Thursday, September 18, 2008

Basketball...Begins?

Anna has ballet Tuesdays until 8 pm at the Eastside Baptist gym, so I told Will he should use the time to practice basketball.

This week I went up with him to rebound and feed him balls, so he could work on his inside shots. He still shoots with his left hand, I guess from watching me shoot…he plays baseball right-handed. I got him to at least shoot with his right hand when he was on that side of the basket, and he seemed to get the hang of it.

After 30 minutes Will wanted to play one on one. I’m not in good enough shape to drive on him…he’s quicker than me. I relied on quick jumpers from my favorite two spots…the foul line, and bank shots from inside the 3-point line. Luckily I was hitting a high percentage from both places. He often drives hard to the basket, but by the time he gets there his momentum is so forward that his shot clangs to the underside of the rim.

I looked up on the track and saw my friend Jim watching us, while waiting on his daughter to finish ballet. Thank goodness I didn’t embarrass myself, though I was wearing my red ABA-era Pumas.

The Eastside gym has 6 baskets…one full court or 2 smaller courts running the other way. There was a competitive pickup game on one of the smaller courts…there were a bunch more guys there this week than last.

Did you see the Tuesday game, where Chipper was on first and McCann popped to second, with no out in the 9th inning, Braves down by a run. Chase Utley got under the pop, which hit his glove before falling out. He threw to second, but Chipper stayed on first. What was the call? Did the umpire rule it was a catch?

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