I watched the NCAA Basketball Tournament over the last few weeks. It is fun if you know just a little about the different teams. “Upsets” make it interesting.
I couldn’t help thinking about the “zone”. This a place where people go when things always go right. It is a place where amazing things happen. If you get in this zone, personal confidence is sky high. You don’t want it to end.
Michael Jordon was playing in an NBA Championship game in the 90’s and he was in a zone. He made an impossible twisting basket and on his way up the court to play defense, he shrugged his shoulders and had a whimsical grin as if to say “when you are hot, you’re hot”. He had found the zone. He had an amazing game.
I remember a practice basketball game when I was a senior in high school. The seniors were playing all the other aspiring undergraduate students. I made my first basket by pulling it out of my left ear (or some other difficult place) and I can still see the shot ripping the net. And that was the way it went. Shot after shot after shot. Give me the ball. It was going down baby. I was in the zone. I could do no wrong. And then? And then the game was over. The spell disappeared and I was back to normal. But it was magical.
I’ve been in the zone on the golf course where it just feels like every shot is going where you want. Putts go in. Chips are amazing. And then it ends.
I’m sure everybody reading this can think of situations where things were going so well, you didn’t want it to end. Music. Sports. Dance. Romance. Oops, I’m not sure romance applies. For romance, stupor might be more appropriate. You get the idea.
In the basketball game last night, North Carolina beat Illinois. The big man, Sean May for North Carolina made 10 out of 11 basket attempts. He rebounded. He blocked shots. He was in the zone. It was also his birthday. Imagine being in a zone on your birthday.
My sincere wish is that you all experience the “zone”. I hope it happens for long periods of time and often. You can not plan it. You can only recognize it when it occurs. You can keep putting yourself in situations where the zone might occur.
The zone be with you!
Love,
Dad