HAROLD KELLER / L’Observateur / January 14, 2000

“Basketball Rules.” “Basketball is Life. Everything Else is Just Details.””Is There Life After Basketball?” These, and many other sayings, are seen on T-shirts worn by young and old alike.

At one high school the students were asked to participate in a T-shirt contest and submit a slogan to promote school spirit. The winning sloganwould be used on T-shirts for students, parents and fans to wear at the games.

One young girl evidently wasn’t excited about winning and submitted the following: “Basketball – We Take It Too Seriously.” Maybe she should getsome shirts printed and make them available to the public. I, for one,would not only buy one but also wear it. It might be good for coaches,players, parents and fans to get the message that it’s only a game.

The Charlotte Hornets and the NBA lost one of their own this past Wednesday. Bobby Phills was instantly killed in an automobile accidentafter a team practice in Charlotte, N.C. Phills was killed only one milefrom the Charlotte Coliseum where the practice took place.

I’m sure most players who play the game have dreams of playing in the pros. Bobby Phills was one of the few who ever reached the big time.In the article about the tragic end to Bobby’s life, I was surprised to read that if it had been up to Ben Jobe, Bobby’s coach at Southern University, he would never have gone to the NBA.

“He had so many other options. He could have been a real service tomankind with his brain power, his passion for life and people. We needleaders like him in so many other positions,” Jobe said.

Wow! For a college coach to say that we need leaders more than basketball players is unheard of.

America has a shortage of leaders but an abundance of basketball players.

I’ve read that one out of every 10,000 high school and college basketball players will make it to the NBA. What happens to those who don’t make it?Is there life after basketball or athletics? For many, the answer is no.

It amazes me that some parents train their children to be athletes, in hopes of a college scholarship. If they only realized there is morescholarship money for academics.

I am reminded of a story about Chuck Swindoll, a noted Christian writer and teacher. He relates the story that when he was in junior high hisdream was to be a college basketball player and then in the big time.

That Christmas, he begged his mother for a new rubber basketball. A fewdays before Christmas he saw his gift in a neatly-wrapped box. The boxlooked like that which would contain a basketball. He shook it and, withouta doubt, he knew it was a basketball. To his surprise and disappointmentChristmas morning, he received a world globe that was the exact size, shape and weight of a basketball.

Christmas evening, he and his mother were looking at different places on the globe – Singapore, Montreal, New Zealand, Russia.

Chuck’s mother knew there was more to life than basketball. He admitsthat he still likes basketball but confesses that what excites him today is not a hoop and a ball, but hope on a globe.

Parents, maybe we should concentrate more on the round globe that the round ball.

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

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