Fryowa
Administrator
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.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.
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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