Hey, X. Foster,

I grew up in NW Iowa and a cousin of mine played with Tammy Blackstone back in the 90s at Cherokee. She went on to play at Drake. She was 6'4 and could dunk easily. She put on a show in warmups. For small town 2A hoops she was a big deal at the time. I don't remember putting them down with 2 hands at all just the 1 using a girls ball. But still my 5'8 skinny ass never could come close. I could barely touch the bottom of the rim on my best day.
I couldn't come close to dunking, but in HS I was really good at jumping up and grabbing the net about 6" below the rim, hanging on like a cat, and using that to swing myself up to grab the rim. And by then my fingers were giving out and hopefully when I came crashing back to earth I could land on my feet and not end up a pile of assholes and elbows on the floor. It was graceful.

That wasn't my only basketball talent, however. I also sucked mightily at shooting, left-handed layups, free throws, dribbling, passing, and all phases of ball handling. By far my greatest attribute was getting a pass, picking up my dribble immediately, and then freezing up and getting swarmed by 3 defenders until my 6th grade coach had to call a timeout that we probably needed later in the game.

Of all people who played a sport in college, I had to be by far the worst basketball player in the history of that group. It was quite an accomplishment.

A parent of a kid on my son's school team signed a group up for 3 or 4 tournaments this year, and since I've coached those kids in baseball for the last 9, 10 years she asked if I'd coach them during the tourney games and hold a few practices. She got kinda offended when I laughed and (politely) told her no. Lady, you have no idea how much of a favor I just did your son by telling you no...
 
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I couldn't come close to dunking, but in HS I was really good at jumping up and grabbing the net about 6" below the rim, hanging on like a cat, and using that to swing myself up to grab the rim. And by then my fingers were giving out and hopefully when I came crashing back to earth I could land on my feet and not end up a pile of assholes and elbows on the floor. It was graceful.

That wasn't my only basketball talent, however. I also sucked mightily at shooting, left-handed layups, free throws, dribbling, passing, and all phases of ball handling. By far my greatest attribute was getting a pass, picking up my dribble immediately, and then freezing up and getting swarmed by 3 defenders until my 6th grade coach had to call a timeout that we probably needed later in the game.

Of all people who played a sport in college, I had to be by far the worst basketball player in the history of that group. It was quite an accomplishment.

A parent of a kid on my son's school team signed a group up for 3 or 4 tournaments this year, and since I've coached those kids in baseball for the last 9, 10 years she asked if I'd coach them during the tourney games and hold a few practices. She got kinda offended when I laughed and (politely) told her no. Lady, you have no idea how much of a favor I just did your son by telling you no...
I could shoot. I had an ok handle and could use my left hand around the rim a little. But I was a 5'8 120 skinny shrimp. I was fairly quick but I wasn't quicker or faster then anybody else out there my age. But I could shoot pretty well when I was open. That was the trick getting my ass open. All it took was me hitting a couple in a row or so and all of a sudden defenses decided to pay me more attention and I was done having an impact. My team kinda sucked so we didn't have many other options. I was a borderline 1 A level player and I lived up to it
 
I couldn't come close to dunking, but in HS I was really good at jumping up and grabbing the net about 6" below the rim, hanging on like a cat, and using that to swing myself up to grab the rim. And by then my fingers were giving out and hopefully when I came crashing back to earth I could land on my feet and not end up a pile of assholes and elbows on the floor. It was graceful.

That wasn't my only basketball talent, however. I also sucked mightily at shooting, left-handed layups, free throws, dribbling, passing, and all phases of ball handling. By far my greatest attribute was getting a pass, picking up my dribble immediately, and then freezing up and getting swarmed by 3 defenders until my 6th grade coach had to call a timeout that we probably needed later in the game.

Of all people who played a sport in college, I had to be by far the worst basketball player in the history of that group. It was quite an accomplishment.

A parent of a kid on my son's school team signed a group up for 3 or 4 tournaments this year, and since I've coached those kids in baseball for the last 9, 10 years she asked if I'd coach them during the tourney games and hold a few practices. She got kinda offended when I laughed and (politely) told her no. Lady, you have no idea how much of a favor I just did your son by telling you no...
My best attribute as a basketball was court vision. Which is why I can usually spot it in other players when I see it.

My worst attributes were.....well, just about everything else. In particular I couldn't guard dribble drive to save my life.
 
X, welp yet another beat down for your clowns. Bet you can't wait for the season to end.
Still time to come on over, but you'd better hurry before your roster spot is taken by Teddy "Buckets."
 
A friend had an 8 foot hoop and we played 24 on that hoop. Great memories.
When my brother and I were little kids we cut the bottom out of a coffee can and nailed it above our bedroom door. Used a small rubber ball and played countless hours. Mom never said a word, probably glad we were out of her hair. :)
 
When my brother and I were little kids we cut the bottom out of a coffee can and nailed it above our bedroom door. Used a small rubber ball and played countless hours. Mom never said a word, probably glad we were out of her hair. :)
We used a rolled-up sock and had to make it in the narrow gap at the top of the door and the wall. Made me a damn good shooter.
 
X, it's over buddy; knocked out in the first round [to no-ones surprise]. You can rest for a few months and think about your transfer there.
 
A friend had an 8 foot hoop and we played 24 on that hoop. Great memories.
Likewise, only it was a 9 footer. I could dunk pretty easily on that. Regulation hoop I’d pound it off the back of the rim......not enough hops for two-handed, not enough grip for one-handed.

I was around 6’4” in college, so on most teams I’d end up playing center. I saw myself as a tall, fat guard, so it was always fun to play with a couple taller or slower guys. We won the co-Ed all university intramurals my senior year, and since we had a couple 6’6” kids I got to play guard. It was heaven.
 
When my brother and I were little kids we cut the bottom out of a coffee can and nailed it above our bedroom door. Used a small rubber ball and played countless hours. Mom never said a word, probably glad we were out of her hair. :)

You ever do this with a Styrofoam cup? Yep, that was me.
 
My oldest son had a small hoop that hooked over the top of his upstairs bedroom door and the ball was Nerf. Played it for hours. One night we started smelling an electrical burning smell coming from his room. We could find nothing burning, thought maybe something overheated in the attic. The smell kept getting stronger so we called the fire department.

They looked all over, couldn’t find anything. Finally a firefighter spotted the sponge ball wedged in the shade of a lamp on his dresser and up against the lit bulb.
 
When my brother and I were little kids we cut the bottom out of a coffee can and nailed it above our bedroom door. Used a small rubber ball and played countless hours. Mom never said a word, probably glad we were out of her hair. :)
My uncle dug out a hole in the backyard and put a huge trampoline and he put a basketball backboard and hoop net on the pole next to it. 5 or 6 cousins going at it with basketball. I imagine myself as DR. J slamming home with the basketball. That was the most fun I ever had growing up. I would sprain my ankle that summer.
 
My uncle dug out a hole in the backyard and put a huge trampoline and he put a basketball backboard and hoop net on the pole next to it. 5 or 6 cousins going at it with basketball. I imagine myself as DR. J slamming home with the basketball. That was the most fun I ever had growing up. I would sprain my ankle that summer.
Please tell me man you played with that funky red, white, and blue ball like he did...........
 

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