Basketball and other spectator sports

Both Jack and Isabella have been playing basketball in the city league this season.  Nate has had church ball, so we have been spectating quite a lot lately.  After every game Nate comments that he is very happy with the basketball he sees coming out of the family.  I am also satisfied, which is unusual because I am not a huge basketball fan.  Now I realize I am a selective basketball fan.  I can watch my kids, I can watch some high school and some college.  But I have no patience for the NBA.  The amount of flopping and complaining by a bunch of tall men who make enough money to behave better drives me nuts.  You see a little of this in church ball, but that ends up being mostly funny instead of annoying. 

Bella's second grade team is doing really well.  She is a really great defensive player and the kid she guards doesn't get a shot off.  She is so focused on defense, she once shot and made the basket but was already back on her guy and didn't see that she made it.  She was excited when we told her later.  She always wears long socks when she plays-which for some reason makes me feel proud.

Jack is on a fifth/sixth grade team.  At his age they are no longer co-ed.  But there is often a height disparity at this age.  I thought this would make a bigger difference than it has.  Jack is on the shorter side for the team, but he has been really competitive and made a lot of baskets.  There are a few kids from the neighborhood on his team as well, which I always like.  Jack gets to play a lot and he plays really hard.  The only not great thing about his games is the number that are at 8 am on Saturday mornings, no sleeping in for the foreseeable future.

Nate plays with guys from the ward, and they just won their first playoff game last night.  It was a big win because they played the singles ward, which in theory should be younger and possibly faster.  A few games ago I was sitting in the chairs waiting for Nate when a guy from the team they were playing said to his wife-" Did you see how old those guys were?!".  I started laughing pretty hard because I think most of the guys on our team are in their thirties, which from some perspectives seems old I suppose.  All of Nate's games are so physical though.  The Elders Quorum President wasn't too pleased to see me there though.  I have a tendency to remember the violent parts of the game in Ward Council.  But last nights game was without blood or permanent injury, so nothing to report but the win. I have never brought a camera to any of these games, there is just too much chance it will get confiscated for the incriminating evidence.

On another note, Jack and I have been taking his picture every morning before school.  It just a silly project we decided to do at the beginning of the year.  Sometimes Jack sneaks in a few extra pictures that I don't know about until I download. 

The funny thing about this is when I take his picture these days he always says-Don't put that on the blog mom.  So he is aware of the blog and he knows there is always potential for embarrassing photos to appear.  Well Jack, I didn't take this picture.