and BOOM goes the dynamite

Have you ever seen that youtube video? There's a rookie news anchor on some local TV station, and he's stuck doing the sports report. The poor guy is so nervous and, top of that, has no idea what he's doing. He gets so mixed up and stays about two or three plays behind the entire time, regardless of what sport is showing on the screen. It gets to a basketball game, and he's resorted to simply mumbling about the game. A player steals the ball and runs down court with it, scores, and the newscaster has his redeeming moment: "...and BOOM goes the dynamite." Its hilarious...look it up on youtube if you want a good laugh!

Today, my students, the little fourth graders, played the big old fifth graders in an intramural basketball game. A game that the majority of the school ended up coming to watch. My kids were so nervous! They are not an athletic group at all. That's how I relate to them so well...haha...but really.

The kids talked about the game all day, and we even stopped science class a few minutes early so that I could give them a pep talk. The fifth grade students outnumber them, and are really a good four to six inches taller than my kids. I guess there's a magical growth spurt between fourth and fifth grade? Either way, my kids went in with a great attitude. They were playing to have fun, mainly because they understood that it would be really hard for them to win.

The game started, and although they tried their absolute best, their prediction was correct. Fifth grade scored 5 or 6 points easily within the first five-minute half of the game. My students that had been on the court sat down, sweating, and got ready to cheer on the other half of our class that was about to go in.

"Get in their faces...no LITERALLY" was my personal favorite cheer.

The rest of my class ran on the court at the whistle, this portion having an even bigger height difference than the first half of the game did. They hustled and ran and tried their best to block the big kids. And then, it happened.

In a sheer moment of beauty, the shortest (and most athletic) girl in our class ran down the court with the ball. She barreled towards the tallest fifth grade boy, coming eye level with his rib cage, and tossed the ball up in the air with all of her might as he started swinging and waving his arms. Another girl in my class happened to have her hands up in the air at that exact moment, and by the grace of God, the ball landed in her hands. She swung around, hardly having time to take into account where the goal was, and shot the ball.

The crowd fell silent, seeing as how this was only the second or third shot actually made by my students. Time slowed, and...

BOOM goes the dynamite.

It was beautiful. Nothing but net. One goal for Mrs. Blair's class...and about 9 or 10 for fifth grade. My students spent the rest of the afternoon talking about that one shot, though. I was so proud of them!

Its the stuff movies are made of. Just wait for it, coming to a theater near you. :)

Have a great weekend, everybody!