the key to basketball...
...is playing with the black guys.
peter hurley gave me a heads up to bring my game sunday night. "the basketball players at the super bowl party are 90% black," he said.
he was right - as i walked in the door, the courts were in full use by ballers from varina, henrico, and (gasp) highland springs. it was chill shooting around and what not. then, out of nowhere, "you guys are captains."
the guy was talking about me and a-row...captains...the token white kids...
well i picked my team, and a-row picked his team. despite falling behind 7-0 early on, my team pulled out an 11-9 victoy and held the court. these guys aren't that great, i thought to myself. but oh how sadly i was mistaken...
the next game started. "that team is stacked," someone yelled from the sideline about the opposition. i rebounded a missed shot...regular routine play. ho hum. STOLEN! my mistake was putting the ball on the floor to dribble -- i quickly learned that's a no-no.
i also learned that you have to go strong to the basket on lay-ups unless you want the &%#@ stuffed out of you. and that you can't dawdle on offense or wait for a play to happen by itself - you must create the play. and that you must box out if you hope to rebound.
needless to say, the first game was a disaster. the score is irrelevant. after that game, a-row and i watched the super bowl (a little) and ate some food. we realized how innercity kids play at such a higher level compared to us white boys in hanover. if you're exposed to that style of play constantly, there's no way you won't adapt to the speed and intensity.
we returned to the basketball court.
the team from before was still playing because they had not lost yet. for about the next hour, we proved ourselves as decent ballplayers. we knew what to expect going in that time, so we were at least a little more ready for it. we still weren't playing at the same high-paced level as the black guys, but we were keeping up decently. i made a few jumpers, and a-row made some layups. some of the guys even asked us what school we played for.
the best part, though, was when a black girl came up to us and asked us who we were. "i'm cheering for you, and i don't want to keep saying 'go white boy!'"
there is no question about it - the way to get better at basketball is to play with the black guys.
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on 2.08.2006 at 3:44 PM.
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