She's lost her mojo
Posted by Women with something to say on Apr 3rd, 2008
By Mary C. Curtis - McClatchy Newspapers
I've lost my basketball mojo.
I realized it at work, as a group gathered around office televisions for every second of NCAA action, and all I could think was, "I wish they'd stop making so much noise."
Smack in the middle of March Madness, in the middle of basketball country, and I couldn't even muster the strength to ask, "What's the score?"
How does that happen? How does something we loved so much become an afterthought? The more you love, the greater the hurt when that love disappoints. So you harden your heart.
In sports, as in relationships, it's personal. Brooklyn Dodger fans still choke up when they remember the day the team left for the West Coast.
When I was in grade school I lived for basketball - although my interest was more professional than collegiate. I was the only person in the world who wished the NBA playoff season were longer.
The Baltimore Bullets were my first love. More than the guys in my family, I followed the stats of Wes Unseld, Gus Johnson and Earl Monroe. My dad would drop me off in front of the old Baltimore Civic Center; I would buy my ticket and sit alone - surrounded by other rabid fans.
Being a born-and-raised Baltimorean, I followed the baseball Orioles (especially when the Robinsons, Frank and Brooks, played) and the football Colts. The game of basketball, though, was quick, sweaty and exciting.
But first loves can hurt you like nothing else.
I was crushed when the Bullets deserted me to move down the road, becoming the Capitol and then Washington Bullets. For perfectly understandably reasons - to eliminate any hint of violence - the team changed its name to the Wizards. My home team was truly gone.
My closest relationship to basketball at Fordham University was tutoring a player to a passing grade in a communications class we shared.
My long-dormant basketball gene was revived through my son who was born loving the NBA. We lived near New York, so he became a Knicks fan. Being a good mom, I tried to forget the team's long-ago playoff battles with my beloved Bullets and their taking Earl "The Pearl" from me.
At Madison Square Garden, we yelled for Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley and survived epic games with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
Charlotte, N.C., may not have had Spike Lee and John McEnroe at courtside but Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson and later Baron Davis were exciting enough when we moved south.
But they eventually left, too.
My son is in graduate school in the Northeast, closer to his old NBA love. Even though it's hard to be a Knicks fan now, he hangs in there.
Perhaps it's time to learn from him. Don't give up on something - or someone - that once made you happy.
In Charlotte, we've had the CIAA, the ACC and the NCAA this year, and the Bobcats, of course.
With all these choices, it's time to learn to love again and replace the heartbreak with a fast break.
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