Jack and I were watching the NBA finals on Sunday when two of (R.I.P.) John Wooden's former players, Kareem and Bill Walton, were given some air time to talk about all that Wooden had done to help mold them as players, fathers, and men. John Wooden was wise and old, so it was interesting to me because I do have a very small soft spot for tearjerkery in sports (*cough* Wayne Gretzky *cough*). So according to Jack, when Walton was a student at UCLA in the seventies, he went to Wooden and asked if it was okay if he smoked pot. And Wooden, who at that point was a mere 500 years old, told Walton that he could smoke pot if it made him a better person and a better basketball player. I felt like this might be a really good way to test a lot of decisions I have to make every day.
Choices that have made me a better person and a better basketball player:
1. Improving my draft pick status by being the only girl to do a left-handed layup in fourth grade basketball tryouts
2. Learning to sleep for up to 16 hours at a time while in high school
3. Listening to my coach when he told me to wear two pairs of tube socks
Choices that did not make me a better person and a better basketball player:
1. Carnation Breakfast Drink before 6:30 a.m. practice
2. Neon pink laces in my high tops
3. Sleeping with that one really tall guy
Choices that may some time in the future make me a better basketball player, woman, wife, mother, and semi-professional writer of humorous commentary:
1. Training my dog to heel using leftover filet mignon and/or sashimi, when available.
2. Lying upside down in my son's bed watching the first season of 30 Rock until we've both nearly memorized every line, expression, pause, and gesture
3. Buying two bags of jalapeno cheese puffs last week (good idea!)
4. Letting my car go unwashed for I think it's been about eight months
5. Brushing my teeth at least four minutes a day
6. And flossing!
7. Seriously, I floss all the time
8. I'm flossing as I write this
9. Ignoring people who think I lie about flossing
10. LAKERS 2-1, BABY!