more on b-ball
One of my favorite things when playing basketball is to defy expectations. Like when the hoodrats in Waco said in disbelief, "That dude from the Monkeys is schooling you!" Or when I hit a turnaround fadeaway to seal a Hoop-it-up game and Kenny's friend Rusty (?) looked at me like I'd just shot fireballs out of my ass. My favorite thing, however, is to do that on D.
My freshman year at Baylor there was a guy in my dorm that I played a lot of ball with. He was around 6'4", high school all star, a baller. He used to get really pissed trying to take me off the dribble because about 50% of the time I'd pick his pocket. One game I took it from him four straight possessions. (Kind of like Sammy Robles did to me in middle school dribbling drills one day.)
He hated it because he was an obvious athlete and I was this slow scrawny white dude. His pride told him he should be able to do whatever he wanted against me.
On Saturdays during the offseason the Baylor football players would always show up at the gym for pickup games. I shocked the hell out of them. I had long hair, weighed a buck-sixty at 6'1", and wore Chuck Taylors. By the end of the day they were calling me Pistol Pete. The peak of the day came when the starting cornerback was bringing the ball up the court. I moved to pick him up just before half-court. He gave me a dismissive sneer and went to cross me over. He's a D1 athlete (at Baylor, but still), so he figures he'll blow by me and throw down a free dunk. At least that's what he figured until I stole his candy and went the other way all alone. He tried to call a foul to keep his pride but his boys started clowning him.
The point of all this rambling is not that I think I was ever more than a decent basketball player, but that I was good enough to surprise people who were legit athletes. Two days ago I did it again to this pasty-white red-headed guy who looked like an Irish version of Roy. He was clearly the best athlete on the floor and had obvious game. He gave me the same dismissive sneer that the safety had years ago, and as he faked the crossover with a dip of his shoulder I picked his pocket like Chicago May (but without the prostitution).
I think I'm officially hooked again. I'm thinking of skipping a lecture today so that I can shoot around to get warm before the lunch-hour pick-up games start.
i\\\'ve definitely made it over the \\\"basketball peak\\\" and am now coasting downhill. although i have reached my goal of being able to dunk as a 30 year old. i played in the stj alumni game over christmas. in that game, i dunked on a kid who was probably 5\\\'6\\\" (he was a guard, don\\\'t really know why he went up with me). after the game, i was joking with my brother and said i dunked on a kid half my age...then the sobering reality that he was literally about half my age hit and it was kind of depressing.
time flies. (Comment this)
Llogg: I wish I could have the same opinion about myself and basketball. We probably spend about equal time practicing, but I was HORRIBLE. The more time that passes the less my opinion of my prime basketball years becomes. In high school (my prime) I was 5\\\\\\\'8\\\\\\\" on a good day and never weighed more than 120. But I didn\\\\\\\'t even overcome like you; I just plain sucked. It kills me, absolutely kills me to think of what else we could have used that time for. We could have been the fucking Van Halen brothers. (Comment this)