FOR LOVE OF THE GAME

Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2006 | 7:11 a.m.

Nothing cuts through the echoing din of a gymnasium quite like the shout of a parent with a kid in the game.

"All right, all right baby! Good rebound!" Glinda Crane shouts to her son, Clark High School senior James Wynes.

Crane was taking in her son's game against Desert Pines on a recent Friday evening and doing her best to cheer on the whole squad. When a player who sees most of the game from bench level gets put in, Crane shouts, "All right, Smiley, let's get some points out here! Give Smiley the ball, give Smiley the ball! All right, Smiley, take it!"

"Box out! You gotta box 'em out!" yells Crane, herself a former basketball player and 1983 graduate of Western High School.

"I haven't played for a little while now. I used to play my oldest son. When he was 13 he beat me, so I quit playing," she said, but with athletic pride added, "Actually, I quit on him. It was 6 to 6 and I knew I couldn't beat him and I wasn't going to get a lucky shot.

"I just love it out here. I love basketball. And seeing my son play makes it even nicer." sam.morris@lasvegassun.com