Basketball
Some guys at work I head to the gym with three lunch times a week, talked me into some basketball. I really liked the fact that we strive for a 10 minute weights workout – and I often scoff at the ‘long-timers’ and squatters that we have to maneuver around when we are on our little rush to fit in 10-12 sets and get out of there.
I especially like the fact that its almost fast enough that we don’t really sweat and we are out of there and on the way to grab a bite or head back to work in record time. Not with basketball. Despite the air conditioning, we are all drenched. Despite the “we’ll just shoot around” line, I know the competitive nature that envelopes us all will win out.
Trying to not sweat so much, I fall back on my usual strategy of remembering past solutions and getting to the crux of the game. Min Max tables chart out in my head. Minimize effort (sweat) and maximize results (baskets and reputations) . I think of the main data points to recall, the way to size up an opponent, how to exploit my strengths and their weaknesses- I strategize that their must be about 7 things to know about someones game. The stuff that would fill my cheatsheet about player X, or player Y.
Is he Righty or Lefty? Can he dribble? Perimeter shooter or layup artist? Where does he set up to shoot? When does he spot the rim? What’s their pattern and rhythm? Upset any of that and they will usually start to miss. Miss much more often. There are others, but it was only 2 on 2, and we only played 3 games, before getting exhausted.
I guess I was applying a sort of facial reading, but in a more physical whole body way. It would be interesting to see where the tells are. Like a poker game. Patterns set up, and then I like to exploit them. That’s the real fun part of the game for me. Basketball, poker, chess, trading, people reading – there’s more in common than we think sometimes. Or at least in the way I see things.
The other difference is I can control how much weight to lift, the number of reps, and choose to skip a particular weight machine, or exercise. In the heat of the game, past glories light up our memories, and we think that we can hit that shot again. There are more opposing forces here, than just steel and gravity and singular will power. Arms and elbows and knees collide in the dance to score 15 baskets, first. I’m sore and bruised.
