The Game

                   The Game
  Yesterday I went to the "Hyper" building in Bloomington. The "Hyper" is out on campus at Indiana University and has a gym, a sauna, indoor pool, and about 45 full length basketball courts. I went out there with my Grandpa O'Bannon who has been going out there to stay in shape. After warming up by walking a couple laps around the track he asks me "Hey Stevie, do you think your big enough now to take the old man in a game of one on one"? I laughed and replied "you don't stand a chance against me any more pap". He chuckles a little and says “ya know, I've been bringing you out here since you were five years old. I taught you how to shoot a lay-up, free throws, a fade away, and one of the best looking hook shots I've ever seen!” He then looked down toward the floor as if he was trying to find the words. Pap then looks up at me (cause I have a good five to seven inches on him) and with this unmistakable shit eatin grin he says "So you think  the student has become the teacher huh? Well grasshopper c'mon and let me show you how the cow eat the cabbage"! I then start laughing hysterically, and quite loudly bolstering my chest, and exuding arrogance asking him “Do you want me to spot you a few points? How about I go and get you some ben gay for those old bones"? My grandpa then snickers a little and quickly replies “we’ll see about that........Boy"!
 
  We had to go down to the sixth court (because the place is pretty full up on a count of its 9:35 a.m. on a Saturday morning) and done a little shoot around to work out the kinks. I tell Pap " play to 15(win by two) three's count as two and everything else counts as one".  Pap looked over at me almost glaring at me and says “fine by me,
let's play........Boy"! It was at this point I realized that I'd pushed a few of the old man's buttons! I knew right then I was in for the game of my life. Well, what Pap lacked in height he more than made up fro in size! You see, grandpa has just recently retired from being a Union Iron Worker for the past 36 years! Pap is basically a genetic bull-dozer. He's 5'6'' 248 lbs. with only (get this) 21% body fat! So we shot free throws to see who got the ball first and of course he wins (I swear this man hasn't missed a free throw since Kennedy was in office! LOL).
 
  The Game is now under way. I start off on fire and jump out to an early 7-2 lead! Pap looks at me and says "it's time to put a stop to this." Listen up all, this man came out with a "Lock Down" defense! I was lucky if I had an opportunity to even get a shot off. He comes back like he was possessed or something. Pap pulls ahead of me 12-9. He is only three points away from spanking my ass! I hit a three (counts as two) and then a hook shot to tie it up. Feeling like I’m on top of the world now, I started to talk trash to Pap to try to throw him off of his game a little. What does he do, Steps back and drains a three! The score is now Stevie P. 12 and Pap14. If he hits one more bucket I will never hear the end of it! I put on my own "Lock Down" defense and stole the ball to drive to the hoop for a lay-up. 13-14 now, and Pap shoots and misses, I get the rebound and work my way down into the lane and put up a beautiful eleven foot hook shot that reaches nothing but the bottom of the net! Tie ball game folks. It's now Pap's ball, we go to the top of the key to check it up and this is where we both get pissed! There is a rule that if there are no available courts and you are only playing half court, you have to yield to a five on five game. I say this is Bullshit! "We were here first" Pap and I shouted to the attendant for the "Hyper." Pap had just paid his yearly membership fee two weeks prior and didn't want us to get kicked out! He laughingly tells me "there will always be time to finish our game, don't worry about it I was gonna win any damn way."  I looked over at him and tell him "you're ass is senile old man" in ribbing him kind of way. He tauntingly tells me "you're lucky you're my grandson and I love ya cause if not I would have mopped the floor with ya." I reply back “yea yea I love you too" While wiping the sweat I curiously look over at Pap and he has this blank, distant look on his face. I tell him again "I Love Ya Pap" thinking maybe he didn't hear me? Again no reply, So as I start to repeat myself once again I realize that I can see my own breath! I now know why. I nodded off while visiting him. "I Love You Grandpa" I say to myself. I then say out loud for all to hear "I Love You Grandpa" and I tell him this as I Wipe the Mud from his Grave.
 
You see this was my mentor, hero, best friend, buddy, and Grandpa. One day we will get too finish our game Pap. Until then may God bless your soul and may you rest in peace.
 
Even now as my eyes are filling with tears, I can still feel it like it was only yesterday.

...................................I Love You Grandpa................................................

          William Dean O'Bannon Sr. January 8 1930 - June 14 1994


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