The Hardwood Ballet
There's nothing more beautiful to watch than the graceful strides of a 7-foot-tall dancer as he prepares to leap and fly through the air with a windmill motion and deliver a powerful slam to the cheers of delighted fans! Welcome to the Hardwood Ballet.
The dancers are millionaires of rare athletic quality, with skills sharpened by years of training and practice. They twist, turn, dribble, drive, slash, slide, pass, dive, spin, stride, leap, fly, hang, crash and cry. They are icons of the hardwood ballet, and millions of adoring fans hang on their every move, and leap for joy with every thundering dunk. They come from all over the world, and they gather in the venues where only the most gifted may perform. Their faces are seen on television, newspapers and magazines. Their stories are documented in books and radio broadcasts. And their images are forever engrained on the minds of the children who will imitate them, and embrace them as heroes.
As the epics unravel, the audience sees the good and the bad, the right and the wrong, the beautiful and the ugly. The characters take shape as the story evolves and resolves with some ironic twist of fate, where the balance of a season comes down to one play in one second of one final game. Every ounce of energy is expended, and all the blood, sweat and tears of a lifetime hang on the lip of a cold steel rim, where ten chiseled bodies wait to snatch away the rebound that will ensure their victory. When it is over, the victor is judged by his character in victory, and the loser is remembered for the "almosts" and "what-ifs." The winner has reached the pinnacle of achievement, and the loser has learned a valuable lesson in humility. The champion's face will appear on the children's cereal boxes and the runner-up's face will show up on the waiver wire.
The hard-fought victory is short-lived, and the next chapter is composed in the minds of coaches and managers, who dream of new combinations, new role players, and new schemes to deceive the opponents. Sometimes the news is good, but with every passing season come changes in the faces. The young compete for their right to perform, and old teammates are scattered throughout the land, as friendships are severed and new conquests begun. Generations of families teach their young to shoot, dribble, and pass in a time-honored tradition of coaching future stars and helping them use their incredible abilities at the highest possible level. They fight on, struggling over a long and grueling war of attrition, hoping to hang on for that last-second shot!
Now that's what I call "dramatic arts."
The dancers are millionaires of rare athletic quality, with skills sharpened by years of training and practice. They twist, turn, dribble, drive, slash, slide, pass, dive, spin, stride, leap, fly, hang, crash and cry. They are icons of the hardwood ballet, and millions of adoring fans hang on their every move, and leap for joy with every thundering dunk. They come from all over the world, and they gather in the venues where only the most gifted may perform. Their faces are seen on television, newspapers and magazines. Their stories are documented in books and radio broadcasts. And their images are forever engrained on the minds of the children who will imitate them, and embrace them as heroes.
As the epics unravel, the audience sees the good and the bad, the right and the wrong, the beautiful and the ugly. The characters take shape as the story evolves and resolves with some ironic twist of fate, where the balance of a season comes down to one play in one second of one final game. Every ounce of energy is expended, and all the blood, sweat and tears of a lifetime hang on the lip of a cold steel rim, where ten chiseled bodies wait to snatch away the rebound that will ensure their victory. When it is over, the victor is judged by his character in victory, and the loser is remembered for the "almosts" and "what-ifs." The winner has reached the pinnacle of achievement, and the loser has learned a valuable lesson in humility. The champion's face will appear on the children's cereal boxes and the runner-up's face will show up on the waiver wire.
The hard-fought victory is short-lived, and the next chapter is composed in the minds of coaches and managers, who dream of new combinations, new role players, and new schemes to deceive the opponents. Sometimes the news is good, but with every passing season come changes in the faces. The young compete for their right to perform, and old teammates are scattered throughout the land, as friendships are severed and new conquests begun. Generations of families teach their young to shoot, dribble, and pass in a time-honored tradition of coaching future stars and helping them use their incredible abilities at the highest possible level. They fight on, struggling over a long and grueling war of attrition, hoping to hang on for that last-second shot!
Now that's what I call "dramatic arts."
posted by O'Coileain at 5:13 AM
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