By Rob Driscoll
Watching basketball phenomenon Jeremy Lin work his magic for the NBA’s New York Knicks this weekend was so inspiring, I am considering returning to the University of Calgary to use up my fifth year of eligibility with the Dinos.
Just as Jeremy felt until this month, I feel I have been under-utilized and under-appreciated in my basketball career.
My coach at the U of C never seemed to notice that with more playing time and more freedom in the offence, my production soared. If given the green light, just like Jeremy, I think I could have easily improved on my average of 27 points … per season.
Maybe I could get a volume discount if I register at the same time as my 17-year-old daughter, who also has her sights set on a post-secondary basketball career.
Surely if I can handle my seven kids and run a business publication, I could squeeze in a few hours a day for basketball practice. And three or four hours per day for classes. Oh yeah, and a couple of hours per evening for studying. Hmmm.
Well, maybe Dinos coach Dan Vanhooren would let me skip the odd practice so I could see my kids on occasion. Surely, he has been paying attention to Lin-sanity (the most popular term describing the craze surrounding Harvard grad Jeremy’s meteoric rise from the brink of retirement to superstar status), and would see that it’s worth taking a chance and giving me a little leeway on the practice schedule.
After all, Jeremy and I have much more in common. We are both 6’3″. We both weigh 200 pounds. We both love to play basketball. It’s kind of eery, really – like looking in the mirror.
Our differences — he is much faster, jumps a lot higher, has way better ball-handling skills, looks quite a bit more Asian than me, and shoots the ball right into the basket instead of clanking it off the rim — could surely be overlooked.
So, if you are reading, Coach Dan, add me to the list for tryouts this summer. And ask the trainer to load up on Cortisone and Advil.
