Hoop Dreams
oil on canvas
6" x 8"
Billy is a basketball player. He practices everyday. Billy works on his layups and his ball-handling and his jump shot and his conditioning each time he takes to the court. He's become a great player. To finish each of his practices, Billy shoots free throws. He promises himself that he'll hit ten in a row before going home. Billy is a great free throw shooter too, of course, and has a 90% free throw average. Nobody shoots free throws as well as Billy does. He almost never misses when he steps up to that line.
There's just one problem. It's a sad psychological ritual of sorts—a between the ears type of blunder that sends Billy home beaten each day, no matter his prowess and practice. You see, Billy can hit nine free throws in a row, no problem. But when he gets to the tenth, he always misses. Swish, Swish, Swish, Swish, Swish, Swish, Swish, Swish, Swish, Clang!
If he needed to hit eleven in a row, the tenth would be all net. But that's not what Billy promises himself each day after all of his layups and dribbling and jump shots...his conscience and work ethic says he must hit ten free throws in a row before he can go home. And each practice gets longer and longer. And each day Billy keeps shooting more and more free throws. And each day Billy hits more free throws than he's ever hit. And each day Billy misses more free throws than he's ever missed. Nine for 10...90 for 100...900 for 1,000.
Billy wondered what it would be like to miss 100 free throws in a row before sinking the next 900. Would his long-standing average obligate him to another 890 attempts, or would he call it a day at 110? He wondered if that sort of 90% would feel the same as the type he knew so well. And what would happen if he could ever shoot 10/10? Would he be satisfied? Would ten become eleven? No matter, because Billy always missed the tenth free throw. He could only miss the one that mattered. The better Billy became, the more defeated he would be.
So Billy goes home everyday, but Billy never leaves the free throw line. Billy is a basketball player.
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6 days 'til Christmas...
