That Basketball Doood!

The ballplayer arched his shot high and as it made it's way down to the basket his Mom sat in her seat watching and hoping the ball would go in. Mom's worry too much because this is the "Coreman" shooting and his 3 point shot attempts have become a story in themselves. Coreman is an excellent shooter and all around ball player. Mom is my daughter and Coreman is my grandson Corey.

When he was a tyke of about 6 y.o. it seemed he was going to be short. Between me and him I started calling Corey, his real name, Coreman. I hugged him and made no mention of his small stature and I said to him, "Your my Coreman". I gave him positive boosts and told him he was a good person. Yes, Coreman and I have always been "pals". Just an inch longer in togetherness than our love for each other as G-Pop and G-Son which is pretty immense.

"Our" basket ball career began when he was probably 8 y.o. Corey wanted to shoot some hoops and I answered, "Does a chicken have lips"? In hip talk that mean indubitably "YES". And Corey and I are definitely "hip"!! Hee Hee

Corey's little arms and body hunched down and right before he took a shot he said, "Grandpa, I don't think I can reach the basket". My answer to him was, "So what. Just let it rip son because one day you'll be shooting 3 pointers from way out"!

Sure enough, his little arms just didn't have it. He just barely made it about 2 feet under the rim. He looked at me and didn't say a word. I looked at him and said, "Coreman, remember 'one day'!" With that he gave it a second try and the shot softly nestled into the rim and through. One day arrived just merely seconds after his first attempt even if it wasn't a 3 pointer. We looked at each other and we knew what we were saying to each other, "I love you". I don't even remember anything else after those 2 shots. But I knew we talked about basketball and some pointers. And we did it in "Dooood" talk.

Time has progressed and now he's tall and an awesome shooter. We call each other and we talk "shots and mechanics". I just have a feeling about Coreman. At his tender age he's already showing great basketball talents. We don't discuss that too much. We discuss grades because, as I have told him, college is more important.

He says, "GrampCamp, your right"! I love my Coreman!