sports

basketball is number three on my holy trinity of sports. it goes: boxing, golf, basketball. extra = baseball. In the old days, in Etobicke, i played tennis religiously. I was never that good but i loved playing and i showed well in the consolations each year. i understood the game but i was a junior just as the power game was coming in. i also couldn't control my emotions during tournaments. (YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!)and being short, my serve didn't scare anyone. Now it doesn't matter. Play for fun at a good clip. You grow out of illusions, quick if you're lucky. Figure your level out. But i used to get frustrated. Being angry in sport is like blogging; it's embarrassing and doesn't improve your game.

I still play a little here and there in the summer with a couple friends, but less each year. Across from my first house are some ashpalt courts. When i move downtown, maybe ten years ago, there were only two rusty metal fences for nets. On only two of eight courts. The lines were so worn we'd bring chalk to mark the service line 'T' and the baselines but even then you'd have to trust the line calls because you couldn't see it unless you right up at the net. And by that time, I didn't have the legs for much serve and volley.

I'm not sure how we found out that you could buy your own nets. About the time we finally figured out what the cranks were for on the posts. Idiots. Anyway, we got our's at "the merchant of tennis". It was great because you could play anytime, as long as you wanted. For awhile. Then we realized that probably telling everyone who asked where they could get their own nets was counter-productive. By then it was too late. And in a strange way, all because of basketball.

I don't know how to play basketball at all. I mean, i understand the game. I get screen and roll. I understand shortening the bench. And one. I love it so i learn it. But I can't play it in the real world. The few times I played in my thirties in a publich school playground with other men, it was like i was unintentionally humping them. i could not stop from jumping into them, from stepping on their feet. I was like a drunk ballerina trying to box. But that's why i love basketball. Because i can't play it at all. I can't make a shot. I know how to do it, technically. I watch hundreds of highlights and games and i read shooting manuals online. but i'm useless at it. Pretty much every other sport (terrestrial) I can do a little. At least enough to make a game with similar level contestants. Hockey, baseball, skeet shooting, golf. But not hoops.

It seems like the things most foreign and difficult are always more interesting. It also seems that you can admit shortcomings, and often, other avenues to explore your passions offer themselves. Like the invention of video games. Sports games are fantastic. I love to rename every player in the league. That takes weeks. Sometimes, I forget to save and the player freezes. It's brutal. Especially if i was on a hot streak.

Anyway... (i'm off to a party)