Go Figure

Scored only seven points tonight, but oh what scores! First time I touched the ball, I ran a little pick & pop out behind the three-point line on the right wing, and drained the "Trey" like I've been doing it all my life. Which I guess, in some ways, I have. Then a little later on I had an opportunity to drive the left baseline, and made a little shovel pass to a teammate in the lane, who fumbled the ball, tapped it back over to me as I came out the other side, spun to my left, and hit a little one-handed two-foot floater to win the game. And then finally, bringing the ball up in transition, I saw an opening, made a slight head-fake and drove the lane for a wide-open finger-roll at the rim: the kind of shot I haven't seen on a regular basis in DECADES!

But apart from that, Nada! Missed EVERYTHING else I put up from the field -- some of it quite badly. Even when the ball felt like it was leaving my hand well I was wide left, or short, or...well, after awhile I stopped even getting the touches, much less open looks. But I did play pretty decent defense, rebounded effectively, screened for my teammates, and made some gorgeous assists. And let's face it (as our game "commissioner" puts it), this is all really just aerobics for middle-aged men anyway.

Yet even at my age, there is still a brief window in every run between the time it takes for me to feel properly warmed-up and the time that fatigue sets in and leaves my legs feeling like rubber, when I am still able to turn it on, make that quick first step, pick up my dribble, elevate, and go hard to the hole. It may only last for 30 seconds. But in that ageless instant of peak athletic performance...Pure Bliss!

And if I'm starting to sound like a Cialis ad, so be it.

Fuck the aerobics.

I'm out here to score!