greggoconnell.com blog

I played basketball practically my whole childhood. I started playing in my backyard when I was 6 years old. I used to play all the time with my friend Kevin Oliveria. He was so much better than me. He used to drain shots from so far away at such a young age. I would watch in amazement. It probably didn't hurt him any that his cousin Dana Barros was in the NBA.

I joined organized leagues when I turned 11 years old and dominated the players and teams with my impressive shooting skills, cross over dribble & thirst for knowledge. Ok so all I could really do well was pass and shoot from far away when I was wide open.

I stopped playing organized basketball when hit the ripe old age of 15. That's the age I went into my Nirvana wannabee stage, loner punkass stage & anxiety can't eat cause I might throw up stage.

So that brings us to the present. I basically haven't played a game of basketball since I was 15 and I'm now 26. Let's do the math...DAMN 11 YEARS! The same day I came out of retirement
I played 9 innings of softball. I had 2 hits, couple runs scored, 2 diving catches in the outfield & signed 3 autographs so you can see why I was a bit tired.

We had a 5 on 5 full court basketball game. Thank God the guy I was covering for the game had something wrong with his shins so he couldn't run at top speed or for long periods of time because I was pretty winded from running back and forth. I showed glimpses of my former self. I made a few nice passes, I made one jump shot, made some nice picks and played solid defense - sure it was all against a guy that was basically handicapped but I still kicked ass! The pain in my body that I felt after the game was such a nice feeling but it also showed me how many muscles I don't use. I'm starting to think I should bring a basketball on my jogs so I can stay in tip top shape and lose my fast food gut!

love your toy soldier,
gso

P.S. In the softball game my team won 26-25 and in basketball my team won 13-11. So the moral of this story is always pick me for your team because if you do you will win and you will look good which may be even more important than winning itself!