Sometimes I write about basketball. This is one of those times.
Do you ever write a list of things to do for the day, and then when you realize you've completed something that wasn't on the list, so you add it on to feel like you've achieved more tasks?
I have a bucket list....places I'd love to go, people I hope to meet, events I'd like to attend, even some personal accomplishments I'm striving to achieve. I started the list the day after I met Michael Jordan because I realized that meeting Michael Jordan would have been on a list if I already had one. Like when I go about my day running errands and then realize I did my laundry but it had never been on the list! I wrote the list in 2009, but added things on there I had already accomplished, because they would have definitely been on my bucket list if I had written it sooner.
Do you ever write a list of things to do for the day, and then when you realize you've completed something that wasn't on the list, so you add it on to feel like you've achieved more tasks?
I have a bucket list....places I'd love to go, people I hope to meet, events I'd like to attend, even some personal accomplishments I'm striving to achieve. I started the list the day after I met Michael Jordan because I realized that meeting Michael Jordan would have been on a list if I already had one. Like when I go about my day running errands and then realize I did my laundry but it had never been on the list! I wrote the list in 2009, but added things on there I had already accomplished, because they would have definitely been on my bucket list if I had written it sooner.
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| Michael Jordan |
Michael Jordan played in the NBA from 1984 (the year I was born) until 1993, then again from 1995-1998, and then from 2001-2003 (the year I graduated from High School). I started watching UConn Women's Basketball in the 1990's and definitely was not watching the NBA while MJ was playing.
Sometimes events transpire that make it impossible for me to check off an item on my bucket list. For example - I never had the opportunity to meet Pat Summitt, legendary women's basketball coach at the University of Tennessee. When I was in college, I disliked her for what she represented and for the rivalry between our teams, but as a fan of women's basketball, I now appreciate that she made significant contributions to women's basketball that have allowed me to experience many incredible opportunities. Knowing I'll never meet her is a big disappointment. Watching Michael Jordan play NBA basketball is another thing I'll never achieve. Bucket list failures. Never to be checked off the list.
I don't want this to happen with other trailblazers and superstars in the basketball world. I want to meet so many people and watch many others play in person. My first NBA game was in Boston and I remember seeing Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce plaing together and dunking. Kevin Garnett had always been portrayed like a bit of an animal - and his energy came across even bigger than that at the Boston Garden. They were SO big. SO athletic. SO much higher up in the air. And, in the moments when they made an amazing play, the world seemed to slow down for a few seconds. But those were just moments.
It was on my bucket list to watch Kobe Bryant play. I bought tickets to the Lakers @ Nuggets game while I was on clinical rotation in Denver on March 7, 2014. He did not arrive with the team and was announced to be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. I'm pretty sure he had a tibial plateau fracture. It made me really sad to miss that opportunity because, just like taking a photo of the mountains - the scale is changed when you look at things through a screen. I needed to see him in person. He retired from basketball and I'll never get to see it.
This past weekend, I headed to Oakland, CA for the Golden State Warriors versus the Los Angeles Lakers. If I couldn't see Kobe, at least I could see LeBron James in action. He's the greatest of my time. But LeBron didn't play this past weekend. Bucket list fail. Again.
LeBron was taking the night off for "load management." The Storm Strength and Conditioning Coach who was with me for the game said to me, "Well, LeBron's old, so that might start happening a lot more, now." Excuse me, WE are not old! His glory days are not yet over. I'm not crossing it off my bucket list yet because it can still happen, but I feel like I've had three basketball bucket list fails. I was disappointed that I missed a chance to see one of the greatest men's basketball players of all time playing live, but I loved the reason they used. As a phyical therapist, all I really do is load management.
My favorite thing about LeBron James, beyond the fact that he's an amazing basketball player, is that his birthdate is December 30, 1984. Two days after my own. So, really, the only differences between me and LeBron James are two days and a few dollars. Nothing else. Ha!
It hurts too much when you run, but you can tolerate walking? There's a load you can manage. A ten pound bicep curl hurts but five pounds doesn't? We've identified a load you can use. "Shin splints" from ramping up your training volume too quickly for a marathon? Improper load management could be to blame. If you had to define what physical therapists do in two words, I think it would be appropriate to say, we "manage load."
So... while I'm bummed that LeBron didn't play, and I don't know that I'll ever get the chance to see him again, I'm glad to know that the Lakers are at least using terminology that makes sense from a rehabilitation perspective.
Enough of the bucket list fails. I've also had bucket list successes. The basketball bucket list includes a ton of women's basketball opportunities and must-see/must-meet experiences, and that's where my heart truly lies. Also, this week (February 6, 2019) was National Girls and Women in Sports Day. This is a special day that gives a chance to pay tribute to the women in sports who have helped paved the road to allow for more opportunities for girls and women in sports today. I've previously written posts here and here about women in sports and am so grateful to those who have paved the way.
Attending a UConn National Championship win in person would also have been on my bucket list, except I wrote the list after having that chance. My freshman year of college, the team won, but I wasn't traveling with the team. I had attended the National Championship in 2006 when the University of Maryland - with current Seattle Storm power forward Crystal Langhorne - beat Duke University in Boston. It was incredibly fun, especially because I've always loved the Maryland Terrapins and was so close to going there myself - but it wasn't my team. So when a group of us were able to attend the 2009 National Championship in St. Louis, MO when UConn beat Louisville, it checked off a box on my future list.
The NBA has been around much longer than the WNBA, so where I didn't have the chance to see the pioneers of the NBA, it's an entirely different story for the WNBA. I saw Rebecca Lobo play live basketball. And Lisa Leslie. And Tina Thompson. And Katie Smith. And Sheryl Swoopes. And Katie Douglas. And Becky Hammon. And Nykesha Sales. And Kara Lawson. And Tamika Catchings. And Lindsay Whalen. The pioneers of the WNBA. In most of those cases, I didn't just get to watch them play some exceptional basketball, I also met them, occasionally had meals with them, traveled the world with a few of them, and got to learn about basketball and how the women's basketball world works. The game that they play is the same game the men are playing. But the women's basketball world is not the same as the men's basketball world, and having an appreciation for how hard these athletes are working year-round is inspiring to me.
There are still basketball related items to check off my list. I'm working on those. If given the choice to watch the Golden State Warriors versus the Los Angeles Lakers, including a healthy LeBron James - or the Seattle Storm versus the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA... I'd pick the WNBA game EVERY SINGLE TIME. If you haven't been to a game, the season is coming. Reach out and let me know when you want to go. Add it to your bucket list. Let's make it happen.
Sometimes events transpire that make it impossible for me to check off an item on my bucket list. For example - I never had the opportunity to meet Pat Summitt, legendary women's basketball coach at the University of Tennessee. When I was in college, I disliked her for what she represented and for the rivalry between our teams, but as a fan of women's basketball, I now appreciate that she made significant contributions to women's basketball that have allowed me to experience many incredible opportunities. Knowing I'll never meet her is a big disappointment. Watching Michael Jordan play NBA basketball is another thing I'll never achieve. Bucket list failures. Never to be checked off the list.
I don't want this to happen with other trailblazers and superstars in the basketball world. I want to meet so many people and watch many others play in person. My first NBA game was in Boston and I remember seeing Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce plaing together and dunking. Kevin Garnett had always been portrayed like a bit of an animal - and his energy came across even bigger than that at the Boston Garden. They were SO big. SO athletic. SO much higher up in the air. And, in the moments when they made an amazing play, the world seemed to slow down for a few seconds. But those were just moments.
It was on my bucket list to watch Kobe Bryant play. I bought tickets to the Lakers @ Nuggets game while I was on clinical rotation in Denver on March 7, 2014. He did not arrive with the team and was announced to be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. I'm pretty sure he had a tibial plateau fracture. It made me really sad to miss that opportunity because, just like taking a photo of the mountains - the scale is changed when you look at things through a screen. I needed to see him in person. He retired from basketball and I'll never get to see it.
This past weekend, I headed to Oakland, CA for the Golden State Warriors versus the Los Angeles Lakers. If I couldn't see Kobe, at least I could see LeBron James in action. He's the greatest of my time. But LeBron didn't play this past weekend. Bucket list fail. Again.
LeBron was taking the night off for "load management." The Storm Strength and Conditioning Coach who was with me for the game said to me, "Well, LeBron's old, so that might start happening a lot more, now." Excuse me, WE are not old! His glory days are not yet over. I'm not crossing it off my bucket list yet because it can still happen, but I feel like I've had three basketball bucket list fails. I was disappointed that I missed a chance to see one of the greatest men's basketball players of all time playing live, but I loved the reason they used. As a phyical therapist, all I really do is load management.
My favorite thing about LeBron James, beyond the fact that he's an amazing basketball player, is that his birthdate is December 30, 1984. Two days after my own. So, really, the only differences between me and LeBron James are two days and a few dollars. Nothing else. Ha!It hurts too much when you run, but you can tolerate walking? There's a load you can manage. A ten pound bicep curl hurts but five pounds doesn't? We've identified a load you can use. "Shin splints" from ramping up your training volume too quickly for a marathon? Improper load management could be to blame. If you had to define what physical therapists do in two words, I think it would be appropriate to say, we "manage load."
So... while I'm bummed that LeBron didn't play, and I don't know that I'll ever get the chance to see him again, I'm glad to know that the Lakers are at least using terminology that makes sense from a rehabilitation perspective.
Enough of the bucket list fails. I've also had bucket list successes. The basketball bucket list includes a ton of women's basketball opportunities and must-see/must-meet experiences, and that's where my heart truly lies. Also, this week (February 6, 2019) was National Girls and Women in Sports Day. This is a special day that gives a chance to pay tribute to the women in sports who have helped paved the road to allow for more opportunities for girls and women in sports today. I've previously written posts here and here about women in sports and am so grateful to those who have paved the way.
Attending a UConn National Championship win in person would also have been on my bucket list, except I wrote the list after having that chance. My freshman year of college, the team won, but I wasn't traveling with the team. I had attended the National Championship in 2006 when the University of Maryland - with current Seattle Storm power forward Crystal Langhorne - beat Duke University in Boston. It was incredibly fun, especially because I've always loved the Maryland Terrapins and was so close to going there myself - but it wasn't my team. So when a group of us were able to attend the 2009 National Championship in St. Louis, MO when UConn beat Louisville, it checked off a box on my future list.
The NBA has been around much longer than the WNBA, so where I didn't have the chance to see the pioneers of the NBA, it's an entirely different story for the WNBA. I saw Rebecca Lobo play live basketball. And Lisa Leslie. And Tina Thompson. And Katie Smith. And Sheryl Swoopes. And Katie Douglas. And Becky Hammon. And Nykesha Sales. And Kara Lawson. And Tamika Catchings. And Lindsay Whalen. The pioneers of the WNBA. In most of those cases, I didn't just get to watch them play some exceptional basketball, I also met them, occasionally had meals with them, traveled the world with a few of them, and got to learn about basketball and how the women's basketball world works. The game that they play is the same game the men are playing. But the women's basketball world is not the same as the men's basketball world, and having an appreciation for how hard these athletes are working year-round is inspiring to me.
There are still basketball related items to check off my list. I'm working on those. If given the choice to watch the Golden State Warriors versus the Los Angeles Lakers, including a healthy LeBron James - or the Seattle Storm versus the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA... I'd pick the WNBA game EVERY SINGLE TIME. If you haven't been to a game, the season is coming. Reach out and let me know when you want to go. Add it to your bucket list. Let's make it happen.
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