The Highest Shot

by guest writer daniel stern

It was May 20th , 2005, but it still feels like it was yesterday. A lot happened in those days. People walked around dancing like lunatics to music that came from enormous devices called I-Pods. People would sometimes have to walk three blocks just to get a cup of Starbucks coffee, and three men set out to search their souls on the outdoor basketball courts of Waluga Junior High.

You can learn a lot about your soul when you stand on an expanse of asphalt and pledge your heart to sending a ball through a netless hoop.   Gone is the 'thwipffsh' of a perfectly lofted ball. Only the mentally tough can juggle the notion that a dead eyed swish will literally be an air ball.

Toledo Jones innocently brought his shiny blue and yellow basketball last Friday night as a means to letting some steam off before the weekend.

He had no idea the epic quest of mental and physical anguish that would shortly ensue.

He was joined by Ambi Burek and Steve Berbwire. The trio harmlessly shot baskets unenthusiastically for an hour, before something in the atmosphere changed.

Burek hoisted the ball countless feet into the air, in tempered anticipation of getting it close to the hoop.

Jones and Berbwire instantly perceived the shift in mental climate and joined Burek in lofting the ball as high as they could into the air.

What started off as a joke to stave off boredom, turned into a frantic showdown with a hoop as stubborn as a toddler being offered broccoli.

With the intensity of their focus, five minutes soon evolved into an hour.

The three accidental competitors had three different motivations.

"I'm all about team," said Berbwire, "I was going to support everyone equally until the mission was accomplished. Then we could finally eat some dinner."

"I want to add this to my personal list of athletic triumphs," said Burek.   "I have my share of full court shots, but to register a full arc shot...   Spectacular."

"I just wanted to see it happen," said Jones distantly.

After two hours of obsessive hoisting, arms and minds were reaching their breaking points.

"No matter how much it hurt or how long we had been at it, there was still a magical hope in the spare seconds before the ball left your hand," Jones commented.

When their minds started to drag and thoughts of impossibility were discussed, Berbwire lightened the mood by attaching a statement to each of his tosses, such as "If I make this I will stuff that 7-year old into that trash can," or "Oooohhgralaparacka!"

The men laughed as they burned with rage inside at not being able to complete the task.

"You get it close three times in a row, only to have your fourth throw end up in the middle of a T-ball game," Burek lamented.

At one point Jones said that he would forgo speaking for the next hour if someone made the shot. The next ten minutes featured very concerted efforts on the part of his two compatriots...

Eventually someone made the shot. Three hours of an evening and the better part of three souls had been consumed in the chase. The men were left battered and broken, hoping that perhaps a glory would emerge as the story was retold over the years. Because there was certainly nothing glorious about the sunken feeling the three men walked away with.

I guess sometimes in life, the intensity of the pursuit itself raises the value of the ultimate triumph. If Burek had made his first shot, would the resulting three hours of had the same mesmerizing effect, or even been necessary?   Sometimes our dreams are tied to our attempts to recreate the past.

We are always a small dream away from the next great quest.

What quests have you been on? Let us know about your dreams in our message boards!