I grew up at the absolute best time to be a basketball fan! And I’ve been one since I can remember. I began playing at about 11 with the RA team at First Baptist Church and last played just Tuesday night at Sherwood in our season opener for church league. So, if you are counting, that’s 28 years of playing basketball. That beats softball/baseball by a few years. I love playing, watching, coaching or just shooting around. I won’t say that it’s always come natural because I’ve had some great teachers along the way. But I will say that I have always been more confident on the basketball court than any other sports field.
I think that for the most part, I’ve always understood my limitations in basketball more so than any other sport. In basketball, you can beat someone in a lot of different ways. The key is finding out what you do best and trying to perfect it. It’s a lot like life if you think of it that way. In softball, technology has become the name of the game. Sure, guys are strong and powerful but it doesn’t hurt to be swinging the newest $300 bat that has been shaved down to the equivalent of a composite wafer. Why not use a re-stitched softball while you’re at it? Oh yeah, that happens too. I’m not a homerun hitter and no amount of technology will change that. But the playing field is never very even. And I get myself into trouble more often than not trying to be someone I’m not, on the softball field.
Basketball is a different game. Give me a nice $100 NBA licensed basketball or one that you get at Wal Mart for $10 and I’ll make a free throw with either one (about 75% of the time). But there is something in basketball that I can’t change. Something I’ve always had to work around. I’m just going to come out and say it. I’m a short, chubby guy that can’t jump. Read that how you want to but the 90’s movie title wasn’t off base. I haven’t always been chubby but I’ve always been short (and non-jumping). So, it was easy to recognize early on what my deficiencies were going to be and what I was going to have to focus on. I was going to be a shooter, not a dunker. I would shoot outside, not at the rim. I would learn how to steal, not block shots. I would perfect passing, not rebounding. Finally, I would hone my dribbling skills because the bigs (as us short folks call them) can’t take the ball from me if I can dribble. The other unique thing about basketball is that you can practice all by yourself so I didn’t need friends over to go shoot.
So that’s how it started and went for many years. My backyard with a basketball was where I could be found almost any time of day for most of the year. I practiced what I saw on TV, what my close friend Rusty was able to do and what I got beat with at school. All the moves and tricks stayed with me and I practiced them over and over. Some of them would click and some would never fit for me. I used what clicked. I would practice them on Coop or Brewer or Little Man or Munt. They all had their own playing styles so it helped me figure out what worked in certain situations. It was such a chess game to me and became what drove me. I still think to this day that I learned a lot of problem solving skills and adversity training from basketball. No matter how much you play, there is always going to be somebody that can out jump you, is faster, stronger, can shoot better or can handle the ball better. And there were many, including the guys that I mentioned just above. They all had certain skills I would mimic to make myself more rounded. Brewer was tall and could dunk and block shots. Munt was a tremendous ball handler and shooter. Little man could defend and Coop was adept at rebounding. They all provided unique learning perspectives.
I can remember playing every day during the summer, whether in my backyard, at The Parramore Pavillion, Westwood or Mitchell Middle – we were playing somewhere. I was in wonderful shape. Thus the not chubby part at the time I suppose. We played in city leagues, we created our own leagues, we played 2 on 2, we would play 5 on 5 in the gym, you name it. We were always playing though. During the school year, I would rush to the lunchroom when the lunch bell would ring. Not to be the first in line but to get to the gym in time to make a free throw to get on a squad for pickup games. If you didn’t make the free throw, or sometimes 3 pointer, to get on the main goals, you’d be banished to the side goals to play. I was fine either way but especially enjoyed the main goal because that was the toughest competition.
The main goals were where I would play with Jumaine Jones (future NBA player) or Ronald Blackshear or Kelvin Hayes or Alex Carter or Carlus Haywood or Derrick Harris. The list is much more extensive but I don’t have the room or the time. Carlus was a giant at almost 7 feet tall but was as gentle a guy as he could be for that size. He was great on the court though. I enjoyed playing with him. He recently passed away but I’ll always have great memories of camaraderie that I wouldn’t have otherwise had if I hadn’t picked up a basketball. One of my favorite opponents at lunch was Coach English. He would clear the court after the balls were taken up and play somebody one on one in front of everyone and we played often. He was a very good outside shooter and was strong as an ox. Those were good times. I like to think I held my own against that competition. I was appreciated for my jump shot and was never a ball hog.
To go along with the actual playing, the game was exploding on TV and I was able to witness some of the greatest players and plays of all time. As a teen, I saw the Fab Five play, Laettner hit the shot, Jordan beat Cleveland and, a few years later, Utah on memorable shots. I saw players in their prime that will forever be known as some of the greatest – Jordan, Nique, Bird, Magic, Barkley, Iverson, Shaq, Malone, Stockton, Hakeem, Clyde the Glyde, Hardaway, Ewing, Reggie. Certain events that will always stick in my mind are related to baskeball. I remember when Magic announced that he was HIV positive. I remember when Reggie Lewis died. I remember when Jordan retired the first time. Those were “where were you when” moments for me. The first Dream Team, Reggie Miller scoring 8 points in 11 seconds in the Garden, the Webber timeout – all in my youthful heyday! Then, of course, there were the video games. NBA Jam, NBA Live, Double Dribble, Hoops…..what a great time to be alive. I would play basketball until my feet hurt and then get callous’ on my hands playing NBA Live with one of the greatest video game teams ever, The Orlando Magic with Shaq, Penny, 3D and Nick Anderson.
Fast forward to 2016. I’m still trying to play and still love the game as much as I ever have. The names have changed, the basketball card designs are fancier and I create myself on video games now but the game is still meaningful. The Hawks just signed one of the most polarizing players in the league in Dwight Howard, Lebron just beat the team that had the best win/loss regular season record ever in the Finals, Kevin Durant just joined that team and DWade actually moved to a team I can pull for. It’s not Jordan, Bird and Magic but I still enjoy. The fact is that it’s a highly entertaining game, a mentally and physically challenging sport and a large part of my childhood. My points are coming a little closer to the basket these days but I think I can still hold my own to be a short, chubby old guy who can’t jump as good as when he was 21, which wasn’t very good at all. That jumper is still legit though.
J-Dub
love the blog and i loved those mitchell baker years
Thanks Trey! They were good times no doubt!