The noblest of hoopers

Read this in one of an interesting book I borrowed. (There’s always this year). A memoir on basketball and life.

“But it was also here that I learned that there is nobility in a basketball that has faded, that has gone bald. And there is nobility in the person who carries it to the court. The shooter who has learned to shoot at a deficit, with a ball that slides around in their hand, or the dribbler who made a way with a ball that has endured seasons of being battered against the concrete.

Your ball is your ball, and depending on how you and your folks are livin’, you might not see a new one for a while. And so of course, praise to the person who made way with a bald rock, and a little path of concrete that was their concrete, and a rusted rim with no net. Those be the noblest of hoopers. The ones who, back then, you had to keep your eye on. Cuz they’ve done all the hard shit already. Once they get a little bit of grip on something new, it’s lights out.”