Dear Spotlight

Dear Spotlight,

 

I would’ve addressed you by your formal name, but I’m still not sure what it is. So for now, your PCTI name will have to suffice.

 

You’ve enjoyed an historic and unprecedented wave of popularity this offseason given the past several years of your superlative on-court play and your genuine likeability off the floor. This has made me simultaneously admire you and hate you for different reasons. While I thoroughly enjoyed playing with you in PCTI 7, I also have come to resent the fact that some members of the PCTI family favor your game over my own. Given that, I am writing you for a few different reasons:

 

First, congratulations on an excellent PCTI 7 performance and the justified accolades that came with it, namely some All-Tournament votes and general love amongst the PCTI brethren. Averaging better than 10PPG with 47% FG and 47% from deep puts you in an elite shooting category among PCTI marksmen. Your teammates also universally enjoyed playing with you and sang your praises as a teammate. In reality, there’s not a justifiable reason to be critical of anything you do in PCTI, outside of the obvious style choices that make even the most intrepid among us cringe. So, well done.

 

Second, your PCTI 8 experience is shaping up to be one of your best experiences ever. You’ll be playing with your favorite people, the QuadPod. You’ll be in a world-class city with great weather, terrific scenery, and a target-rich environment. You’re coming off an outstanding PCTI 7 performance last year that garnered your highest-ever draft position and the moniker “PCTI’s best shooter.” And you’ll be invaluable to your team as a necessary piece of the overall puzzle. Things are really looking up for you.

 

Third, and lastly, I am making it my personal mission in life to ruin your PCTI 8 experience. Every time I hear someone say “He is PCTI’s best shooter”, I boil inside, partly due to jealously and partly because I didn’t take care of business last year. As such, I have dedicated myself to training the same way I did heading into PCTI II. Unfortunately, this is bad news for you. I am lifting and working out 4 times per week. When I work out, I think of only you (no homo). You motivate me to get more reps into each set and to get stronger and better every day. So I should thank you for that. But, I won’t. I will only say that, like The Highlander, there can only be one. And I am doing everything I can right now to make sure that, come July, that guy is me, not you. So I’ll sign off by saying I’m looking forward to seeing you in a few months, but you may not feel the same way about me once we lock horns. Until then….

 

Yours in love and hate,

 

Jeff Sabin