A Basketball Blog Entry

So a few of you may know of my love for playing basketball. However, ever since the glory days of the back-to-back-to-back stake young men’s basketball championships of the Livonia Ward, I have found it hard to find my niche on the few teams I’ve been on. I’m not a consistent enough shooter, and it’s harder to find quality opportunities to impress people with my speed because I’m not a good enough finisher and big people always seem to be able to block my layups. Add the fact that I never play consistently enough to get over that first game where you can’t make even a single layup, and I find myself not contributing very much to any team that I play on (though, usually, I have a pretty good plus-minus, even though I’m not directly contributing to the score. I’m just saying.)

So, after having moved to Shoreline, I finally decided that I needed to start playing ball again, now with the old men in the ward. The fact that I currently weigh more than I ever have may have influenced this decision.

I showed up last Tuesday and shot a little. One guy from the ward came to shoot as well so we had a little 21 action, where I destroyed him. I was fast and was making layups, and he wasn’t using his body well enough.

So my confidence was a little better for last Thursday’s game. That was a mistake. I turned the ball over like no other, missed a couple of easy layups, and we got killed by the best team in the league. I got bruised up and, being out of shape yet running around, was pretty wiped out after the game.

So it was with a little trepidation that Torrie and I showed up for basketball last night (she watches, I play). Mostly different people showed up for our team, so perhaps I didn’t have the stigma of the game before. We started and I played the second quarter. I played fairly well, including getting fouled on a breakaway and nailing my two free throws, but I did get a little tired at the end of the half and we were still down by about 5.

The 3^rd quarter was played with our “A” team out there, and at the end of the quarter we were still down by about 5. They were playing well, but I knew that the other team was getting tired. I went back in the game about halfway through the 4^th quarter, down by 3.

It was a little frustrating because there were a couple guys who weren’t passing and kept losing the ball on their drives. Luckily we played some good defense, got a couple to go in, and we were down by 1 with about two minutes left.

We brought the ball down and I guess the guy was tired cause he passed me the ball near the 3 point line on the left side. I saw an opening and drove with my left, switching to my right as I went to lay it in. To my dismay, it ringed in and out. However, my momentum allowed me to get the rebound. I passed it away, and a couple of passes later I found myself with the ball in the same situation. I drove again, knowing that I could beat the guy guarding me. This time the layup went in, and we were up by one. They brought the ball down and tried to pass it around. I doubled up on the guy with the ball and he put up an ugly shot, no good. I grabbed the rebound and we brought it up the court, taking our time. I passed it to one of the big guys and set a pick for him. Beautiful pick, and then I went for the roll straight towards the basket, nobody in my way. To my surprise, my teammate saw the opportunity and sent me a beautiful pass, which I gathered in and put in the basket. Up by 3!

The other team would drive down, get fouled, and make a couple of free throws, but we were able to hold the ball long enough for time to run out. A comeback victory!

I felt much better afterwards, and while I still have plenty of room to improve…maybe I won’t give up on basketball after all. At least until I’ve started losing some weight.

Wedding Pictures!

If anyone wants to see our wedding pictures, please go to my wife's blog (the link is to the left), and there's a link to them on her blog. There are tons of them, and we love them.

Battle of Champions - The Result

As I'm sure Torrie can attest, I have spent many hours over the past few days poring over the JB controversary. I have watched dozens of James Bond movies. I have watched hours of 24 DVDs. I've listened to soundtracks from both franchises. We live in serious times, and matters such like this deserve serious attention.

I don’t think that we can debate on the point of which one is cooler. Obviously, without a doubt, it’s James Bond.

He gets the pretty girls. Yeah, a good number of them die, but at least they disappear and don’t have that whole “I love you, but I can’t allow myself to love you” conflict that all of Jack’s love interests seem to have or he has with them.

He goes to pretty places all over the world. Jack Bauer spends all of his time in CA…well, he went to Africa this summer. Whoop-de-do. That can’t compare to Switzerland, Venice, Italy, London, Jamaica, and the list goes on and on and on.

But that’s not what my question was – who would win in a fight?

I see a dark alley, we’ll say in Washington , D.C., cause that’s where Jack is right now, and Bond is more likely to go there than ghetto LA California. Jack is where jeans and a black t shirt, partially stained with blood from the last time that he was tortured by the government while pretending to be a terrorist. His gun is at his side – he doesn’t really have a favorite, just whatever he stole from the last terrorist that he killed. He has been on the search for a mole in the FBI, and as a door opens and light spills onto the dark pavement, he sees his target: James Bond.

Bond has just walked into the alley in a tuxedo, leaving a fancy casino-like party where he has just beat a criminal mastermind in baccarat. He is expecting to make his way back to his hotel, where the mastermind’s girlfriend/wife will be waiting for him. Instead, as is wont to happen, he encounters someone – Bauer – who has snuck up behind him and pointed his gun in his neck. “Tell me what I need to know,” he whispers, followed by a yell: “WHO IS THE LEAK???” Bond has no choice but to react with a quick line: “Well, good evening, are all Americans as friendly as you?”

Bond reacts by slamming his head back and turning around, knocking the gun out with a karate chop. Bauer reacts by going to punch him, which Bond pushes away, somehow flipping Jack over. (Remember how often Bond does that in the old movies?) Jack gets up by kicking Bond down and jumping on top of him, with a tussle. He goes for a couple knock out punches, which James manages to avoid before pushing Jack off. Jack realizes he is next to his lost gun, which he grabs and points it at Bond – who already has is Walther PPK out and has shot Bauer’s gun, knocking it out of his hand.

They then have a conversation and realize they’re fighting for the good guys, and then go their separate ways, but Bond has won. Jack’s expertise is more in firearms and torture, unraveling government conspiracies. James has him on everything else. Advantage: Bond.

And this has to be true, because it’s now on the internet.