Remembering My Basketball Career

I played basketball for the first time in about a month yesterday. Oh, the memories.
Basketball was pretty much my life through high school. God, family, school, basketball/piano. That's how my priorities were lined up. I played basketball so much. Especially my senior year, I lived and breathed basketball.
As I played yesterday, so many thoughts went through my head. All the good times, all the bad times I've had throughout my basketball career. I relived every moment of my time as a basketball player.
I remembered 8th grade, going through tryouts, going from the kid that was the last player to make the team, to playing the minimum 4 minutes in my first game, to starting the last two games of the season, to MVP of my 8th grade team.
I remembered my freshman year, as a tall skinny kid that a stiff breeze could knock over. I remembered having the ugliest shot in the world. I remembered going undefeated at home. I remembered looking up to Mitch Davis, the star of our varsity team, and thinking that's the kind of player I wanted to become. I remembered winning the district championship and the joy that came with that as the first freshman boy basketball team to win a district championship.
I remembered my sophomore year, still a tall skinny kid, but with a much better shot. I remembered being named team captain, and then having that taken away because I got a concussion. I remembered fracturing my ankle, and then my first game back, trying to dunk the ball and failing miserably. I remembered the plays that were called so that I could shoot the 3 when very few people knew I could shoot that. I remembered the game at Coronado, hitting the game winning shot at the buzzer over Marco. I remembered going into overtime against Montwood, scoring 27 points, but ultimately losing because I fouled out. I remembered messing up a bone in my left foot, having to play half the season with a messed up foot and never telling anyone. I remembered being bumped up to varsity, going to the playoffs with them, having to beat Coronado to get in the playoffs, then going on to the third round, which defied all odds, and ultimately losing to Willie Warren and North Crowley, the eventual state champions.
I remembered my junior year, and the hell that it was. I remembered the constant abuse that I got from a teammate. I remembered every punch he threw at me, every time he spit in my face, every time he denied me water, every cuss word he used to bring me down. I remembered strongly considering quitting basketball because of this. I remembered sticking through it, despite the continuing abuse every practice. I remembered playing against Andress despite suffering from heat exhaustion. I remembered going to Lubbock and being unable to play one game because of food poisoning. I remembered having the game changing block against Hanks. I remembered every free throw I made, going 87% from the line. I remembered going to the playoffs, losing to Midland High, being overpowered by taller and better athletes, but giving everything I had, everything I had. I remembered receiving Honorable Mention All-District.
I remembered the off-season before my senior year. I remembered all the doubters, saying that I could never do it because I was too skinny, I was not an athlete. I remembered taking every opportunity I could to be in the gym, in the weight room. I remembered all the hate I had against my teammate for what he had done last season, which inspired me to work harder. I remembered all the tournaments we entered, all the points I started scoring against good teams. I remembered the Southwest Shootout, scoring 24 points against Albuquerque Granger, one of the top teams in New Mexico, and going on to average a double-double in the tournament.  I remembered never playing on Sunday in any of the tournaments because of my religious convictions. I remembered every open gym I went to. I remembered the concussion I got that really messed me up. I remembered spending hours with my teammates working on stuff when everyone else was at home not practicing.
I remembered my senior year. I remembered the disrespect our team got from the media. I remembered winning our first seven games handily. I remembered being named tournament MVP in the Americas tournament. I remembered going to Dallas, walking into the gym against Denton Guyer, how they laughed as we walked in the gym because of the way we looked, and then beating them by 23. I remembered being named All-Tournament Team in the Dallas tournament. I remembered losing to Austin because I missed a lay-up at the buzzer. I remembered being named All-Tournament in the Mountain View tournament. I remembered going through district play, winning some losing some. I remembered spraining my right foot, then spraining the same foot, again and again, finally having 4 sprains in my foot, and playing with 4 sprains in my foot for 13 games. I remembered the media continuing to doubt us. I remembered being undefeated at home. I remembered being the first varsity boy's basketball team to win an outright district championship. I remembered the lack of respect we got from the media despite what we'd done. I remembered all the college coaches dropping me because I was Mormon and going on a mission, because I was a center but should've been a forward. I remembered going to the playoffs against Permian, walking into the gym to their dunk show, and then beating them by 17. I remembered our next playoff game against Haltom, having a really good game, going into overtime, and beating them by 2. I remembered our playoff game against North Crowley, the #2 team in the state, going up by 13 against them, giving our heart and our soul to that game, but losing that game by 4. I remembered the heartbreak that came with that loss, knowing that my high school career had ended. I remembered the accolades I was given, All-City First Team, District MVP, All-Region First Team, Academic All-State. I remembered passing on the all-star tournament because it was on a Sunday. I remembered all the boys on that team, all the seniors that had been through so much over 4 years.
I remembered training for BYU tryouts. I remembered spending 4-5 hours a day, practicing, lifting, working with trainers. I remembered the weight I put on, the muscle I started gaining. I remembered thinking I had a great opportunity at hand.
I remembered BYU tryouts. I remembered making the first cut, the second cut, and the final cut.
I remembered being on the practice squad for a week. I remembered playing against Jimmer, Jackson, Brandon. I remembered giving my heart and soul every practice. I remembered the plays I had to learn. I remembered all the drills we ran. I remembered all the good things I did, hitting a three over Noah, blocking Brandon, trying to dunk over Kyle.
Then I remembered getting cut.
And thus ended my basketball career.

Hopefully, it will continue in a couple of year. But for now, it's over.
My friends, God bless.

Top 10/Bottom 10, Song, Video and Pic of This Week

This is this week's Top 10 things for the week of January 21st- January 28th:

Top 10

1. BYU-SDSU game. The Jimmer Show. Refer to yesterday's post.

2. Mission Call Shout-outs. Congrats to Greg Fitzpatrick for his call to Buenos Aires, Argentina; Andre Gigena for his call to Ventura, California; Kyle Davidson for his call to the Baltic Mission; Taylor Lewis for his call to Kobe, Japan.

3. Class being cancelled on a Friday. What better thing can happen than when your Econ professor announces that he is going to the Netherlands and class is cancelled?

4. Blowing stuff up in class. I particularly enjoy it when my Physical Science professor decides to make Friday a review day where he demonstrates what we've learned through the unit by blowing stuff up.

5. Naps. Remember when you were 8 years old and you used to fight your parents whenever they told you to take a nap? Well, now you're 18 and you fight for a nap.

6. ESPN. Finally, ESPN is giving BYU the credit it deserves. They hyped up the BYU-SDSU game, they gave Jimmer the POY consideration he deserves. Probably because BYU signed a multi-million dollar deal contract with them.

7. Apple Beer. Over the past week, I have drank (drunk, drunken?) 12 bottles of Apple Beer. Yummy, but probably not healthy.

8. Elder D. Todd Christofferson and Cecil O. Samuelson. It's not every day that you see elderly people cheering and shouting with a lot of intensity. Much less, general authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Normally, laid back, Cecil was getting into it. And Elder Christofferson was getting into it too, even storming the court (more on that later).

9. Acclimation to the climate. You know you have acclimated to the climate when you've lived in Texas most of your life but on Tuesday, you endure a "blizzard" with only a light jacket on. Yes, that's acclimation.

10. Physical Science test reviews with cute TA's that are single. Yes, I did the ring check. She's a senior flute performance major. Somewhat of an airhead, however. Eh, I've got others on my mind.

Bottom 10

1. Fans storming the court. Again, refer to my rant about fans storming the court. As a basketball player, it's just way too dangerous.

2. Broken water heaters. It really stinks when you are getting ready to take a shower and find out the water is broken. And because you smell really bad, you need to take a shower. So you walk in 10 degree temperatures to Merrill Hall.

3. The smell in my room. I don't even know what the smell is. My roommate's sense of smell has been burned out and he can't smell it anymore. I, unfortunately, still can smell that horrendous smell that, no matter what I do, will not go away.

4. My room cleanliness. While I'm complaining about my room, I will continue by complaining about the cleanliness of my room. It's filthy. All my crap is everywhere. And while I really want to clean it up, I have no desire to actually clean it.

Not my room, but just as bad

5. Budge Hall. Do not get me wrong, I love this hall. But compared to other halls, we got the short end of the stick. Broken TV's, broken water heaters, low shower heads, a musty smell.

6. My ability to talk with pretty girls about... stuff. Mostly, phone numbers and dates. No further comment.

7. NCIS. I love NCIS. NCIS is by far my favorite TV show. Why are they in my Bottom 10? Because they didn't have a new episode this week. So, NCIS, this week you are in my Bottom 10. Please do not disappoint me next week.

8. Printer's without ink. It's not fun when you're printing an assignment that you finished at 1am only to realize your printer has run out of ink.

9. Egypt. Now, I'm really not too sure what's going on over there. Much of the international news I'm not quite up to speed yet. But, for what I know, Egypt deserves to be in my Bottom 10.

10. BYU Ticket Office. The distribution of wristbands for this game was a really hassle. They said one thing, then did another, then another, without giving much notice. Please fix this for the next game.

Song of the Week

Amazing- TJ Fredette. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of hard rap songs, but, not gonna lie, this is a pretty good one. None of the stuff that's normally talked about in other hard rap songs, doesn't cuss either. Also, it's Jimmer Fredette's brother.

Video of the Week

Voice over of animals

Pic of the Week

Antoine Dogson

And there you have it. This week's Top 10/Bottom 10, Song, Video and Pic.

My friends, God bless. 

BYU vs. SDSU

I heard about some really big game going on at BYU and decided to check it out. Apparently, BYU was hosting the #4 team in the country SDSU. I decided to go check it out.
I dunno, some of you may have heard of this guy:

   

His name is Jimmer Fredette. And he plays for BYU. And he's really good. He's averaging 27.4 points per game. He scored 49 at Arizona last year. 42 at Colorado St. 47 at Utah. We were kinda hoping for big things from him against #4 SDSU. In fact, his name means "One who is in range as soon as he steps off the bus," according to urbandictionary.com. 

Some of you may have heard of this guy: 

Yeah, I'd never heard of him either. 

But anyway, there was a whole bunch of hype surrounding this game. The #9 BYU Cougars hosting the #4 San Diego State Aztecs. People lined up on Tuesday at 5am for tickets to this game at 8pm on Wednesday. And it snowed on Tuesday. That's dedication people.

Well, I wasn't one of those crazies that waited hours for a wristband. I waited until about 2pm on Tuesday to get one. And only had to wait like 20 minutes.

So I decided to check out ESPN, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, all the sport's blogs to find out what this game was about. Apparently, this was the real deal. Two of the best teams in the country, one of the nation's most exciting scorers, were going to be in the building about 1 block from where I'm living. I was getting a little excited.

So Wednesday came. At 4pm, I waited in line for seats. It was freezing cold, and there were about 4,000 people in line. The line extended forever. 

The line went all the way down to the end of that building, then around it, and all the way behind me. Forever!

So then we got inside at 6pm (two hours of waiting in the cold!). It was a madhouse trying to get seats. Students rushing, pushing, shoving, all hoping for the best seats in the house. It was nuts. 

Then, TJ Fredette, Jimmer Fredette's brother, gives a pre-game performance of his rapping skills. He was ok. Definitely feeding off of his brother's hype. But, decent, at least for a white rapper.

People began filing in for the game. Then the Aztecs came out for their warm-ups. They decided to put on a dunking clinic. Kinda reminded me of when we played Odessa Permian in the playoffs, but that's another story. Then the Cougars came out and did their own dunking clinic, though it was a white version of it.

Pre-game introductions the crowd goes nuts. When they announced Jimmer's name, the crowd erupted and the place was loud. It was LOUD!!! 22,700 people screaming at the top of their lungs. 

Then the game started. Loud, fun, loud. I'm not going to go through the details of the game because, well, you can watch highlights. 

And here's a better link to see photos of the game.

Ok, so back to this Jimmer guy. 

Well, he went off during this game. He scored 43 points. That's a lot of points. I don't think I've scored 43 points in church ball. And he did it against the #4 team in the country. And now my claim to fame: I made a shot over Jimmer. Yes, folks, I made a shot over Jimmer. 15-foot pull-up from the left side in the Marriott Center, with Jimmer's hand in my face. Ok, don't rush too quickly to get my autograph. 

So yes, this game was amazing. It was exciting, it lived up to it's hype, it was loud, it was packed. And most importantly, BYU won 71-58.

The only bad thing I have to say about the game: Fans rushing the court. I am not a big fan of rushing the court. Having been a basketball player when fans have rushed the court, it is pretty scary. It's not a good idea to have thousands of people jam packed in such a confined area as a basketball court. Especially for players, it is scary because anything can happen. Even Jimmer said it was scary. 

But overall, it was such a great game. It was really amazing. It was one of the greatest experiences I have had. 

To end, I want to give a shout-out to Andre Gigena and Greg Fitzpatrick. Andre received his mission call to the Ventura, California mission and Greg received his to the Buenos Aires, Argentina mission. Makes me kinda excited to receive my mission call.

And I will leave it at that.

My friends, God bless. 

The Drawbacks of Being Tall

I admit it, I'm a tall person. At 6'6, I'm far above the average of 5'10 for U.S. males (and I while researching this statistic, I found out that the average height for a U.S. female is 5'4, which surprised me). It's definitely nice being a tall person, but it also has its drawbacks. 

The one biggest peeve I have is people saying "Wow, you're really tall." Then they stare at you like you're an animal at the zoo. 

"Ok, everyone!! Bring yo' kids, bring yo' wife, and bring yo' husband 'cuz we goin' to the Nathan exhibit at the zoo!!" No, it does not work like that. I'm not an animal to stare at and take pictures of. I'm just another human being blessed/cursed with excessive height. (I will say that picture pretty closely resembles me). Maybe I should charge an admission fee like they do at the zoo to see "The Nathan Exhibit."

Ok, now about the nicknames. Nicknames are not a bad thing. I've been called everything from "Jolly Green Giant," "Giraffe," "Stretch," "Big," "IceMan" (though that has nothing to do with being tall).

I have no problem with the nicknames. Nicknames are great. They're any easy way of remembering someone without having to remember their name. But please, check with the person before you call them something. I've had numerous people come up with a nickname for me that I had never heard before that I took offense to. So, just check, and if I say yes, by all means call me that. Put that as my name in your phone. Leave me notes with that nickname. Yell my nickname in a crowd. But just check with me.

Ok, the tall jokes. They're fine. I mean, you got blonde jokes, you got fat jokes, you got black jokes, you got white jokes. It's going to happen. So, I don't worry about it. The only one I hate: "How's the weather up there?" It is so overused, I get it at least once a day. Do not ever use it. Ever. If you do use it, be prepared for my answer: I will spit at you and say it is raining.

Do I hit my head on stuff? Yes, I do. I have hit my head on doorways. I've hit my head on exit signs (particularly the one in David John lobby that I never remember to duck my head for). I've hit my head on the ceiling. I've hit tree branches. I've hit my head on the backboard on the basketball hoop (just once though). I do not fit in cars, buses, airplanes, minivans. I do not fit in my own bed. I do not fit on some roller coasters (and a lot of stories come to mind about that)    :( . And yes I've had this happen to me.

 

Not fun.

Several other drawbacks: Never being able to fit under the piano; Never being able to fit in an organ; Having a large foot size that stores never carry (actually, my cousin has more of that problem, I'm doing pretty ok); Love (I'll get to that later); I could probably think of a few more. 

So I've ranted on about the drawbacks of being tall. Yes, there are some bright sides. It helps in basketball (though I would much rather have a fast team than a tall team, trust me). Yes, it's really nice to be able to see people over large crowds. It's actually one of the best things about being tall. Yes, it's a really good conversation starter when you meet a girl.

Ok, now that I've come to the topic of girls, I will give my spiel about love as a tall guy. Love is tough to come by as a tall guy. Ok, hold on, before you start a riot and and say "No, Nathan!!! Girls love tall guys!!!!" let me explain myself. Yes, girls do love tall guys. Girls much prefer a 6'3 guy over a 5'3 guy. Girls feel secure around tall guys. But there comes a certain point where girls suddenly believe that a guy is "too tall." After years of research, experiments, and observation, I'm ready to announce my results that most girl's height cut-off is 6'4. At that point, any guy taller than that is deemed "too tall." Yes, guys can be too tall for a girl. Unfair, yes perhaps. But I guess that comes with being tall. I've had girls reject me because I'm too tall. Sadly, I have been victim of the "too tall for me" phrase. *Sigh* 

It's much harder for women that are tall. My sister is a freshman in high school and six feet tall. Poor thing, having to deal with immature little boys that are all shorter than her. But I don't have much experience being a tall girl, so I'll leave it at that.

So there you have it folks. Those are (primarily) the drawbacks of being tall. Don't get me wrong, I love being tall. But as with every good thing, it also has its drawbacks. I'd much rather be tall than short.

My friends, God bless.

Yes, I Stalk Your Facebook

So originally, this was supposed to be kinda a sappy, love poem. But how can you turn something into a sappy, love poem when the first line is "Yes, I stalk your Facebook"? Naturally, it turned into a comical poem.


Yes, I stalk your Facebook,
I admit it to you now.
Please don't get all mad at me,
Or start to have a cow

I'm not a loony or a creep,
I'm simply just a boy
That really likes the things you post
And your pics I do enjoy.

Sure I pressed the friend request
As I saw you from afar.
But do not worry, it's ok
I treat you like a star.

I look through all your pics
And comment on every one
With stuff like "Oh that's really pretty"
Or "Your eyes shine like the sun."

I only message you like every day,
That's really not too bad.
At least I'm not that creepy guy
That'll friend request your dad
(actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea).

My favorite pic of you on Facebook
Is prolly number 31
Where you are at the football game
And your hair's up in a bun.

And thank goodness for the chat bar
That lets me know you're on.
It tells me when I can talk to you
And also when you're gone.

So yes, I stalk your Facebook,
I admit it to you now.
Please don't delete me from your friend's list
And my stalking disallow.

Death, Love, and the Death of Love

The past week or so has been really interesting. I've had two people semi-close to me pass away. The first to pass away was Javi. Javi Thomas was a senior when I was a sophomore in high school. He was a darn good basketball player. He was one of the few upperclassmen on the basketball team (when he was) that talked to me. He died when he crashed his motorcycle. I wasn't extremely close to him, but I cared about him.
Then, I learned that Officer Segoviano died of a heart attack. Officer Segoviano was one of the security officers at my high school. He was a great guy. He was at many of my basketball games, he kept up with everything that I was doing, he made sure the cholos didn't come out and beat me. He was the one that caught me selling cookies at school and told me to keep it on the DL (down-low) so I wouldn't get caught. He was awesome, and it was a shock to hear about his passing. 
So that got me thinking... I haven't had anyone really close to me pass away (and I thank God that hasn't happened). My grandparents are still alive and well, none of my relatives have passed, and my immediate family is healthy with no sign of passing anytime soon. But what would I do if someone I was close to did die? Would I cry? Would I have that expressionless face and show no emotion? How would I react? Would I be angry at the world? 
What will I do when the people I love begin to pass on? Maybe I should just stop loving so this won't happen to me.
Nah, not loving is not a good idea. Love is an excellent idea. "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never loved at all." Something like that; I've never been good at quoting people. But love is great even when you've lost your love. Yeah sure it stings for a while, sometimes a very long while, but there are more people, more things to love. 
But love has become this item that people play with. People play with love and break hearts with no intention of healing. A girl tosses a piece of love to 20 guys and drives all of them insane, all of them thinking they have her love, only to find out none of them ever did. A boy gives his heart to a girl, only to wrench it from her hands and give it for a moment to another girl, and then have the audacity to try and give that heart back. 
True love has become dead. When was the last time you saw true love on a TV show? Back in the 60's with stuff like The Dick Van Dyke Show, or Andy Griffith. Not people giving themselves away to that gorgeous blond walking down the street. 
Wow, I just really went off on a tangent. From death to my rant on what love has become.
I'm a believer in true love. I'm a believer in finding someone who loves you no matter what you do. Granted, even in true love, hearts must be broken. But hearts aren't broken because you intentionally wrench it out of someone's hands and pass it around. Hearts are broken because you realize it isn't quite true love. 
Have a I found true love? Haha, no. Am I an expert on true love? Yes. I believe I'm an expert on true love. No, no, I'm not an expert on true love. No one is. You can live your whole life and never really know what true love is.
Am I looking for true love? You bet I am. I look everyday for true love. And I think I've found it. Then again, I've said that before, only to have my heart broken. Oh well. Broken hearts come with love.
I'm such a sappy guy. Actually not really. I'm just in one of those moods. 
My friends, God bless. 

Memoir About My Basketball Career

I've begun writing my memoir about my basketball career. It will basically be all the challenges I have overcome while I have played basketball. I'm sure that people would be able to learn something from it.
Here's the opening paragraph and then a tidbit of what's in it.

          For as long as I’ve lived, I have loved basketball. For as long as I can remember, I have played basketball. For my whole life, basketball has been just that: my life.

          My first recollection of basketball was when I was still in diapers. Someone bought me one of those Fisher Price basketball hoops for little kids. My parents set it up in the tiny living room of the small basement we called a home in Provo, Utah. I’d spend hours shooting that little plastic ball into the hoop, retrieve the ball, and repeat. I got so good, I could beat all the other three-year-olds on the block. I was the envy of all toddlers in the entire street.

          I found out that prior to tryouts, there would be a meeting for all those that wished to tryout. It was to be held directly after school on a Tuesday. I did not find out about this meeting until the day of the meeting. I did not have a cell phone at the time, so I tried to get a hold of my mom through one of the school phones. She did not answer. Several times, I attempted to call her, with the same result. I left a message on her phone, explaining that she would have to pick me up from school later because of this basketball meeting.

            When I arrived at the meeting, there were a lot of people there. Many of them were newcomers like me, hoping to show the skills that they weren’t able to show the previous year. Some were players that didn’t make the team the previous year, hoping to show how much they had improved. Others were players that had been on that seventh grade team hoping to maintain that spot they had.

            I don’t remember too much about the meeting itself. They just told us stuff about what they expect of us, how many people they can keep, physical evaluations, blah blah blah.

            After the meeting, I called my mom asking for a ride home.

            “Where were you after school?”

            “I had a basketball meeting.”

            “Why didn’t you tell me about the meeting?”

            “Well, I called you several times to try to tell you, but you never answered the phone, so I left a message.”

            “I didn’t get any message.”

            “Really?”

            “Yeah. We spent half an hour waiting in the hot car for you and you didn’t show up. We looked all around the school for you and couldn’t find you. So we left.”

            “Well, can you pick me up now?”

            “No, I’m not wasting my time and my gas. You’re walking home.” She hung up.

            At first, I could not tell if my mom was being serious or not. When I finally realized she was being serious, I picked up my backpack and began to walk home. I think it’s important to note that my middle school was about eight miles from my house, uphill, and along a busy freeway. As you can imagine, I was not too happy about this, so I would mutter stuff under my breath that I would never repeat to my mother, or kick rocks, or yell at cars that honked at me as they whizzed by.

            About six miles into my trek, my mom finally picked me up. I was not at all pleased to see her. I had just walked six miles in hot weather, with a heavy backpack, right next to cars speeding past me at sixty miles per hour. But I had done it for something I loved. I did it for basketball.

Let me know what you think. 

She'll Never Know

Ok, this is one that I came up with last night. It's one of those poems where it's 2:30 in the morning, you can't sleep, so you write stuff down that are jumbled in your head. It's not very well done, seeing that it was done really early in the morning. 

Oh, if only she knew.

If only she knew my feelings for her.

If only she knew not being with her's torture.

If only she knew the love that I nurture. 

Oh, if only she knew, if only she knew.

If only she knew I love the curl in her hair.

If only she knew that I really do care.

If only she knew she has me trapped in her snare.

Oh, if only she knew, if only she knew.

If only she knew my heart races when I see her.

If only she knew I love her reaction when I tease her.

If only she knew I'd try my best to please her.

Oh, if only she knew, if only she knew.

If only she knew how much I think about her.

Oh, if only she knew how much I think about her.

But she'll never know. 

Greetings

Greetings loved ones.

So this is something I've been thinking about doing for a long time. I do a lot of writing and it would be fun to share some of the things I write. Too bad my good collection of poetry, stories, and other writings are in El Paso.
I'll also go into some of my life stories, some of my past experiences. Stuff that maybe you guys would like to know.
Also random tidbits that I find fun on the internet.
Feel free to leave comments, ask me stuff, rant about what a bad writer or person I am, or suggestions on how to improve it. Just no profanity.
Enjoy.