More basketball

Another weekend passes and I have more basketball stories. If you do not care to hear about the girls tournament, now is the time to hit the delete button. Character, desire, competitiveness are words that clearly describes my girls this weekend. We started playing games at 9 in the morning. We finished our 5th game of the day at 9:15 that night. We won our first game and had an hour and a half rest before playing again. Our next game was one for the ages. We were matched up against a very good team from Lubbock. They jumped us pretty good. Got out to a 8-0 lead before we scored. I called a timeout and "challenged" my team to dig deep and find "it" and get back in the game. They walked out and scored 2 quick baskets. The score ended up being 20-9 at half time. This was the first game for the Lubbock team and our second. The girls were already looking tired. The second half started and the girls climbed back to a within 6 pretty quick. The girls battled with them best they could. Here is were it gets crazy awesome. We are down 12 points with barely over 2 minutes to go. Kaiygen, one of my guards hits a 3 from the top. (down 9). Somehow we get the ball back. This whole time I am watching the clock, because I still have 1 timeout left. The girls come down, make a few passes and Kaiygen hits another 3. (we are down 6 with 45 seconds left.) I use my last time out. I tell the girls to "D" up like mad crazed dogs. We get the ball back again and this time Mercedez nails a 3. (we are down 3 with like 30 seconds left). The girls are running around as hard as they can, giving it everything and we get the ball back, and you guessed it...Mercedez hits another 3. (game tied). There are 12 seconds left. Lubbock calls a timeout. I tell the girls, get the ball back, get it down low for 2. That is all we need. I do not remember how, but the girls got the ball and with 4.7 seconds left Zoe gets fouled in the act of shooting and she gets 2 free shots. Before I go any further....Zoe is our best free throw shooter. She steps up and misses both shots. I cannot remember the last time she went O for 2. Overtime. We have the lead and wouldn't you know it, with 2 seconds left in overtime they score to tie it again. Double overtime, we lose by 1. It was one of the most exciting games I have been apart of in a long time and probably the most exciting to this point for my girls. I can't remember how long we had before our next game, but it didn't seem long enough. Won our next game by 10 and then had to play a good team from Plainview. We just struggled through the entire game, much like we had the game before, and never led until a minute or so left in the game. Somehow the girls had reached down again for a 3rd time. We won that game by 1 point. We are now basically in the final four. The last game they were so tired. I had one girl who was sick to her stomach, one with a bad finger, another with a bad knee, and another with a hurt and sore toe. Five games in one day is brutal. We started off ok, but quickly showed fatigue. Led the entire game until the end, and lost. We lost 2 games by a combined total of 3 points. That is hard to take. I think I would rather get destroyed than to barely lose. Losing like that is harder, especially when victory was right there. I had all day Sunday to think about what my little team had done. Six months ago this same very team would have responded very differently. They would have given up when they got down and tired. Maturity, desire, confidence are the things that have changed. These girls believe in each other and themselves now. How many times in our lives have we been down and given up as a child or adult for that matter. Then everyone has "that" story where we decided to give God a try and it somehow worked out for us. Sometimes that story comes at a young age, sometimes as an adult. Either way it gave us the confidence in Christ we maybe lacked. Taught us we are tougher than we think. It makes us discover that through Christ we can do anything. For me, being an athlete all my life it started with experiences like this. Maybe wanting to give up in a game, but continuing to play on and then coming up out of it victorious! Learning lessons like this are a great part of growing up, and something we always continually learn at all ages, either by experiencing first hand or watching others. Experience is the best teacher. Maturity, confidence, desire...all things my team, myself and my Dad (who helps me coach), the girls families, and friends all learned and gained this weekend. We may have lost a couple of close games, but we gained so much more. Till next time.

Just a quick Yee-Haw!!!!

I just gotta brag!!! "My girls" played this weekend in Panhandle. They won the tournament. In the final game they all scored at least 4 points or more. That is cool. This is the picture of the tourney champs. Later...

25 things you may not know about me.

A few months ago there was a deal going around on facebook called the '25 things about me', or '25 things I wish you knew about me' or something like that. I started thinking about that this evening for some weird reason. I thought to myself, "I bet there are at least 10 things out of 25 that most people do not know about me." I thought this would be fun to list some things....so here goes.

1. I have the most high pressured name in the history of mankind. My full name is Curtis Lynn. Curtis after my grandfather, who preached for 60 years. My grandfather was a very well known man around these parts. He baptized 1000's, married and buried way more than can ever be counted. He was awesome!!! Lynn, after my uncle, who is equally as well known as my grandfather. The pressure is killing me! Not really, it is really an honor to be named after such awesome, Godly men.

2. One of my all time favorite musical artists is Barry Manilow. I know, I know....

3. This one here, very few people even know about. In May 2007, I quit dipping snuff cold turkey. This has been very hard. It was my crutch for many, many years (24 years to be exact). This is the 5th time I tried quitting, but I think I got it licked this time. I will admit though, after a big ol' meal, the craving sometimes hits me. I just get some gum, pray to God to make it pass and before long it is gone. I know alot of men who have had the same addiction and stopped. It is really a very nasty habit.

4. I like country music.

5. I like rock-n-roll and going to concerts with my wife.

6. I date three fantastic ladies all the time. My wife and two daughters.

7. I use to be a shoe salesman at JC Penneys. (20 years ago)

8. I played college basketball. Well, I was on a college team. Didn't get to play much.

9. I wish everyone knew how hilarious my younger brother Russell is. The stuff he comes up with sometimes is priceless.

10. There was a time back in my sophmore year of college when I seriously considered changing my major to biblical studies. I thought I wanted to be a minister like my grandfather. (Probably a good thing I didn't). Can you imagine me a minister?

11. I really, really, really enjoy hunting. Getting out in the field with my brother and cousin Jon, killin' stuff....awesome. Watching my dog do his thing is truly a thing of beauty. That dog beats all I ever saw. Doing what he was born to do is totally fun.

12. I have a tattoo on my right arm. Maybe a new one on my back soon.

13. I have always wanted to be a teacher and coach.

14. I am currently enrolled in college to make #13 a reality. Just 28 more hours after this semester and I am done baby!!!!

15. I have gone to the same church for 25 years.

16. I was valedictorian of my graduating class. Never mind the fact that there were only 4 of us and the other 3 were dumb rears. But hey, I got scholarship money for it.

17. My freshman year of football, I got knocked out cold, came to in the ambulance, and had one major headache. They call the injury I had a neck stinger. Set out one week and played the rest of the season. WHAT AN IDIOT!!!! No doubt the cause of my occasional migraines.

18. When I was 22 years old I broke my leg bad playing basketball. Seriously...the leg broke in half. It hurt. My oldest daughter (who was 1 year old at the time) and I started to walk at the same time.

19. I have been sued. (and lost)

20. Virginia Stubbs is my oldest friend. We have been going to church together since birth. That is no exaggeration. Back in the day we went to church at Bell Avenue CofC. We went to school together at Sam Houston Jr. High. Then when I thought I was done with this woman she got in my family. She married my cousin Todd. I can't get away from this woman. Lucky for me.

21. My wife dated or went on a date with everyone of my older cousins. But I was the lucky one.

22. My wife and I have known each other for 23 years, been married for 18 of that. (seems eternally longer) just kidding!!!

23. I really like to fish also. Do not get to fish as much as I would like, but still love it just the same. My Poppa was a great fisherman and I got to fish with him some. I wish I could have spent more time with him, but the times I had with him were fantastic. Now my poppa was a character. He is a whole other story. One day I will share with you his story. Pretty cool.

24. When I was a 19 year old moron (freshman year), me and a bunch of guys from college got into huge trouble. I sorta lost my basketball scholarship for the semester. And I sorta was in bigger trouble with my Dad. I have really put him through some crap over the years and he still keeps on loving me. Kinda reminds me of an example in the bible about a guy who loved like that. Thanks Dad.

25. Last but not least, I really miss getting to talk to my grandmother. Sylvia Camp, the greatest woman I have ever known. (and I know some incredible women: my wife, my mom)My first best friend. When I was a little guy, I would always sit with grandmother at church, and then stand beside her and greet everyone as they left the building. The things I learned from her are priceless treasures to my heart. Grandmother was always wanting to learn more. The older I got the more I realized this and the more she would share with me. I remember going over to the house to just see what she was up to and talk. She loved serving God and others. She based her entire life to serving and helping my granddad with his ministries. After grandmother retired she wrote 4 books, wrote a number of songs, and just kept on trying to gain more knowledge. She was awesome!!!

So...did you learn something new about me? I figure maybe you have. This was fun for me to think about this stuff, hope it was for you. Now get back to work and stop reading this garbage.

till next time....