My basketball weekend started out in a somewhat dimly lit Paso Robles gym at 7:45am, the florescent lights flickering at that hour; or perhaps that was my consciousness having only gotten a hour or two of sleep thanks to a stormy night and plenty of nose to the radar work.  Since I don't live in Paso, I got up good and early and drove blearily with a meager curl of steam rising out of a small hole in the plastic lid over quickly ordered McDonald's coffee.  It was worth it, my son had played off-guard all year but this week got to play point which meant he had the ball every trip down the floor.  It was his first game as field general, he made a few mistakes but in general did pretty well.  Due to league rules, he had to sit the whole second half because he had played too many quarters this season.  I watched his teammates scratch out at 13-7 victory.

This weekend he stopped shooting various zombies, paused intervening in various covert military operations and ceased important space related missions and put an NBA game into the XBOX360.  At first I thought he was watching the All-Star Game because we had watched the slam dunk competition the night before.  But when I entered the room he proudly announced he was playing the Celtics against the Lakers, and he was playing the Celtics.  I warned him what a poor choice that was considering I was in charge of his welfare for the next several days.  After that he was more interested in how to play the game.  I talked him through the basic controls and after allowing for a good amount of practice time agreed to take him on in a game.  I said I wanted to play the Lakers but he could play anyone else.  I guess I assumed he'd take the Celtics, or an All-Star team but what he chose was the Legends of the 50s-60s.

Right from the get-go I had my hands full.  The aging Derrick Fisher couldn't cover Oscar Robertson or Bob Cousy.  And George Mikan ate up Pau Gasol down low.  I started explaining to Ethan that picking the best players of all time was not entirely fair, he responded that it is really more about how you play the XBOX and less so who is on the floor.  Fine, I rolled up my sleeves down 11 and got to work.  Kobe was cold as ice on mid-range jumpers and Oscar Robertson played great defense on him.  I tried everyone on the bench.  Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic couldn't get anything going either (they never did in real-life either, so I am not sure what my expectations were here).  So I went to Lamar Odom, he had a step on Wilt Chamberlain and poured in a quick 20 before half.  I was still down three.

Second half my shooting woes continued, I went with Kobe on the drive a little more and got a few to drop but I had more success down low with Pau and Lamar.  I got lucky that Ethan preferred outside jumpers, and not always by guys suited to take them.  George Mikan and Wilt Chamberlain didn't have a 3 point line when they played so their non-earth-tethered-spirits infused into the XBOX avatars must not have been overly easy with the green light to shoot from downtown.  A building could have been built with the accumulated bricks.  However there was a nice 30-footer Wilt Chamberlain drained.  The voice of Clark Kellogg was the analyst, "Chamberlain for 3....Well, I don't know why he shot it from there, but he did and it went in."

I pulled away for a 7 point win.  I had other chores to do around the place, and checked back in later on.  I dropped the hammer once or twice in our game so Ethan was looking to figure out how to dunk.  I had instructed him that it was the trigger button and 'x' when you are close.  He expressed his frustrations from around a corner and wanted me to come and take a look.  He had the stars of the 80s on the floor and said, "Number 33 can't do anything, he stinks."  That was Larry Bird.  Ethan had him going trip after trip down the floor trying to break things down off the dribble and driving the paint.  Imagine the frustration his avatar must have had from the joystick instructions.  Ethan also thought #11 was lacking in from the air traffic control perspective.  I had to tell him that Isiah Thomas was not a dunker (nor a general manager).  "Well, who is even good on this team Dad?"  His five was the aforementioned Bird and Thomas along with Dr. J, Patrick Ewing and Kevin McHale.  It is hard to tell a kid just how good these guys were.  Ethan was curious who the best player ever was, so I asked him if he had heard of Michael Jordan.  And after some YouTube videos I think I convinced him.

Now he wants an XBOX rematch.  I have been trying to convince him that regular NBA teams are better to play again each other.  The defenses are not like brick walls and you need to employ teamwork.  Ethan prefers to battle the titans of all time, he likes the 60s and 70s legend team and is highly confident in a win this time.  I said I am fine with the 90s legends and we can virtually lace-em-up whenever he wants.  If he didn't know who Jordan was he certainly doesn't know about Magic, Barkley, Olajuwon, Robinson, and Shaq when he was good.  Ethan winks at me like he is really sure, I just wink back.