I’ve never been the competitive sort,
Always content to enjoy the game
Without completely losing myself to it.
According to my family, I’d always been like that
And I think this story will show it perfectly.
To set the stage, it was the summer of 2013.
Back then I used to play basketball every day -
I’d travel far for games and camps -
But this particular tourney was special.
It was a three-on-three, and the stakes were high.
The championship game, and it was neck in neck,
We were up by one point with thirty seconds left.
The ball got stolen – they made a fast break -
The layup went in, the buzzer rang out.
We had lost, after all that effort.
My teammates bawled, as kids do, inconsolable.
My dad watched on in slight disappointment
Until he felt a small tug at his shirt.
It was me, looking up with a wide smile on my face,
“Daddy, the concession stand has pizza!”
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