Basketball season is officially over

Justin, the youngest of our family, played basketball again this year.

It was quite a season. He had wonderful coaches and played with a scrappy bunch of 4th graders. They ended up being the season champs, and came in second during the tournament.

This season was hard for Justin. He's not the fastest kid on the team. He's not the most aggressive. He doesn't have a lot of awareness of the game.

But, man, does this kid have heart.

All season all he wanted to do was score. After every game, as we walked to the van, once we were away from the other kids, he'd look at us with his eyes full of tears and say, "I just want to score." We'd remind him of all the ways he contributed to his team -- the wicked picks, the rebounds, the smart passes, the defensive blocks, the forced jump balls (this kid. He dominates jump ball).

But he's 10. He measures success by points.

So, here we are, the last game of the season. There he stands, under the basket, right where his dad has coached him to be. He jumps up and grabs the rebound. And he's wide open. It's like a movie -- all the kids were somewhere else and he has a clear path to the basket. Justin shoots the ball straight up to the basket.

And the damn ball went above the net, above even the backboard. It balanced so, so, so gently on the top of the backboard. It wobbled just a bit and THEN sunk into the net.

I went crazy. I jumped up. I yelled. I cheered.

The ref blew his whistle. The basket didn't count. The backboard acted as interference (or something like that...I don't get technical here).

I was still cheering. Other parents looked at me and said, "oh, it didn't count."

"I don't care," I shouted. "This is his first basket and I'm celebrating."

As the ref made his call, parents started boo-ing (which, yikes, but also, yes!). Even the other team's parents booed. It was as if everyone in the gym knew how much Justin needed that basket.

The game continued. In the last few minutes of the game, the score was tied up. A minute left, our team was losing by one point. Justin leaned over to his coach: "If they'd counted my basket, we'd be winning."

In the end, Justin's team was runner-up. It was a heart-breaker, but also a totally awesome game. It was evenly matched and his good buddies got to win.

As we walked to the van, Justin turned to us, his eyes shining. "That was awesome. I scored. I know it didn't count, but I scored."