, I was guaranteed a trip to the State Music Contest on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia. He let me tag around as his accompanist. It was a blast.

Fun memories indeed. But on this frigid Friday night, I'm glad to stay in my own snug house and watch Mizzou on the TV!