SuperNova Afterglow: End Of Days

2011 and Basketball

If I don't stay in shape, I feel another injury is coming.

I got off gloucosamine for awhile. I quit my diet for awhile. I was playing well up until about two weeks ago and then I really started pounding the seasonal food. I didn't play ball for eight days and it was like I was the offspring of the Michelin man and/or the Pillsbury dough boy.

I couldn't get limber. Drinking caffeinated, five-hour energy kinds of drinks weren't giving me the zip I was hoping for and I knew it was time for a reality check.

I played two times since Tuesday and started to feel a bit better today but really tired because all the kids here at the Y are home for spring break and the run, run, run. And I didn't get my pick of the usual slow, old fart fatties.

I held my own in stretches. Played really well with my passes and defense, keeping my head until the third game when I panicked and took a three-pointer to close out a game and airballed.

Looking ahead to 2012, I need to get back to the diet. Stick with the gloucosamine and get back to what I originally set as my goal...to jump high enough to dunk again. I think I'm further ahead physically with all the two steps forward and one step back approach to getting myself back into game shape.

I still keep thinking of Tom Izzo, or someone from my past who used to get me pumped up to play. I wish I had someone's ear like I did then. All the time they spent sitting around building me up so I could go out there and best the opponents we played. I could use a motivator, a positive influence. I only have myself now and I keep having to remind myself to think of what they would say. I have to shut out those few who still punctuate some of the errors I make on the court and find a way to maximize on what I do right.

Why am I so insecure about myself still at this age? Why do I feel like a boy among all these college aged guys?

I look at Alex and think I was doing this for him, too. I wanted him to get excited about basketball the way I did. To see what he could offer physically with his size and his intelligence, the genes handed down to him by his parents, and to think he's only interested in Star Wars toys and building Legos when he's not winning spelling bees or solving difficult, advanced math equations.

I still didn't get that interested in the game until I was his age and I got an eyeful of the few NBA games I would watch on the weekends. Now, there is such a huge confluence of pasttimes with modern technology that kids seldom see the outdoors unless they are really motivated by sports to be active.

I guess time will tell.

In the meantime, got to get my own act together.