Free Lessons

From free throws

“It’s so ridiculous to see a golfer with a one-foot putt and everybody is saying, “shhhhh” and not moving a muscle. Then we allow nineteen-year-old kids to face a game-deciding free throw with seventeen thousand people yelling.” -Coach Al McGuire

As the days grow shorter and the leaves begin to crunch beneath our feet, the excitement for another season of basketball begins to grow. In a blatant disregard for objectivity, I’d have to say no other sport prepares you for life like the game of basketball. Of course, I know that other sports most likely do just as fine of a job, but my bias remains.

I owe so much to the game. It has given me more than I can ever give back, and with each passing year, my appreciation for its impact on my life grows. No doubt to even scratch the surface of this topic I’d have to write thousands of words, and, since The Empathetic Fox prides itself on brevity, this week’s writing won’t be a dissertation, but rather, a narrow focus on one aspect of the game, free throws.

Over the course of my playing career, from grade school through college, nothing proved to be as mentally trying as the charity stripe. The folks that compare it to putting in golf obviously have never had the privilege of shooting a second half one-and-one with the game on the line. Lots can be gleaned from the pressure of shooting from fifteen feet away with no one contesting.

1. Life isn’t always fair. Sometimes you get the call, sometimes you don’t. It’s really as simple as that. You may get rewarded for being willing to take a hard hit with a pair of free shots, or the referee may see it differently from you and not blow the whistle. Very cut and dry.

2. Routines and consistency make all the difference. Over the years there have been some strange routines players go through before shooting a free throw. Rick Barry was renowned for his underhand “granny-style” shot. Dirk Novitski would hum David Hasselhoff’s German hit “Looking for Freedom” before his free throw offer. There were even players that included blowing kisses (Jason Kidd) and waving (Jeff Hornacek) to their kids watching at home. The take-away—there is no wrong way of doing something so long as it works.

3. Some people will go to great lengths to make sure you fail. As a player I used to love shooting free throws while being taunted by the other student section. There were those that would make fun of my physical appearance or try to distract me by screaming anything and everything at the point of releasing a shot.

   My favorite without a doubt was a rather creative Central Connecticut State University student that somehow got his hands on a Saint Francis Men’s Basketball Media Guide for the 1999-2000 season. There were always fun facts about each player and this ingenious young man would shout out personal things right before the ball left someone’s fingertips in order to cause a miss. In a very close game, I was fouled with a few minutes remaining and shooting the front end of one-and-one. Just as I was coming out of my knee bend to shoot the ball, he yelled out, “I love your Aunt Jan’s baked ham too!!!!!” I let out a laugh as the ball left my hands and fortunately made the shot. If you are going to try to distract someone, might as well be inventive and classy about it.

4. Don’t let the last one affect the next one. In a world full of easier said than done moments, making a second free throw after missing the first can be mentally arduous. If you miss two then you could really be in trouble from a poise stand point. You essentially get inside your own head and your confidence is breached like the walls of a Lilliputian castle. Best strategy—step away from the line after a miss and start over. Can’t let the last shot affect the next shot.

5. Prepare to succeed. There is something magical about those moments as a kid when you are all alone at a hoop dreaming of being down one point, getting fouled, and then hitting two huge free throws to win the game. I’d put myself in that scenario thousands of times against the likes of St. Angela’s, St. Ed’s, or Robert Morris. No scene in movie history sums up that moment better than this one from the movie Hoosiers.

   The most beautiful part of that scene is not that Ollie made both shots, but the encouragement he got from his teammate Merle before each one. That’s what good teammates do, they encourage and support each other. The game of basketball only allows five players at a time on the floor and only one person to possess the ball. Character is certainly defined by how those without the ball or on the bench support those with the ball in their hands.

Sadly, I never had the real-life opportunity to win a game at the free throw line. Some might say all that dreaming was for naught, but I would have to disagree. Benjamin Franklin is credited with the aphorism, “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.” No doubt I was more than prepared for the moment to arrive! Lucky for my opponents, it never did because I always won the imaginary game, even if it took a couple of tries.

-Tommy O’Sionnach