Basketball is
getting brutal nowadays. My body just seems to be in worse shape now
than it was a year ago, probably because I eat a lot of bad things. My
basketball skills are not horrible, though my outside shooting has
gotten rather abysmal. I just don't practice shooting anymore. But I do
drive to the basket more and get layups so my scoring is better than
before. That is when I'm putting effort into it which I can only do in
spurts.
We tend to play more Tip games, which is supposed to help you develop
skills to go after the ball as soon as it bounces off the basket. It
takes good hand-eye coordination and quick reactions. The part about
just laying it up for someone else to tip in doesn't seem all that
useful in real games.
Today we also played 2 on 1. Theoretically it develops passing skills
for the 2-man team and some sort of aggressive defensive skills for the
lone man. In practice if Woo is on the two-man team it's a joke. If Woo
on the two man team then he will usually win but we all get more
exercise and a better workout. When Woo is playing hard Eric and I
can't keep up. But at least we work on double teams and passing and
eventually we'll get to communication and blocking out.
Usually it's just us three. Dave can play on the occasional Tuesday.
Also Albert or Kelvin, two of Woo's basketball friends, may show up.
And some days this tall Indian guy from Sun shows up to play. Rarely
Pick plays. Two on two games are a lot of work and frankly I barely
make it through them. But they are definitely more active than three
people playing.
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So I bought
these cheap cross-training shoes at Walmart. The right shoe is killing
me. It has an arch that digs into the bottom of my foot at the arch.
The left show also has it but not as hard so it hasn't bothered me.
This is what I get for buying stuff at Walmart. I stopped using the
shows last week and hope that I'll be able to use them again once my
feet get some rest.
I have lots of aches and pains. My right ankle stiffens up after
playing basketball and pounding it on the asphalt. My right shoulder
very occasionally has sharp pains when I'm raising my arm. Right knee
hurts from all the pounding. Left side of my body is fine. I just use
my right side way too much.
I don't think Eric and I will ever be all that good at basketball. Eric
just doesn't have the coordination nor seems to have the willingness to
learn basketball tactics. I don't have the energy. But for both of us
we play for the exercise more than the winning part. True, winning
tends to mean more exercise. But at that level of commitment it's too
much like work.
In truth, I only play because they play. I was getting pretty bored
just playing with Woo. Eric adds more enthusiasm and liveliness to our
games, so I'm really glad he plays regularly. And he is getting better,
contrary to what I may implied in the previous paragraph. Still,
playing two times a week can be a drag. It's nice having a week of
every now and then.
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