Ballerific Relationships: The Triangle Offense of Love

Ladies, it’s time to suit up and head to the locker room! You don’t have to follow sports to know that March is a significant month for basketball. March Madness has almost every man in the world glued to the television and having endless guy talk about America’s second favorite sport. So if you were expecting the typical, “stand in front of the television naked to distract him” or “ways to win him over with your best game day recipes” article, this ain’t that! I wanted to develop a way for [us] to get into the game, and what better way to do it than to incorporate love and relationships.

Men live for this time of the year and can become a walking mascot for his favorite college team. You will be surprised to see just how intrigued he is about the game itself, just check out how his vocabulary switches up. You’d think this guy is an ESPN commentator the way he jumps right in to answer one of your silly questions about the game, yet can barely remember that you like lilies instead of roses.

All that sports lingo can be a tad bit overwhelming for you when all you were expecting to do was cuddle up with your lover while indulging in a full Netflix binge. Honey forget about it! Catch him in April, he’ll be back to his normal self.

These men even take March Madness to work with them. Yes girl, right on into the workplace. They even draw up betting pools in the office for the true gamblers and sports junkies. Oh, and if you think he’s up taking calls from another woman during ungodly hours of the night, save yourself the stress, it’s just him and his homies discussing updates on games, players and predicted wins.  If only they could be this interested in keeping your attention, right?

This game is far more mental than physical and wins highly depend on strategy. A team victory isn’t about how well a player knows his position, but how well the team relies on one another. Sounds a lot like relationships right? That’s when I discovered the golden strategy of basketball: The Triangle Offense. This two decade old secret still works today, and is the reason for so many wins when applied correctly.

It’s a philosophy, a collection of fundamentals and principles. Totally part of the player handbook that all of [us] so deeply want to know. The triangle is a “read and react” offense: he reads you and he reacts solely based off of your actions. They all have thoughts and concerns about how to play the game right, yet they’ll never be vocal about this part of the game because it creates doubt, and that alone scares him shitless. His whole goal is to be undefeated by you while keeping all of his players in rotation, just in case you forget your position. Don’t be so concerned with his roster just yet, let’s focus on the most important thing: knowing your game.

Much like one-on-one, in relationships this is a two man game and both of you are fighting for MVP. Whether he’s a rookie (new bae) or your starting player (old work), you must be aware that this guy has been working on his jump shot. No matter how many shots he may miss, he’s going to find a way to score points with you. He plays a better game when you play it back, but too much hardball can be bad if the passive/aggressive approach has been your means of defense then you  may find yourself on apart of the loosing team or even warming up the bench.

Here’s what I mean: Guys almost drive themselves crazy trying to figure us out. They want to know why we don’t just tell them what we want and why in the hell do we expect them to figure it out. They want to know why some women are so contradicting when it comes to their feelings. They want to know why dating has to be so complex. They don’t understand why our actions don’t follow up with what we verbalize to them. They want to know why in the hell we stop calling and fall off of the face of the earth after sex, and why isn’t there any growth when she says she wants to build? Whoa is right!

You may be thinking to yourself “how can he ever compare what we have to a damn game?” It’s simple. The one ability that men  have over women is being more strategic, knowing the exact approach to take at the right moment. They know how to play the game with just enough amount of emotion to cross you over and trip you up so pay attention! As the legendary MJ said that there is no “I” in team but there is an “I” in win. So learn his game and learn it well.