TSJ just looked like a man who was celebrating being alive. Just being back in the floor with his buddies. The joy on his face any number of times made my heart glad
Those of us here who are roundballers play because we love it. All players at any level simply love this game... thatās why we are players (somewhere). Thatās why we devote a good portion of our lives to this pageant of energy and dedication and talent.
And so we are not used to it (nor do we like it) when something ā or someone ā takes away our ability to play the game we love. Sometimes itās injury that sidelines us. Or maybe some unforeseen personal issue.
And we most certainly donāt plan on having some social incident or accusation suddenly take away our ability to play that game we love. In the blink of an eye.
No one wants to have our joy at playing this game taken away from us. And for Shannon... when he was stopped in that blink of eye from taking the court with his guys and flashing the great talent that he has... this cut into him at a deep level. The abruptness. The uncertainty. And perhaps, the unfairness.
And so when he was restored back to his Game and His Guys and his ability to manifest his great gift of ball talent... it was like being born anew. You come back appreciating this game in a way that you never had to ā or knew ā before. And as I said... being sidelined by injury creates that same void in your heart and sense of powerless to outside forces that you didnāt know you were so vulnerable to. And you just feel so, so good again. The Universe just makes sense again to you and things have been put right.
Weāll all see where this leads in this amazing Illini season. But today there is a young man who learned something about this game... and about himself... that he did not know before.
This may not have been winning a National Championship. But I can tell you it is the closest thing yet to feeling that kind of joy.. if only for one cold afternoon in the dead of Winter.
Replacing heartache with joy. And reconnection to Game, Team, and self.