I played basketball last night!
Damn it's nice to be sore today.
I hadn't been on a court since last December in the weekly "stoner league" in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. You don't have be stoned to play. The idea behind the name is to emphasize the spirit of the game and encourage guys not to be overly competitive. You know. Lower their expectations.
You want to get upset over the game? Hey buddy. This is the stoner league. Just calm down.
Most 30-somethings who play pick-up basketball are there to get exercise. Maybe this should be obvious. But you'd surprised how many guys treat their once a week appearance on the court like it's game 7 of the NBA Finals.
My run last night took place in a Mormon Church.
Unlike the stoner league, no one went out for drinks afterwards.
I only knew 1 of the 15 guys in the gym. The guy who invited me.
I kept cutting to the hoop but no one passed me the ball. This was fine. My game was rusty and I was satisfied to run up and down the court.
After awhile I noticed that their lack of passing to me wasn't personal. They didn't pass the ball to each other either. It was all just one-on-one play. Too much dribbling. Drive to the hoop. Stop suddenly. Take a bad fade-away shot. Repeat the process.
Little do they know that if they give me the ball I'm going to set them up. I'm going to go down low, get doubled teamed and find the open guy. The last thing I want to do is shoot the ball.
Once I get my legs back and can run for more than 15 seconds I'm going to play point forward and confuse the hell out of these guys.
I might even shave "Anthony Mason" into the side of head.
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The Stoner League had it's first game of the season last monday, and all went very well. Lots of jogging. I was guarding Nils and got a block so damn was I happy.
And without question, it's called the Stoner League because even if not everyone IS stoned, they all play that way.
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