march madness

I've never had the height for basketball, played basketball or enjoyed watching basketball. But despite this, in the spirit of March Madness I'm going to relive my best basketball moment ever.

I was about 11 and we were at my grandmother's house. My annoying little brother was running around with one of those dart guns...the kind that shot those soft plastic little darts that would stick to the TV screen if you shot it at the perfect angle. He had been shooting this one little dart (he had lost the other two darts that had come with the gun) at different family members, which was fine until he started shooting it at me. So after it hit me in the arm, I picked up the dart and kept it. He was initially upset but because of his short attention span, he soon forgot about it.

So I was sitting in a chair by the window holding onto this dart and just then, about 15 feet away, my dad walked out of the kitchen and into the room holding a cup of coffee. And the perfect scene played out in my head. In all my 11 year old brilliance, I just couldn't resist, so I took careful aim...from about 15 feet, possibly even more...and lobbed the little dart. Now to fully understand what I'm about to play out here, you need to understand, little dart, regular sized coffee cup, 15 feet away.

So this dart arcs beautifully, sails across the room, and makes a perfect swish right into that cup full of coffee. What I saw from my vantage point was a sploosh of coffee that rose up from the cup, my dad cursing under his breath, trying to catch all of the drips before they hit the floor, and a quick retreat back into the kitchen. What an AWESOME shot! I was mighty proud, and gladly took credit when asked (though there had been no one to blame anyway, my little brother being in the basement at the time pounding on an old board with a hammer).

So dad was mad, I was in trouble, but that shot, that beautiful shot, will go down in all time history as perhaps the best 'dart in a cup of coffee' shot of all time. I'd like to see Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant try to do that!