It was almost tip-off and I could barely stay inside my seams. “Lights Out” just sang the National Anthem so beautifully that I got permanent goose bumps... again. While Mr. Kirkeby announces the other team all I can do is cringe. My determination for tonight and the rest of the season was to NOT make a fool of the Trojans, ANYMORE. The days of losing are done.

Not many people know this, but it’s all my fault; losing, missed shots, turnovers, me going out of bounds, everything. It’s all me. I just can’t help it! I get so excited for my team that I can’t control myself. It’s too exciting for a Spalding ball like me.

It all started in Chicago at the factory. I’m not the normal basketball, I wasn’t born from my parents. I was made in a factory; maybe thats why I’m so special. All my other basketball friends have no emotions and never talk. They just roll around like a marble at the cosmos. Spalding didn’t mean to give me feelings; I’m not sure they know what happened that afternoon.

Instead of pumping my body with regular air to fill me up, they gave me helium. And no, I did not float. From my understanding the helium reacted with my special rubber and gave me emotions. I was all alone with no other balls to understand me. I tried so hard to yell and get the workers to hear me! But alas I have no mouth. How silly could I be? How could they hear me with no mouth or voice box? I was embarrassed and ashamed. They didn’t mean to make me.

It took a while before they sent me off. The Spalding company wasn’t going to ship me because of the wrong air in me. After multiple tests they finally decided that I worked just as good as any other Spalding ball, and that I was going to be sent away. I had mixed feelings about this; I actually liked the factory. I liked the workers, the smell, seeing other balls, and hearing the workers talk. It was nice, but it didn’t cut it. I needed more; it didn’t feel like home.

When it came to ship-off day I was so excited that I just kept bouncing around in the back of the truck. I had no idea where I was going to end up. It took only a day and a half to get to my destination, but of course it felt like forever to me. I had been traded to many different trucks during this process. When I was taken out of my box I was pretty disappointed. I was in another factory. If I could be heartbroken, that’s what that feeling was like to me.

When I got to the other factory (in Minnesota from my understanding) I went through many more tests and inspections. They found me to be good enough to be a basketball, again. Why did they keep testing me? Obviously I was good enough to be a basketball if I was shipped here! By this time I was furious. This is when I first noticed I had trouble controlling my emotions. I could feel the air expanding and it felt like I was going to explode. Good thing I thought this emotion was foreign and stopped feeling that way to ponder over it. Not only was I the only ball with any emotion or feelings, but I couldn’t control myself either. Great.

The next day I was picked up and packed inside another box with a bunch of bubble wrap. I wasn’t as excited this time for this trip, because I just expected to end up at another factory. It took a few days to get to wherever I was going because I was being shipped individually by mail. I wasn’t in the Spalding truck anymore. I could feel the box being carried around and I was getting so anxious to see where I was at. But no, I was very tragically thrown down and left there, for a month.

During this time I got very lonely. I could hear people coming in and out but no one bothered to open that dang box up! I learned to be very observant during this time. I could infer that most of the people that went inside the room I was in had something to do with sports. Whether it was volleyball, football, or basketball.

Finally one day while I was in my unopened box, I heard someone come in. I didn’t think anything of it of course; because I had given up hope on being opened. I heard the footsteps getting closer and closer. I felt the box rumble as the mysterious person was trying to find their way inside. I’ve never been more nervous in my life. What if they didn’t like me? What if they didn’t want to use me?

It opened. I finally got a glimpse of light after a whole month. I couldn’t see at first. It was so blurry that it took a while for my sight to register. Before my eyes I saw a young male with brown hair. He picked me up and shook me around a little bit. I thought he was being kind of rough; but everything felt rough to me after being left in a box after a month. He started to dribble me around the room and it was so exciting! I could feel the carpet beneath me; finally something other than bubble wrap! But before I knew it we left that room. He continued to carry me down into a very very big open room with rows and rows of old wooden seats.

What was this place? I thought. Then I saw ANOTHER human, but this one had blonde hair and blue eyes.

“Hey Jackson, catch!” shouted the brown headed boy. He threw me straight to him without hesitation. That was the most exhilarating thing that happened to me since I had been made! I feel so bad for the young man who was holding me, for I was getting out of control. He tried bouncing me off the ground and I shot straight up in the air!

“Woah!” he exclaimed, “There’s a lot of air in this one!” What? What had I done? Did these people not like me? Would they send me back? I had no clue. I most certainly did NOT want to ruin my chances at this place! People are actually playing with me. I calmed down immediately. He passed me back to the man who found me, and it was like a fresh start to me. I stayed as calm as I could. He tried to bounce me just like the blonde, but this time I controlled myself.

“Eh, it’s not that bad Jackson. You just suck.” he laughed. Huh? What was going on? It wasn’t his fault I shot up into the air. It was my fault. I had been so confused as to why they thought it was them causing the problem and not me. I thought about it so hard that my rubber started to get sore.

But after that things went pretty good for me, mostly. Soon I was introduced to the coach Orvik. He ended up liking me so much that he wanted me to be a game ball! ME! How had I become so lucky? With the honor of being the game ball, I got the honor of playing with the Ortonville Trojans boys basketball team.

It was all usually fun and games (literally). But it wasn’t so fun when we lost. I have played close to a hundred games with the Trojan basketball team and I still couldn’t control my emotions enough to let them have more wins. How pathetic of me! Why, just a couple games ago James Nitz tried dunking it and I was so out of control that he couldn’t! I wouldn’t let him get a good grip on me because I was so sweaty and nervous. He even tried dunking it 3 more times and the same thing happened, one time he even missed. What a joke I am. I know he thought it was his fault after he missed those dunks; little does he know it was all me. A lot of stuff like that happened to me. The games would get close and I just would get so nervous that whenever the boys shot me I would just roll around the hoop. Sometimes I calmed down enough to go in, thank goodness! But at some I didn’t do so good. Against Wheaton we lost by one. Just one! I had let my team down.

I couldn’t let that get me down now though. Today was our first playoff game. I had to be in the zone. I couldn’t let the boys think that the loss is their fault today. I had to be at the top of my game so I could go into that orange rim.

As the announcing gets done and the refs picked me up to carry me to the center of the court, I try to get a sense of the court once more. I will NOT mess this up for the Trojans. Before I know it I’m being thrown up into the air and Riley smacks me into James’s hands. The whole game is just so back and forth that I can feel the air expanding inside of me. I try to play good with the Trojans and be their 6th man, but Henning is just getting to be really good at stealing me away.

Fast break after fast break after fast break is all this game is. I try so hard to push myself out of the hoop so Henning doesn’t score but I always end up pushing myself into the basket. I wish I wouldn’t have feelings. Then I could be a normal basketball and let the guys play a normal game, nothing fixed.
Theres 20.6 seconds left in the game and we’re down by 5. I can tell that the Trojans are starting to give up hope. I couldn’t let them down; for I am the reason Henning got half of their points. I had to really concentrate. A guard from the other team was holding me out of bounds ready to pass me inbound me to a teammate. He saw an open option and tried throwing it and I tried so hard on curving slightly to the right so that Jake could get close enough to tip it and steal it. IT WORKED! He ticked it just enough and James had started sprinting down the court, but I was so excited that I was rolling too fast for anyone to catch up! I put all my effort into slowing down and it was such a relief when James picked me up right before that orange out-of-bounds line with one hand and tossed me back inbounds. I saw a defender coming in so I quickly shifted my weight to the left and Jake caught me and put me in for a 2! And there was a foul call too! I HAD to go in the basket for this one. As the ref bounced me to Jake I concentrated so hard that I barely remember going in the basket.

Now it was 63-65 we were down by 2. 14.8 seconds left to go. We had to do something extraordinary. We needed another steal. Henning had managed to inbound the ball and they were running down the clock. I was trying so hard to be out of control so I would maybe bounce off of one of the opponent's feet; but they were constantly passing me back and forth between each other. 6 seconds to go. I was trying so hard to be as out of control as possible that I think it was too easy for them to control. 3.8 seconds to go. They passed me around the top of the key again and luckily I hit one of their hands wrong and James was able to steal it! 2.4 seconds to go and James is dribbling me so fast that I can barely keep up with him. He’s dribbling me so hard that it’s almost starting to hurt. 1 second to go and we’re almost there, were at the top of the key. I hadn’t thought about it but we needed a 3 to win; he quickly pulled up for a jumper 3-point shot and it all seemed like slow motion from there. The look on the crowds faces were priceless. They were all in awe. I snapped out of it and put all of my attention on that hoop, it was all down to me and that piece of metal. I had to go in.

Swish. 0 seconds to go and the Trojans had won the game! They were going to Morris for playoffs! All I could think of was thank goodness that MY mistakes didn’t cost them the game. It was such a relief when we won.
That was my last season as the Ortonville Trojan game ball. I couldn’t ask for a better one. But it’s not like I’m totally off the team; they still use me for practice. I’m usually the ball used for scrimmaging, and I can’t honestly say that my emotion problem has gotten much better... Although I also wouldn’t say that it’s gotten worse. Good thing for me, I’ll be here a long time. Good thing basketballs don’t die! All I have to worry about is not getting flat. :)