Editor’s note: This is the first of a four-part series of columns written by former Bishop Gibbons basketball coach Herb Crossman.
I was running off my mouth about the sport that I love with sports editor Rob Jonas. We were discussing so many things about sports, and during our conversation many memories of what I had experienced in over 40 years of playing, refereeing and coaching kept coming to mind. Our discussion brought me to ask the question: What has happened to the ‘Love for the Game?’
Oh, did I forget to mention what sport I was referring to? Well, let me backtrack in time a bit.
The sport I’m referring to is basketball, but I guess it could really be any sport. I believe most young people who play sports today have lost what used to be the pure love of the game.
It used to be that from the time you started playing a particular sport, it became your only addiction; you had to have it every day. You had to be out on the asphalt, ball field, street, park, backyard or wherever you played the game of your choice.
The main thing was that you were playing what you loved to play. It wasn’t because you thought you were going to be the next big money player. Heck, you didn’t even know how much money your favorite player was making. It was never about the money; it was about the game and being the best when you played. It was just loving to play, while not even thinking about how blessed you were to even be able to play.
It was about getting up early every weekend to get to the park in order to play on the main court before the big boys got there and kicked you off. It was about honing your game so that one day you would be playing with the big boys and then it would be your turn to kick the young boys off the court. It was about respecting your opponent’s game but never backing down until you got your respect.
Going to wherever your sport took you to tighten up your skills, sometimes doing it by yourself, hours on hours. Practicing the same Oscar Robinson moves ` the jump shot, a slight lean back with your elbow in your opponent’s face. The Elgin Baylor drive to the bucket as he breaks to the basket after giving that little hurky jerky head fake. How about the Jerry West pull-up jumper ` the fastest `jumpie` in the land? If you took a moment to blink while guarding him, you were done.
When was the last time you saw the Connie Hawkins’s `big finger roll?` That shot is a lost art today. Who still remembers Jerry Lucas’s sweeping hook shot? Or how about Archie Clark’s no-frills crossover with the pull-up jump shot at the end from the foul line? Little parts of the game that made you a legend on the court, yet they were so simple and effective for many years.
Practice, practice, day after day, didn’t need anyone to go with you ` just needed a Voit, Spalding or Wilson. Get to the park early and leave late, you and your crew. Talk smack? Absolutely, and as much as you can. It was all in fun.
After the game was over, you went home and waited to do it again. During the school year you couldn’t wait for the end of the school day. You’d get your homework done, and then fly out the house. If you got to the courts too late, you might never get a `run.` Hey, if you got there too late, you might have to run to another court and hope the line for `next` wasn’t too long.
In the winter, you’d get a shovel and move the snow just enough to get a half court. No one complained, `I’m not going to do that. It’s somebody else’s job,` or, `I don’t want to play that bad,` etc. There was no crying. If you got there first, you started to clean the court if it wasn’t already clean. There was no claim to a court, even if you cleaned it. If you lost it in a game, you waited until your `next.` Respect was a natural on the court.
Sometimes there were arguments, but very rarely did someone want to fight over a basketball game. The rules of the court were the rules, and everyone knew them from park to park. Some parks had their own rules, but you familiarized yourself with those rules prior to going to that park. It was never looked at like a guide or rulebook, but one could interpret it as such. You had to do your homework.
We called it the `city game` and it was fast, fun and competitive. You had better bring your so-called `A` game every day. We loved it and did it all for the `Love of the Game.`
Where is that love today? Whether it’s basketball, baseball, football, soccer, etc, where’s the respect for the game? Where’s the love? “