I spent the better part of my summer trying to dunk. Ultimately I failed. Yet in the process I got in better shape and improved several aspects of my game. And pick up basketball was a big part of my regimen. I had a regular game going for a month or so that rarely made it beyond 3-on-3. And it was usually 2-on-2. It turns out that familiarity builds...familiarity. So I was excited when open gym kicked into gear again this week. I looked forward to playing full court and guarding someone else.

Unfortunately only 7 guys showed up and I had to settle for half court 3-on-3. Alas. Winner stayed and the losing team shot to vote someone off the island. Thankfully the tempo was good and my team held serve for 4 or 5 consecutive wins. On top of that, I had one of my best open court showings since moving to town. Then in the fifth game I took a shot to the face while fighting for a loose ball. It stunned me and I stepped wrong, spraining my ankle in the process. That was it for me. As I write this I'm making use of 3/4 of the RICE acronym, thinking about how to implement compression and how hard it must be to play in the NBA.

The first time I got up close to a live NBA game it was amazing how big, strong, and fast NBA players are. The court seemed too small. I can't imagine taking a forearm or elbow from someone like Kendrick Perkins and continuing to be effective. Just throwing that out there.