White people can ball - a tale from the streets of Atlanta

[hepcat]

I just read a thread about a basketball game ya'll had, but I felt my story deserved its own thread.

So this weekend I was in Atlanta playing a show with my band. Our lead singer is a good friend of mine, and he is black. His step-father lives down in Atlanta and since he has a fragmented family, I was happy to take him to see him for awhile. He lives in a totally black area of Atlanta. Just as I was getting out of the car, I got a dirty "Who is this white asshole" look from his dad. I was literally the only white person around. Kids out on the street were like "You don't see many white people around here!" Even my friend's little step sister seemed scared of me. After we left, he told me she had come up to him and said "Is that white person your FRIEND?" He said he told her "Yea, one of my best!" He said she seemed amazed that it was POSSIBLE to have a friend like that.

Amazing.

Anyways, the whole point of this thread is to let everyone know what a straight balla I am. There was a pickup game of 21 out on the street with some guys from the neighborhood. Some kids in their teens, and a few fathers, including my friends step-father. It started out pretty laid back, with little defense and a lot of crazy show-boating shots.

But as we got into it, the game got serious real fast. All of a sudden I had a huge dude sticking to me like glue every time I touched the ball. But I got some good looks and made baskets. Lots of pump fakes and spin moves. But the real reason I won that game of 21 is, I can shoot. After you make a basket, you get to take a free shot from the top of the street. Three times you make it, then you gotta move. I capitalized on that rule every time. Trust me, they did NOT want me to win.

After the game, I had won their respect. Later on when we left, that hard glare I got from his step-dad turned into a hug and a "Come back real soon" pat on the back. Some of the kids around the neighborhood were calling me Larry Bird. It was so funny. I had a great time.

But I'm just letting everyone know that white people CAN ball. Thank you.