Poetic Referendum(s) On Life

Back In Shape?

There are moments I feel indestructible. People at the YMCA where I play pickup basketball are afraid to come near me. Seems the slightest contact from me hurts a lot of guys, though I have no intention of fouling. I think it's their movement into my stationary body that does the damage.

Friday, after a week of waiting for the gym to reopen after spring cleaning, I was late and forgot my basketball. I reached into my bag to discover one of the cats peered on stuff in one of the partly unzipped pockets. It reminded me of why I was late. My wife took the high tops from my bag to put in the garage because of the smell, not knowing it had not come from my feet. I Doubled back after doing a mental inventory in my head, remembering what she had done.

The YMCA cannot keep decent equipment, so I managed to find a men's ball that wasn't lopsided or flat but only squeezed off a few shots before another game was to begin. I found a dry bandana to wrap around my head, my only sweat collector to protect my eyes for the afternoon.

I was glad Nate was on my team. He's a really good player who will keep me motivated and get me the ball, as he did on this day. I seldom need to get limber nowadays, years of physical conditioning finally paying off. Nate is one of those guys who is vocal about not wanting to collide with me, too.

We were a motivated group. I thought we would be a bit outmatched, since there were some big boys in the gym...at least two about 6'5". Nate guarded one. Though I can't remember much of the game, only passing up a shot Nate wanted me to take, I did get a clean catch from his pass and saw the defense coming to close me out. We needed a three to win. I made a quick touch release shot that was short on arm motion but relied on a full extension from time of catch at my shoulder to the top of my head release. It was a pretty arc that landed softly and cleanly through the net. There wasn't a huge commotion that we won, but I felt a great sense of satisfaction before low fiving Nate, who confused me with what hand and how we our palms would meet to celebrate.

There was a lot of disappointment in the other games and matchups, though I felt we competed. I knew the week off made me rusty. I should have been in the gym early.

Friday is usually a busy day for ball at the Y. Our last game ended when I was finally getting it all together. We had a huge disadvantage. I was tallest at 6'2" as our talent and scoring came from two guards averaging 5'7" in height, guarding two of the giants I mentioned. We managed to keep the game close until it looked like they would win. I played hard as hell to deny any scoring, getting boards and loose balls and setting up our scorers. They were close to scoring the winning bucket when I saw the ball go up and made a mad dash down the baseline. I could get to the ball like I did earlier, or just deflect it enough that their bigs wouldn't get an easy put back. Or, maybe steal the rebound or contest a put back. I managed to high point the ball on the other side of the rim and got it out to our team. I did it again when we were on offense. I deflected a missed shot, making the carom go to another teammate that got us our winning basket. Again, not much celebrating, but feel good for the effort.

Shot around for awhile as people left until my 10,000th step was reached on Fitbit, packed up my smelly gym bag and drove home.