Dunk Competition

Josh Smith wins

Starting at 1:30 pm Friday, Atlanta started dealing with some big, fat snowfall. This entails a lot of people driving very slowly for no reason, food riots at Publix, and school being let out at 1pm in anticipation of the aforementioned craziness. That also means the senior/faculty basketball was called off. I sent out an email encouraging some teachers to stick around to play 5-on-5 anyway, and about a dozen showed. Most of these guys were the morning crew, plus a couple of trainers.

Well soon enough there some was complaining, some groaning, and then some a few people sitting out and choosing not to play. Turns out a friendly game of basketball means different things to different people. A couple of the guys are hypercompetitive, calling for screens and help defense and other "serious" basketball things. Beyond that, they run on every play, set some brutal picks, and have no problem hacking you if you're going for a lay-up. And to be fair, there's nothing wrong with that. If you're gonna play, then play. I personally don't mind, as I'm just glad to get out there and get some touches (I hit about half my shots, including a sweet midrange jumper where I out-lasted my defender in the air! I also missed some real easy put-backs and aired a 3-ball though...). I don't even mind too much when the super competitors start giving "suggestions", because to this point it hasn't been mean-spirited. But I can easily see how someone expecting a more casual atmosphere would be turned off by that behavior. One guy left the game while spewing a tirade of "BULLSHIT!" and "FUCKING RIDICULOUS" as he left, referring to the over-the-top intensity of some of the other players.

This is the 3rd time this group has played together, and it's becoming clear that some people take it much more seriously than others. One guy doesn't seem to think any shot he takes is a bad shot and has no problem jacking up 3's as soon as he gets it. Another will bowl you over if you get in his way. This is the type of behavior that should appear in competition, in "game" situations, but can be unfavorable in a casual game. If you're not laughing during the game, like some of the players do, then why would you keep playing? Of course the competitive response is, if you're not playing to win, then why would you keep playing? It's an interesting divide I've noticed, to see some guys go cutthroat while others play it loose. Regardless, I got four games in and was so bushwhacked that as soon as I got home I slept for two hours.

Got back in the gym today, did 15 minutes of cycle to warm up and then 3x10 sets of curls, reverse push-ups, quads, and other side of quads. I alternated 25 sit-ups with 20 lunges using a 15# weight to rotate on each lunge, and then finally did real squats with weight! Not a lot, mind you, just 100# total, but was able to do 2x10 at the end of my workout. Progress! I could definitely feel the huge difference in muscle strain that squats require. Now that I'm confident in my hip's strength on squats, I'll be doing them almost every workout.

Also, the dunk contest is tonight. I won't see it live since I'll be at a concert, but here's an ESPN Top 10 of recent dunk contest highlights (No Josh Smith though!): http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4911247