Jason Evans is the publisher of the Arctic Sounder. - Arctic Sounder Photo / for Alaska Newspapers

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From the Publisher: Basketball, like many sports, teaches life lessons, the question is, are we listening?

January 6th 7:50 pm | Jason Evans

2011 is gone. We will never have that year again. When it's gone, it's gone. But over the last 365 days, I will always remember a handful of days. Like the day my daughter was born. I will relive that day over and over on the miracle of her coming into this world. That is what life is about, having extraordinary days throughout our lives. Days we will remember forever.

These young kids playing basketball are spending four years of high school preparing for the next four decades. They are learning life lessons that they will carry forward for a long time.

This past weekend in Kotzebue hundreds of people watched some amazing high school basketball games. Some games were decided by a single basket, other by a single second. It was definitely an extraordinary day for those playing. The only disappointing part of it was that there were winners and losers at the end of each game. This is what basketball teaches us, to make some great days and great memories that will motivate us to have more and more.

At the end of a couple games there was cheering and booing. It was the booing that didn't feel right to me. I truly thought both teams did great and either could have come out winning. There was room for great celebration for both sides and both teams should have been very proud of what had taken place.

We need to embrace positive memories, certainly. We need to make each other better by celebrating these times. Win or lose, we need to enjoy what took place and the great shots that were made, the fun of the trip, the time building new friendship on and off the court. There is no room for negativity.

Negativity is everywhere. Statewide news, national news, international news, the economy, the stock market, unemployment, gas prices, it is everywhere you look. You will find bad news if you are looking for it. I don't have time for that, and let's certainly not put it where it doesn't belong.

We need to all work at making not only ourselves better, but also the people around us better. Just as a basketball team is always better together. There is a saying that none of us is better than all of us. This is true off the court and in the crowd just the same as in the game.

It's a bit of a cliché to say they are all winners, but at the end of this tournament I truly felt that all those teams there were winners. They played hard. They struggled. They made mistakes and kept going. After all in life, there is never really a final score at the end of the game. There are just life lessons, extraordinary days and days we will remember forever.