A Day of Basketball

I won’t dwell on it because there are many other things I’d like to write about tonight, but I used my my lunch break to stand in line for a Wii…and I got one! I didn’t make the connection between the UPS truck in the store parking lot and the arrival of new consoles, but the UPS man exited the store just as I walked in. Inside were seven customers standing in line and the clerk was cutting open three cardboard boxes containing the nine systems delivered. So, anyway, I got the eighth of nine. Not bad. Haven’t touched the thing yet; it has been in my car all day and I’m typing from Happy Donut. However, I will be getting a little bit of Wii Sports tonight, for sure.

It looks like I’m going to be the girls’ basketball coach at the middle school once January rolls around. Who knows? Could be an absolutely hilarious proposition or maybe coaching will be the perfect thing for me (and for the team, even!). The boys just began their games, so I went to the first home game yesterday. Junior high basketball, man. The games were against Centerville. The 7th grade team got annihilated up and down. The 8th grade team got annihilated for the first quarter, evened the score once Centerville brought in their subs, and proceeded to get annihilated during the second half. Even though my school was losing, I was still totally impressed by the ball-handling skills of the players (if not the passing, shooting and movement they showed) and it was totally entertaining. So entertaining, in fact, that immediately afterward, I drove home, changed my clothes and drove out to the courts to play some pickup. More on pickup in a bit. Then over to the bar where I had my first pear cider (or was it my second? It looked pretty familiar) and watched the Warriors put down the Houston Rockets on TV. It was a basketball-filled, and entirely enjoyable evening.

I played pickup tonight, too. I’m so out of shape it’s not funny, but I’ve found that I usually play very well during my first game of the night and then drop off quickly as I get tired. It’s not so much out of breath tired as it is aching muscles tired, but I think the solution is to just keep playing and to keep getting stronger. This afternoon, though, I took a fast break layup to the rack against two defenders and hit it. One of my teammates shouted out “Baron Davis!” Also, I made some excellent defensive plays that drew some encouragement from teammates. Of course, I had 50 million turnovers as well, but I’m focusing on the exciting plays because they got the team pulling for each other and that’s something I really like about pickup. A bunch of people just out there, some have played a ton, some are complete shit, but it hardly matters…just gotta proudly embrace the players you’ve got and figure a way to get past the other team. It’s evaluating nine other players on the fly, cooperation and assessment of the situation. It’s plenty of fun.

There’s an article in TrueHoop today about the Caltech Division 3 basketball team. Essentially, they’re horrible because there are no scholarships for basketball at that school; the team is made up entirely of walk-ons. It mentioned that some of the players didn’t even play high school basketball (ooh, I wonder if I could make that team) and, as a result of their relative lack of talent, they lose constantly. But wouldn’t it be great to be a part of that team? Just to play in legitimate arenas and with uniforms and practices and a coach and referees and every other trapping of a legitimately recorded game, but with the informality and spirit of pickup? Unheralded as the Caltech program may be, I think basketball like that is a dream come true. Anyway, maybe I can get some of the girls at my school to think in the same way.