When it is time to build your game, how do you start?  Where do you start?  What plan do you put in place? Everyone does that when they decide to take it to the next level.   Michael begins his transformation from a boy who loves basketball too...... (the rest is up to him!).  Listen in and see how it goes.

Everyone gets to the point where they have to decide....Am I 'in' or 'out'.  Listen how Michael handles the moment of truth.  It lit the lamp for the next bunch of years...of blood, seat and tears.  

Do you know what "GottaGetHomeItis" is?
Learn what happens when you make the crazy decision to hit the road.
AAU tournaments take you far from home... Sometimes too far!

If you want to get to the next level, you've got to play AAU.  That was the deal back in the day.  It is even more 'the deal' today.  Check out Michael as he begins his playing days in 'the system'.  Hear what it was like in the 80's.  Do you think things have changed?

At the age of seven, Michael is faced with a life-changing illness.  He was diagnosed with juvenile scoliosis.  How does he handle it?  How does his family deal with the decade-long sentence that lies ahead.  

Have you ever considered keeping your son 'back' a year?
There are a ton of reasons to do it.   
Hear what happens to Mike as he repeats 5th grade.
A wold of opportunity opens up as life presents him with a tremendous opportunity. 

What happens when Michael gets cut from Travel Basketball?  
How does he respond?

More importantly, how does dad respond?
Is this enough to put a chip on his shoulder?
It is time to make sure hoops is fun. 
 It all brings back amazing memories of when it all started.  

Michael,

“We should write a book about this.”

It is hard to quantify how many times we said this to each other as your basketball journey unfolded.  Finally, in December of your senior year of high school, when my fingers started pounding the keyboard, something magical happened.  They could not stop.  I wrote a chapter the first week, two chapters the second week, then three and then four.  The stories, lessons and messages poured out of my memory and onto the pages of this memoire.  The final thirty-five chapters were written in thirty-five days.

I always said to you that we are defined not by our behavior when things are great, when we won the game or when we made the team.  We are defined by who we are and how we act when we are faced with our greatest challenges, when losing falls squarely on our shoulders and when we are rejected.  In between the covers of this book, in between the laughs, you and anyone who reads about our time together, will understand how the Legacy of Ball shapes and defines each of us.

Enjoy.  I love you!

Love Dad