SHAZAM....err..I mean 413!

This will be my last Blog entry trying to motivate some of you toward “improvement during the off-season”. I have finally come to the realization that the few truly wanting to improve their game have already been making the time and finding a way to be there.

The lack of participation made me think of an old TV show that I used to watch. When I was a kid (yes, waaayyy back when car tires were made of stone) I, like every other boy in America, watched a TV show called Shazam. Basically, the show was about a teenager named Billy who worked as a radio news reporter and he always seemed to stumble upon trouble with bad guys. (Kind of like the gang from Scoobie-Do as a point of reference) And somehow, Billy was chosen out of all the boys in America to be the champion of good by the great wizard Shazam.

Whenever Billy would find himself in the midst of trouble, he would raise his fist and speak the wizard's name, and he was instantly struck by a magic lightning bolt that transformed him into an adult superhero named Captain Marvel that was empowered with vast super-strength. Oh by the way, as if vast super-strength wasn’t enough…he also had speed and stamina, physical and magical invulnerability, ability to fly, fearlessness, vast wisdom and enhanced mental perception, control over and emission of magic lightning and other vast untapped magical powers. WOW! As a 10 year old, I thought this was waaaayyy cool!

However, even as a young naïve kid, I knew that there was no great wizard Shazam and that there was no way a person could magically gain all those powers (by magic lightning bolt or not). It just wasn’t ever going to happen like that in real life.

The lack of participation in our workouts makes me feel like some of you think you’ll be able to just show up for tryouts, stand in the huddle and yell out “413” and somehow, God will magically bestow upon you basketball superpowers (I say bestow because Coach Moss won’t allow magic lightning in the gym) and you’ll suddenly have some serious game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that.

Champions are made in the off-season…not when the regular season starts.