The Minister of Defense

One of my friends told me last night that I have a new nickname, "The Minister of Defense," which actually delighted me to no end, on what turned out to be yet another rather pathetic night on the offensive end. Knocked down a gorgeous three early on (which pulled us even for the first time, and put us in a position to eventually win the game), but then shot nothing but bricks and airballs for the next 45 minutes, until I finally had an opportunity to finish a 2 on 1 break with a lay-up, and then ended the night by hitting a little 10-foot baseline jumper (which I thought I'd missed when it left my hand) to win the last game of the evening. But I also missed two other break-away lay-up opportunities (both off steals I'd made in the open court -- one an EASY left-hander when I just couldn't pick-up my dribble, and the other an even easier finger-roll at the rim which I'm not sure HOW I missed), and also fumbled a pass that would have been a third lay-up (yup -- shot the ball before I caught it), and even had a shot blocked when I tried to out-jump a shorter player down on the left block, and discovered that nowadays I don't jump quite as high as I remember.

But the defensive end was much more satisfying. The two steals I mentioned earlier, plus I was able to force a couple of other turnovers by beating oponents to their spots and causing them to travel; made several deflections and intercepted a few passes, closed some strong traps, that sort of thing. And it's killing me to be in such poor "game-shape," knowing how much better I could be playing if I would just take the time and make the effort to do the strength and conditioning work. But I need to be honest too. I can't really afford to put basketball at the center of my life right now. I'm a grown-up. I have a whole OTHER life that basketball has to stand in line behind.

It's also kinda hard for me NOT to grow frustrated with my teammates when they DON'T play good "D" and habitually throw-up ill-advised shots, refuse to share the ball, make stupid turnovers, over-dribble, and generally play poor fundamental hoop. And here's the irony, of course. When I can't run the floor as effortlessly as I might wish, it's not really fair for me to criticize others for not getting back on defense. When I routinely look to thread the ball through tight passing lanes in order to make a dramatic assist, it's hard to criticize others for attempting to do the same. I certainly make more than my fair share of TOs, even though (subjectively at least) I also feel like I see the floor and execute those passes a lot better than many of the other guys I play with -- guys who just don't seem to have quite as much "court sense" as I do. But when all is said and done, I find myself standing out on the perimeter with my arms in the air far too often to complain that my teammates don't move without the ball....

In any event, I worked up a sweat, didn't get hurt, had a good time and probably burned at least a FEW extra calories. So, no complaints and no regrets. Life is good, and I guess at my age, that's all that really matters.