"Basketball"

by Coach Bob Knight

Basketball is the All-American and the All-Pro: 
It’s a rag-tag kid shooting a worn-out ball through a broken rim;
it’s the guy who plays forty minutes and the guy who just hopes to get in the game.
Basketball is pep bands, cheerleaders, pom-pom girls, and vast arenas packed with howling fans. 
It’s long hours of practice before empty stands. 
It’s adulation and recognition; it’s a coach hollering at your every mistake. 
It’s joy, ecstasy and triumph, but it can also be blood and toil, sweat and tears,
Basketball banquets and half time expectations and its memories are endless.
Basketball is America, it’s hot dogs, popcorn, and the Star Spangled Banner. 
It’s old folks listening to their favorite team on the radio; it’s youngsters imitating every move of their favorite players. 
It’s national championships and three-on-three in the school yard. 
It’s rich people and poor people; it’s black people and white people; it’s big people and small people.
Basketball is all of this and a whole lot more!  Most important of all is that you and I have a chance to be a part of it.

Check out some of our other basketball prose and basketball poems!