Publisher's Synopsis
This is not a book about basketball or sports in general. It is a book about life. Basketball, and other sports provide a lot of good life lessons, but there is a difference between a game that is part of life and life itself. When I made a mistake in a game, I was always able to go back and reflect on what I did wrong, I had video to look at so I could see exactly what happened, what my opponent did, what I did and what I could have done better and hopefully will do better the next time I am faced with a similar situation. Unfortunately, in life, we make decisions that can affect our lives and the lives of other people forever. There is no going back to correct our mistakes, but there is plenty of video replay on social media, in the memories of those we hurt and in our own minds as we try to figure out what went wrong and answer the question: NOW WHAT?There is a lot about basketball in this book, but that is because basketball is how I made a living for most of my adult life. The real subject of this book, however, is how to recover from and avoid making bad decisions, decisions that hurt the people you love and hurt you, your relationships with others and with God. It is a book about love and mercy, but it is also about a very hard and painful journey, my journey and how I finally learned to stop being selfish and to THINK FIRST before making decisions. I hope it will help you learn to THINK FIRST also before you do as much damage to yourself and others as I have done. But it is also a book about hope, because as long as you are breathing, God has a purpose for you in this life.In the end, every decision is a gamble. The question is whether it is a good risk or a bad risk, whether the reward is worth risking the consequences of losing. Going all-in for God, for others, for a noble cause is worth the risk, but how do you know and how do you recover from the times you foolishly and selfishly gambled and lost? That too is why I wrote this book. Whether you have a son or daughter that is a big-time athlete, or you are that athlete yourself, or maybe you are not an athlete at all, but your life is on the edge or already over the edge and you feel hopeless, either way, this book is for you. You are also going to read a lot about being on a journey. Let me be clear. This journey is not a vacation. My own journey has been filled with pain. One reason for writing this book is to spare others some of the pain I have experienced, to encourage people to THINK FIRST before making decisions, to learn the difference between a gamble that is worth it and a gamble that is foolish. But no one can avoid some pain in this journey of life. Some people might judge me, might not like me because of what they have read about me, but this book is not about ME. It is about who I can help by honestly sharing my ups and downs. To do anything less than be totally honest is to be selfish.
