By BILLY HEYEN
Dear Section V basketball,
We missed you.
It’s sure been a while since we saw you last. Remember that packed gym at Edison Tech on the night of March 11? Where were you when the ESPN notification popped up on your phone that Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19? Did you know what that would mean for us?
One sportswriter wrote of two seniors that night, “Each of them has extended their season for at least a few more days.” They say ignorance is bliss, and for the last few hours of March 11, it still barely was.
It’s true that you normally abandon us, or at least hide in the shadows, during the spring and summer months. There’s a chill in the upstate New York air before you consider a return. But in the end, it’s always worth the wait.
Months and months of buzzer-beaters and crossovers and block-chasing are all worth whatever abandonment complex comes with your months-long absence. You must love the first game of the year as much as the players, fans and media do, huh? The bounce of the ball and the squeak of sneakers once again become the soundtrack of our otherwise silent winter nights.
This time is different, though, and we both know that. You left too early. There wasn’t closure. How’d that story end? We’ll simply never know.
And the new book, the one we hoped to read together to make up for lost time, was put on hold. It seemed like we might have to go a whole winter without you around.
Thankfully, just as hope reached its nadir, you popped your head in. A mask was on your face now, and you asked us not to get too close.
Don’t worry, Section V basketball, anything for you. Put a mask over our eyes if you must. We’ll run backwards, spin in circles, play with the lights off if that’s what it takes. Just promise you won’t leave us again.
“That’s not a promise I can make,” you say, a somber look on your face. “One slip up and I might be gone again.”
Well then, we’ll just have to love you with all we’ve got in the meantime. It’s not going to be the same. It might never be the same. But it’s something, and you’ve shown us what nothing feels like.
Ryan Wensley (@PenfieldBBall) was a senior last year, but this gif is Section V basketball getting up off the ground in recent days 🏀 pic.twitter.com/sJtDzgOlsz
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) January 26, 2021
Yeah, it’s only a month, but don’t hold back. Give us all the 1,000-point scorers we can handle. Give us the benchwarmer who comes in and scores to get the starters off their feet. Give us the longest final buzzer sound ever, that harsh monotone that we’ll never be happier to hear.
It’s just nice to see you back on the floor, uniform dusted off and fresh kicks laced up. Between that large, painted rectangle in each school’s gymnasium, it’ll almost seem like nothing has changed.
By the way: Please don’t take the lack of folks in the bleachers as an insult. It’s a precaution for the greater good. It’s a precaution, in some ways, for you, Section V basketball.
Don’t worry at all, because we’ll all be watching, be it in the gym or on a livestream or via a helpful Twitter account. If we ever took you for granted in the past, we’re sorry. It definitely won’t happen again.
Feel free to ask who we are. You haven’t seen us in a while, of course, and now half our faces are covered with masks. Shoot, don’t even worry about our names — we’re all here to see you.
Thankfully, mask or no mask, you’re distinctive, special, unmistakable. You’re ours. You’re Section V basketball, and we’ve missed you.
Sincerely,
All of us in Section V
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