Just some thoughts:
PALMING THE BALL
Yesterday I went with my wife to the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show at the Nashville Fairgrounds. (Nice guy, huh?)
Well, not necessarily my favorite thing to do but ok. When we got there we did one of them “divide and conquer” things. Meaning she went her way, I went mine. She to go pet the flowers, me to find a cup of coffee. Over the nearly fifty-five years of marriage I have found that divide and conquer has merit in many areas.
As I was wandering around looking for that coffee outlet I heard a lady say, “I don’t know why they let them get away with palming the ball like they now do.” Wow. Bingo my ears stood up more than a beagle hearing their name called on hunting day. A woman using basketball language and not just any language but “palming the ball” language.
I looked, saw a lady and what I came to find out was her husband talking with one of the vendors. Then I heard her say, “I went to Heritage High School.” Now I cannot take it any longer.
I walked up to the couple and said, “Excuse me, but have you ever heard of Allen County War Memorial Coliseum? And I bet you are from Indiana, near Ft.Wayne, Indiana, right.?” Looking kinda half cockeyed she said, “Yea, but how’d you know?” “Lady first of all any lady that knows what palming the ball is has to be from a place where that game was played with more than just a passing interest.”

From there the conversation took off. Yes, they were from Indiana. The fella says “We were there long before they had this class stuff they have now, that has now ruined the interest that once was there. ” Now I know they were truly Hoosiers. They went on to say “Hey our high school basketball sectional was played in that placed, War Memorial.”
I loved it. A lady talking about “palming the ball.” Her words, “They shouldn’t let them get away with that now, but they do all the time.” I bet if I had asked the lady she could have explained to me what a zone defense was, maybe even a 1-2-2 or 2-3 zone.
I loved it. Lady you are spot on.
(Palming the Ball–Where a player puts their palm under the ball and then turns the ball over rather than dribble the ball with the hand on top of the ball.)
I wandered off to find that coffee with a bit of a spring in my step. A lady, palming the ball, they shouldn’t let them do that, when there was no class system and Allen Memorial.
Every now and then man sees a bit of hope.
=========================================February 29, 2020
Keep on,
Larry Adamson
===================================================