The Zen of Basketball

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Sports Saturday 

Other than the fact that all the faces in the NCAA men’s final four are familiar—I believe that three of the final four teams have won multiple national championships—it’s been a good tournament. Here’s a strangely alluring poem about basketball players who are in the zone. I call on readers to help me interpret it.

The poem begins with images of desperation and violence but transitions into Zen Buddhist peace. These players are so tuned in that they practice non-resistance as a defense strategy. And it’s true that, upon occasion, players will miss an easy layup when the contact they expect never comes.

I’m afraid I don’t know who Sardria Char is but I enjoy how he receives a rebound like one of life’s blessings, opening his hands in praise. And how Gandhi completes the fast break with the ball going through the net “like a good soul coming into eternity.”

To play well, the poem tells us, be at peace with yourself. The rest will follow.

New World In The Morning

By Norman German

Somewhere on the outskirts
of a southeast Texas town
where you burn your neighbor’s house
for revenge
and then your own for insurance money
to leave the county
the Zen Buddhist basketball team
is practicing for its next game.

Friday night on the court,
at peace with themselves,
the fans, the refs, and other players,
they make their baskets every time
and never trip their opponents on fast breaks
or pull their shorts down on jump shots.

Flowing to the rival end of the court
they politely step aside as the Cobras’
star player drives for a layup and,
having nothing to fight for, misses.

Waiting underneath, docile as a doe,
Sardria Char opens his hands
like a baby bird’s mouth, open in praise.
Avoiding the karma-disturbing thuds of a dribble,
he takes the ball and hands off to Krishna,
who passes to Gandhi sitting cross-legged
and sleepy-eyed under the home town hoop.
The ball rises in a perfect, silent curve.
Never touching the rim, it swishes through the net
like a good soul coming into being.

Tonight they subdue with serenity.
Next year they take the title.

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