Bad-Luck Basketball (5 page)

“Hope you've been practicing your free throws,” Drew said as Brandon stepped to the line.

Brandon thought back to the day he'd practiced at the park near his house. He remembered his basketball going wild and getting run over.

I can't think about that now
, Brandon told himself. Staring at the hoop in front of him, he cleared his head, dribbled twice, and popped the shot up. The ball sank cleanly through the hoop.

The Clovers' fans cheered wildly. As they did, Brandon glanced up at the scoreboard. 65-65.

Tie game.

There were only two seconds left. If his last shot went in, the Clovers would win the game. If he missed and the game went into overtime, he wasn't sure how well the Clovers would be able hold on. They were playing great, but they were exhausted tired. Could they keep it going?

Brandon took the ball for his next shot.
Never mind
, he thought.
With a little luck, I'll make this.

At the thought of luck, Brandon cringed a little.
There's no such thing as luck
, he told himself.
There's hard work, practice, and most of all teamwork. Luck has nothing to do with it.

Brandon dribbled the ball twice, looked up, and fired away.

The ball sailed toward the net in a nice, clean arc and tapped the backboard and the back of the rim. It rolled around the metal circle, threatening to toilet-bowl and drop off the side.

Brandon held his breath. Slowly, the ball dropped into the net.

The entire gym erupted in a mixture of cheers and shouts of disbelief. Brandon couldn't believe it. The game was over. The Chesterfield Clovers had won!

* * *

After the team celebrated, high fived, and recounted their incredible night, everyone hit the locker room. They were all smiles, especially Coach Hanson, who couldn't stop telling them how proud he was.

Brandon was ecstatic and relieved. It seemed like any idea his teammates had about him being bad luck was
finally
gone for good.

After he'd gotten changed, Brandon looked into the mirror. It was weird to look at himself as part of a team advancing in the play-offs.
But weird in the best possible way
, he thought.

Brandon turned to and headed back to his locker to grab his stuff. The team was due to get on the replacement bus sent to pick them up soon. But he'd only taken two steps when a loud crash exploded behind him. Turning to look behind him, Brandon saw that the mirror above sink had come loose. It was smashed to pieces on the floor.

“Oh, wow,” Kevin said, peeking in from the rows of lockers. He shook his head. “You know that's seven years bad luck, right?”

“Nah,” Brandon said. “I don't believe in that stuff and neither do you. In fact, throw those smelly socks in the trash, would you?”

Thomas Kingsley Troupe has written more than 30 children's books. His book
Legend of the Werewolf
(Picture Window Books, 2011) received a bronze medal for the Moonbeam Children's Book Award. Thomas lives in Woodbury, Minnesota with his wife and two young boys.

advantage
(ad-VAN-tij)—something that helps you or is useful to you

challenge
(CHAL-uhnj)—something difficult that requires extra work or effort to do

coincidence
(koh-IN-si-duhnss)—a chance happening or meeting

curse
(KURSS)—an evil spell intended to harm someone

fate
(FAYT)—the force that some people believe controls events and decides what happens to people

intercept
(in-tur-SEPT)—to stop the movement of someone or something

strategy
(STRAT-uh-jee)—a clever plan for winning a battle or achieving a goal

superstition
(soo-pur-STI-shuhn)—a belief that some action not connected to a future event can influence the outcome of the event

1. Do you believe in superstitions? Why or why not? Talk about the reasoning behind your answer.
   
2. Do you think Kevin was treating Brandon fairly? Explain your answer.
   
3. Was Brandon right to want to skip his team's game? Why or why not? Talk about what you would have done if you were in his position.
   

1. Do you have any superstitions you believe in? Write a paragraph describing what they are and why they're important to you.
   
2. What happens after this book ends? Write a chapter that continues the story.
   
3. Write about a time you had to make a difficult decision like Brandon did. What did you do? How did you feel?
   

Not even famous players are immune to basketball superstitions. In fact, many of basketball's most famous stars have superstitions of their own.

While there's no proof that superstitions actually help or hurt a basketball game, that doesn't stop players and fans from believing in them. Some of the most common basketball superstitions are:

• The last person to shoot a basket during the warm up will have good luck in the game.
  
• Wiping the soles of your shoes before hitting the court will bring good luck.
  
• Make sure to bounce the ball once before shooting a free throw.
  

After leading the North Carolina Tar Heels to a national championship in 1982,
Michael Jordan
believed that the shorts he played in were lucky. As a result, he wore his blue North Carolina practice shorts beneath his uniform for his entire NBA career.

LeBron James
must throw chalk up in the air and clap his hands before a game tip-off. He's also known to have a unique, secret handshake for each player on his team that must be performed before he takes the court.

Jason Terry
, a shooting guard for the Brooklyn Nets, insists on sleeping in a pair of his opponents' shorts the night before a game.

The Boston Celtics
have a team superstition: the entire team must eat a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich together an hour before a game.

Toronto Raptors player
Rasual Butler
must get dressed from left to right before every NBA game he plays and take exactly five sips of water before entering a game.

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Jake Maddox JV books are published by Stone Arch Books
A Capstone Imprint
1710 Roe Crest Drive
North Mankato, Minnesota 56003
www.capstonepub.com

Copyright © 2015 by Stone Arch Books

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maddox, Jake, author.
Bad-luck basketball / by Jake Maddox ; text by Thomas Kingsley Troupe ; illustrated by Mike Ray.
pages cm. -- (Jake Maddox JV)
Summary: Brandon's junior high school basketball team is struggling to make the play-offs, and Brandon is starting to feel that his bad luck is dragging them down--and when their bus breaks down on the way to the big game, Brandon has to turn luck into opportunity.
ISBN 978-1-4342-9156-1 (library binding)
ISBN 978-1-4342-9160-8 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4965-0067-0 (eBook PDF)
ISBN 978-1-4965-0309-1 (eBook)
1. Basketball stories. 2. Fortune--Juvenile fiction. 3. Self-confidence--Juvenile fiction. 4. Teamwork (Sports)--Juvenile fiction. [1. Basketball--Fiction. 2. Luck--Fiction. 3. Self-confidence--Fiction. 4. Teamwork (Sports)--Fiction.] I. Troupe, Thomas Kingsley, author. II. Ray, Mike (Illustrator), illustrator. III. Title.
PZ7.M25643Bae 2014
813.6--dc23
2013046787

Art Director: Heather Kindseth
Designer: Veronica Scott
Production Specialist: Jennifer Walker

Photo Credits:
Shutterstock: Carlos E. Santa Maria, cover; 1, Piotr Krzeslak, chapter openings; Zhuang Mu, cover (background)
Design Elements: Shutterstock