well, guys..

if you were GONNA lose, at least it was to my LSU tigers.

but damn.

so today was The Boy’s first basketball game.

i was invited to go, which i (of course) opted to do. i’d heard tales of TB’s pulled groin muscle, how his leg is agitated every time he had basketball practice, and how it was affecting his game. i’d heard this, but i had no clue.

bryan took the offensive, working with TB last night, where they played rough-and-tumble basketball for almost an hour. no limp, bryan noted. his leg must be doing much better.

TB was precious when i arrived this morning, in his alabama track suit. i complimented him on it, and he corrected me: “it’s a WARM-UP suit, sarah.” dur. how lame am i? he was very excited about his first game.

we got there and TB ran out on the court to warm up with his team. i said hey to the ex, we chatted about the game at hand, and the three of us waited eagerly for the game to begin.

then, something magical happened.

TB started skipping everywhere.

bryan just hung his head. i tried not to ask, but eventually, all the parents were mentioning it, so i leaned over and asked, “hey, what’s up with The Boy?”

“he’s limping,” he sighed.

“um, no, he’s SKIPPING,” i countered.

“just wait.” he said.

sure enough, the minute the game began, TB had developed quite an ailment. now, i know i’ve said “limp” up until this point, but let me explain a bit further. it wasn’t JUST a limp.. it was as if he has lost all control and feeling in his left leg. think pirate-peg-leg.

so while all the other kids were running, full-speed, up and down the FULL court, ole TB is lagging behind, dragging his bad leg. a few parents started making comments about how terrible that the handicapped kid is just not as fast as everyone else. how terrible of his parents to make him play, they said.

i was crying, i was laughing so hard.

i had to give him points for committment. he never forgot WHICH leg to treat differently, nor did he drop the limp completely at quiet moments in the game. he was committed to the part.

amazingly, their team won 19-5. bryan was just defeated, but i consoled him with the fact that, should they go “all the way” and win the tournament, there’s probably a human interest story in it for him: the team that won, despite the gimp.