Daddy The Basketball Star?

This past week, my daughters watched me play in my rec basketball league championship.  It was the first time they'd come to one of my games.  Unfortunately, we lost a close one 62-58.  But to add insult to injury, despite the fact that I actually played a pretty decent game (about 15 points, 4 or 5 steals, half a dozen blocks), all the girls could talk about after the game was how much better the other team's "really good guy" was than daddy.

"Daddy, did your team win?" 

"No.  It was a really close game, but we lost by just a little bit."

"Oh.  That's ok.  Did the other team have the Really Good Guy?"

"The Really Good Guy?"

"Yeah.  The guy who made a lot of shoots."  [He did have at least half their points.]

"Yep.  The other team had the Really Good Guy."

"I bet that's why they won.  Because they had the Really Good Guy.  I bet he practices every day, that's why he's so good.  You don't practice every day daddy."

"No.  No, I don't."

"Maybe if you practiced every day, you could be good like the Really Good Guy." 

"Maybe."

"Can we practice basketball when we get home so you can get really good too?"

"If you insist." 

"Ok daddy.  You need to practice every day, ok?"

"Ok."

Kids can be pretty humbling sometimes.  But at least all our lecturing about the importance of practicing to get really good at something seems to be making an impact.