Haha ya that wouldn't stop me from eating, either.

So I know a dude through my work. One of the only black people I know. He's small and a little older, but he's been wanting to come play ball with me. Says he hasn't played in years, but played some small time college ball. It keeps not working out. But today he was blowin me up all day while I was sleeping wanting to play. So even tho I don't usually play on wednesdays I decided to go ballin.

It was 107 on the way WTF. I dunno I guess I'm acclamated. It was def hot but it's shaded and was fine. Cooler would have obv been better but the other 16 people weren't bothered either.

So I got extra credit at the park for bringing someone black. That's good.

When I got there I shot around for a while. When there was 11 people they got 2 captains and chose teams. Confirmed worst player out there, I was not picked. That's how much I suck. 4 dudes who are like 5' 3'' were taken. Lol

So I played the second game and suffered an extremely frustrating loss 10-11. We lead the whole but they hit a lucky 2 to get it within one and F me a terrible shooter jacked up a double teamed 2 like 3 feet behind the arc and drained it to win. So gross.

I scored once or twice and played really solid all the way around. No turnovers, only 1 missed shot, stonewall D.

My best play actually came on a fast break. Big black dude on the other team stole the ball way out at half court almost by himself. I was close enough to sprint and get in front of him and went shoulder to shoulder with him as he tried to muscle through. In one last second move he lowered his shoulder into me with full force as he took a step to the rim. I was able to give up such little position that he actually lost balance and missed the shot. He even looked at me like WTF!? And told 'good defense.' felt good man

Im playing ball tomorrow morning in a bet I made, I'll get more into it tomorrow.

Life is good, WIM

So I was running my mouth about basketball at work last week. Not about how good I am. In fact I was explaining that I'm really not that great but could easily defeat my coworker. Mostly because there was no way he could score on me. I finally got him to bite if I said I would spot him 4 baskets in a game to 11. That's a lot even if one player is significantly better.

He's a little older than me, a couple inches shorter and weighs a little bit more than me. I can probably jump at least 4 inches higher than him, big advantage. He smokes, I don't. He hasn't done anything athletic is probably 10 years. Big advantage me, even if he used to play ball all the time, like he said he did.

Since we both work graveyard we agreed to play this morning. I got there a little early and was warming up. It was only 83 degrees out, and in the shade it felt especially nice compared to the usual +100 degree weather I play in.

When he started warming up I knew he was in trouble. He went something like 2-20 on his jump shots. I think it takes a longggg time to get that feel back and get comfortable with open jump shots. So after that we warmed up with a game of HORSE that he was actually able to get me with an H before I won.

So, we agreed to just put 20 on it, I gave him the ball to start, 1s and 2s to 11, losers after every score.

Well I made solid work of him defensively, straight up swatting his first shot attempt. I scored alright, probably made a round 50% of my shots. But he just couldn't score. I wouldn't let him get in too close, and he had a hard enough time making an open jumper that he had no chance trying contested ones.

By the time I had 7 or 8 he was so winded that I would just attempt a 2 and get the rebound pretty easily if I missed, so that became my strategy.

Anyway, lol.

Life is good, WIM

Easiest $20 you'll make.

It always feels good to crush people's unrealistic views of their prowess.

This is exactly my plan if JF and I ever plan 1v1 after his bold claims in the LC thread.

I know, right?

In an unrelated story, I think I could take Yugo and/or JF 1 on 1, even though I haven't seriously hooped in a few years.

YOU ARE ALSO ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!

Not sure how we'd even end up playing though...where do you live again?

Indy.

I'd probably need to actually pick up a basketball first, but I've got a pretty decent handle for a relatively big guy, and I suspect my size differential would be difficult for either of you to overcome.

Also, I'm interested to see how my game improves now that I actually have some modicum of lower body strength.

You'e what, 6'3"? JF is 6'1" and I'm 6' (well, on a good day anyway) so not too huge imo. But yeah, that is a big edge obv.

How much do you guys weigh? Maybe my plan should be to get to 10% and slither by you on sweet crossover moves that I can't do yet.

I want to get in on the next free $20

In an actually unrelated story, the floor above my oly gym is a basketball court. Without any warmup I can hang on the rim with 1 arm; does that translate to basketball skills of any sort at all? I don't even know the rules.

6'4" and about 220 to 225, depending on when I took a dump.

I'm decently athletic for a guy my size, but would get pretty destroyed by anyone who even played DIII ball.

Neither of us are real ball players nor ever have been afaik. Hmmm, 6'4". Yeah, I for sure would love to play you 1v1, so it's still on, but that much extra height for sure will make a pretty big difference. How much actual bball experience do you have though? Being 6'4" and athletic really doesn't mean anything if you only played a bit in HS and then haven't touched a ball in like 10 years before we played.

I do have a friend who is 6'3" who is decent at basketball and we played a bunch of 1v1 a few years ago - he basically never beat me. Although it was likely do to his WIL and me being a bad matchup for him.

I went to a DIII school but played the lowest form of intramural 3v3 bball. So yeah, nowhere close to actual DIII player even though I've gotten better and they've gotten worse.

I played a ton of hoops in college, and there was a hoop out back at my last job where we shot during lunch from spring through fall and played 3 on 3 after work two or three times a month. I've got a fair bit of experience, but never played on an organized team; I've got a pretty fair amount of skill though. I wiled away the daylight hours shooting hoops outside as a young lad, perfecting reverse layups, cross-over dribbles, and the like; I was always the runt, so my handle is better than it would have been if I'd been a big kid when I was growing up.

Yeah, then I'd be a dog and I assume JF would be too but obv no idea unless we actually played.

I seem to have a general knack for beating players 1v1 who are better than I am though (given the eye test, or watching warmup, or even just watching us play). A common comment of anyone watching me play 1v1 is something along the lines of "well, you certainly aren't as good as ____" lol.

Also (mainly imo) I believe I have a knack for neutralizing larger players in 5v5. If for no other reason than I will fight for inches 1v1 while other guys will give up or just hack, or need a quick double-team or something else that's less optimal. Most people who play against me for a while think I'm taller than I am, pretty much without exception.

But I don't know, it's sooooo easy to think you are better than you are generally. And some ppl way overrate themselves or way underrate themselves when describing how good they are.

Agreed 100% on the underlined.

I tend to work pretty hard, and I've got a pretty good understanding of body positioning due to having to learn how to play as a runt (both in basketball and soccer). Now that I finally have an ass I'm assuming I'd be even better at rebounding/boxing out that sort of thing, but who knows. Maybe I should try and find a league or something.

Confirmed huge underdog against Monte in 1 on 1 ball.

Speaking of basketball, write up time!

I got there a little early and there was a guy that I kinda know from playing hanging out. We shot around doing some shooting drills for a while and I asked him about different stuff, both on O and D. He's pretty knowledgeable so it was a good tutorial. Neither of us are great shooters and the shooting drills were kinda meh.

After that I said we should take turns trying to score on each other because still no one had showed up yet. It was pretty good practice for both of us, both on D and O. I was probably going only about 80% on D, not gonna foul or anything, just make it harder to score. We took turns trying out different post moves, cross over stuff, turn around jumpers, fade aways, etc. Really good stuff, I could do that stuff for ever, and it's a pretty good workout.

Finally people showed up, like 10 people all at once ready to go. Me and dude sat out the first game and watched as 3 more showed up and we formed a team of 5 to take on the winner.

Game 1: Victory 11-10 I opted to take the big, strong, slow black dude and did a pretty good job of using my speed to create stuff on offense and strength on D to not let him get easy buckets. He was about my height +70 pounds or so. I had 3 points in this game, one was a 2 pointer and one as a rebound and put back. I had some turn overs but not enough to cost us the game.

Game 1 Highlight for me: We pretty much trailed while keeping it kinda close. We managed to tie it once they got to 10. As they were bringing the ball up the court I read a pass really well and jumped high enough and out stretched my arm far enough to tip it into the back court. My teammate read what I was doing and was there to get it and make the winning bucket. BALLIN

Game 2: Victory 11-9 Tough game for us, they had 3 dudes all bigger than me. Thankfully they weren't awesome at post stuff because they could have owned us pretty bad. I was able to play really energetic D and create enough contested shots to keep us in the game, tho once again we were trailing the whole way. My worst moment came when the score was 6-8 them. I made a pass inbounds and it got immediately stolen for an easy bucket putting it 6-9 them. so we were able to rally and get stops and tied the game at 9-9 when my best play came:

Game 2 highlight for me: I cut to the arc, my teammate found me open. I was on balance, felt good so I took the shot and drained it, GAME WINNER. Booyah.

Game 3: Lost 11-8 They were small but young, athletic, and really good shooters that ran hot during the second half of the game so we lost, oh well.

Life is good, WIM

Clutch gene is strong!

I haven't decided yet how strongly I believe in a 'clutch gene'. I certainly seems like there is one. I think it's so much more important to get a good solid player than have magical 'clutch' capabilities. There is certainly something to be said about wanting the ball in your hand at the end of the game and having enough swagger and confidence to put yourself in a place to take and hit clutch shots.

Speaking of basketball... I played today! Here is what happened:

I showed up a little earlier than usual because it was GOAT weather today. About 80 with a reasonable breeze. SOOOOO nice. People don't usually show up until its cool enough to not die. I timed it just right and got there in time to warm up for a few minutes as people were arriving.

Me, a white dude and 3 black dudes decided to play a warm up game of 21. All three black guys were bigger and stronger than me, but not by much, and certainly not quicker than me. The white dude was a little smaller but more stout and stronger than me. Tough match up for me.

I started off really well. Making shots that I don't usually make, trying all sorts of stuff out. I actually got my score all the way up to 15 before anyone else was in double digits. And then I promptly started sucking. A bad combo of bad shots and shots that were good that would just not fall. When the game ended I was still at 15 but I was still pretty happy with how I played. I did a lot of left handed stuff, did a decent job of ball handling, and didn't get blown out by 3 black guys all way better than me.

Enough people were there for full court game by the time the game of 21 ended so we decided to shoot for teams. I made my 1st free throw to get on the first team and we had a HUGE advantage over the other team. All 5 players were shorter than I was on the other team. We had the 3 black dudes that were a little taller than me and small black dude who ok. Here's the thing, with as much of a size advantage as we had, all these dude on my team are pretty good 3 point shooters. So we could do any combo of 3 on the arc (sometimes 4) and 1 or 2 down low. We could feed it inside and have a mismatch or just shoot 3s and have an advantage on the board.

Game 1: Victory 11-8 We shoulda won by more but the other team had a lot of heart and WIM on both sides of the floor, they shot pretty well, and my team only played at like 90%. I had TWO shot blocks on the same guy in this game it was sweet. I played pretty fierce defense as usual. I actually score once it was:

Game 1 highlight: I had a mismatch down low in the post and I got a sort of weird lob pass from across court and had to totally give up my position and lose balance just to avoid a turnover. However, once I reestablished, I made a strong move and muscled my way through my defender to score. Since I'm so clueless in the post (just from lack of experience) it was a major victory. This was my only score in the game, and actually my only attempt.

Game 2: Loss 9-11 These three young dudes came that I've played a lot with out there and joined a couple players to take on our winning team. They're all pretty small but decently athletic, and one guy is the most absurd shooter I've ever seen. He about 90% of my size and plays a lot like a young ray allen. You can't give him an inch or he'll drain a 4 in your face. No issue. I wanted to guard him but I ended up taking another player due to match up issues. The young ray allen kid (tyler I think) just absolutely torched us. They basically run their whole offense through him. He uses screens for space behind the arc like a champion. He was swishing with a hand in his face. I've played with him probably a dozen times before he's just insane. Oh well.

Game 2 highlight: I was lurking on the arc while one of my teammates was doing work inside. He got double teamed and tossed it to me and I drilled the 2 pointer. I got some 'respect' nods from my black teammates. lol.

Game 3: Loss 8-11 I ended up with a similar team to take on this team lead by Tyler Ray Allen. I made sure to walk up to him and claim rights on guarding him. And I had him locked down for a good long while. He ended up getting a tiny bit of space off a screen, and despite the fact that I fought through it and put a hand in his face, he drained it (ldo). A teammate came and told me to switch which kinda pissed me off. I was a much better defender than him, and his lack of ability to shut him down was a big reason we lost. Oh well, I did a lock down job on my guy.

That's all for today, life is good WIM

WHEN ARE YOU GONNA DUNK?

He no can dunk - but haz good fundamentals that make up for it.

I actually don't even have very good fundamentals. But I play hard enough defense and get enough boards that I've elevated my street credit among the black community.

And dunk? Prob never

One day I will touch the rim.

At least JF can do that imo.

Nice write ups JF, you sound like a pain in the ass to play against.

The best I could ever do was dunk a tennis ball, but I haven't really tried much on a court since I started lifting lower body. Now that I'm living with my in-laws (until the wife recovers), I should start shooting around after work (they have an indoor court in their building).

I've really enjoyed picking it up. Especially since youre bigger and you'll have a much higher ceiling than many many pick up ball players.

The good news: I got out and played a good long 1 on 1 session in more GOAT weather

The bad news: I have what feels like a pinched nerve in my shoulder and when it flares up its unreal painful. I believe it's actually an injury from about 2 years ago jumpin off 30' cliffs into the water. I'm pretty certain that I aggravated it benching yesterday and tweaked it worse playing basketball yesterday. It completes drains the strength in my left arm, sents shots of pain all over my back and even hurts all the way down my legs at times. The good part is that it slowly fades and pretty much gone after 2 hours of rest.

So anyway I had a lot of fun playing today. I got to the park super early because the bartender at my work was supposed to come out and play with me but she ended up flaking. However, there was another guy out there I've never seen before doing all sorts of drills, including sprinting/line drills.

After shooting around for a while I asked if he wanted to play some 1 on 1. He was eager to. He was maybe an inch taller than me a reasonably athletic but I had prob 15-20 pounds on him which I def used to my advantage.

Game 1: victory 21-6 he kept pushing the ball to about 10 feet away from hoop and then taking step back and fade away jumpers. I kept wondering why he was settling for tough shots, but ldo I just plain wouldn't let him in close. I was able to finish on him reasonably well and prob made half my trick shot finishes against him. I also shot ok on my free throws which is important. So we ran it back:

Game 2: victory 21-12 he made some adjustments and was able to force me into tougher shots and was able to adjust offensively and get a few better shots. He also shot a lot better from the free throw. I ended up really hurting my neck on a rebound but played through. I basically had 10% of my total strength in my left arm but it didn't seem to be affecting my shots that bad. It was still a pretty easy victory so we ran it back once more.

Game 3: loss 19-21 I prob coulda won but I was only at about 75% on defense because of my arm, and he got off to a huge start, I think it was 1-7 at one point. But I felt good about catching up in spite of my arm.

Overall a great workout and some really good practice.

Life is good, WIM

Dang, been quite a while since an update. I'll do a short one.

I lifted on monday (boring) and then played ball. I was out there nearly 3 hours, and my legs are still mildly sore (tho they were never that bad). Despite winning a game of 21 (woohoo!) I played pretty meh. Not as strong defensively. Guess I'm just rusty.

Also, yesterday I started my full keto diet. I had something like 2600 calories and less than 50 carbs. My stomach feels a little weird but meh, I just had some sausage.

SM says this is going to suck for basketball, but I'm going to be a stubborn special snowflake and say my body is ultra genetically gifted for operating without carbs.

I injured my foot on monday, but it seems to be healing. It was a full limp on monday, a partial limp on tuesday, and feeling better yesterday.

As long as it feels good on saturday I'm going to test my theory and play basketball after only eating fat/protein. Although my body with hopefully be in full keto mode by then and it will be easier.