I believe basketball is my favorite sport. I have felt this way for my entire life. I played basketball from a very early
age. I guess I played baseball even
earlier, but basketball was always my favorite.
Basketball is the ultimate team game.
Football, baseball, and soccer have more players on a team, but
ultimately are not decided by the performance of a team like basketball. I like the NBA more than any other form of
basketball. I love the fact that out of
the whole world we get to watch the top 600. Basketball is also a game just
about anybody has some ability to participate in. Even if you can’t run or jump, you can throw
the ball at the goal and play a game of horse or something. As a young kid I thought I might be a basketball
player when I grew up. I was always the
tallest kid in my class, so I thought I would be some huge guy like Shaq or
something. Instead of seven feet though,
I only grew to 6’4”. That might seem
tall to some, but I spent my whole life playing like I would be a post player
instead of spending time learning to be a guard. In the NBA being 6’4” means you are one of
the smaller players on the floor at any given time. Granted there are examples of guys who are
small playing big like Charles Barkley.
But those examples are few and far between and I was not destined to
become one of them. One of my favorite
things to do when I played basketball competitively was to set screens. If the opponent did not have warning of the
screen, it could be very effective.
Since I liked setting screens so much, I have wondered if I should have
tried football instead. I played
football for one season when I was very young, but I did not like getting hit
in the knees, so I stopped after the first year. I have not played basketball for a long time
at this point. I am not in shape enough
to run up and down the court for any amount of time. Perhaps someday I will return to that kind of
shape. As for now though, I can at least
enjoy watching the NBA. I don’t really
watch college very often. Its just not
as high level as professional sports.
People talk about the college kids wanting it more or playing just to
win instead of for money. I disagree
with the notion for the most part. There
are some bad teams in the NBA where this is true, but once you get to the post
season, teams are playing to win.
I am now done with
the 10 minute exercise. The total word
count is 471.
Walker- I think you have a point here. While I was reading I found myself thinking that I do enjoy college more than NBA because of the hustle. I've seen too many games with players walking down the court and missing 65% of their free throws to be very impressed but your last sentence caught my attention. After the regular season you are right, the game changes and suddenly all the players are playing to win. I saw bits of a few games this year and I did enjoy what I saw because the energy was different. This is one reason I have always enjoyed women's basketball. They aren't as spectacular because they can't do the same physical feats but I think the effort they put in is worth the trade. Good post, you did a good job of staying on topic for free writing!
ReplyDeleteWalker,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear that you aren't doing something you enjoyed so much. Maybe you could find a just for fun pick up game to get back into it. But, there's always "arm chair quarterbacking" in the meantime.
Maggi
This is something we have in common. I used to play basketball all the time when I was younger. After I started high school I stopped playing. I really don't know why but it is my favorite sport as well. I really enjoyed looking over your blog.
ReplyDeleteRegina Crawford
Walker, I am with Jennifer on this one. I like college basketball. NBA is okay, I just feel like the game is more pure with NCAA. Defense is better and players are more team oriented. To me, you would look like Shaq; 6'4" is tall. I am 5' even! So it’s cool that you are that tall. I will say, even though I like college basketball, I think I like football the best.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite sport is also basketball! I personally prefer college and high school level sports though. I just don't think making millions of dollars a year is an insentive when you can get injured and be out the entire season and still make all that money doning nothing except warming the bench. I love college sports my favorite team is Mizzou! I've been a Mizzou fan for a very long time that's where I want to go to medical school even. It really sucks you quit playing. I played from Kindergarten all the way to my Freshman year in high school, but starting focusing on other things my sophmore year and couldn't play anymore. I gave up a lot making the decision to stop after Freshman season, but I think it was the best for me. I play now for fun with the high school kids in my neighborhood when I'm home and it's always fun beating them, but I'm not near in the shape to actually play for anything more than fun.
ReplyDelete