I’m 36 Years Old Today… but I feel like I’m 86!

March 26th – another year in the books for me.  Why do I feel like an 86 year old fart?  Because I played in a basketball tournament this weekend… 4 games!  I have blisters all over my feet, scratches and cuts all over my body (thanks for “letting us play,” refs!), and my knees, legs, shoulders, and legs are killing me.  I haven’t played in a tournament in YEARRRRRS!  But it was a lot of fun as I got to play with my old college coach… Carl Armato, my friends “Shinny,” and “Scooter,” as well as a bunch of players that made it when they could.  In other words, because of people’s busy schedule, we were never really at full strength.

For example, in the 1st game we had Todd Townsend on our team.  He played on Marquettte’s Final Four team back in the early 2000’s (with Dwyane Wade). He couldn’t make the rest of the games so we were scrambling and calling people left and right to see who we could pick up.  We ended up getting enough each game for a full squad, but like I mentioned, it was tough to get a good rhythm going with new guys showing up for each of the 4 games.

This was a unique tourney as it was 4-on-4.  The games were played on an elementary court, which is considerably smaller than a high school or college court.

Alright, to recap this weekend’s games…

Game 1

We got off to a good start in the opener on Friday night.  It was a hard-fought game and we pulled away a bit at the end, winding up with about a 10 point victory.

Team - We got the W, and we’re “well on our way.”

Me – I played pretty well.  I probably shot about 50 % from the floor and give myself a B for the game (grading on an A through F scale).

Game 2

I woke up Saturday morning sore as sh#t!  I was thinking, “how am I going to make it through 3 more games!?!” Without the foam roller, lacrosse ball, and a THOROUGH warm-up between each game, there is no way I would have survived.  But I did…

Unfortunately we got our ass kicked up and down the court in this game.  They had a player that played at the University of Iowa and I think he hit 47 three’s on us (give or take).  We got down big early, and stayed down big ’til the end.  Frustrating!  Me however, I was on fire.  It was one of those games where basically everything I shot wound up in the bottom of the net… pull-up jumpers, spinning moves to the basket, And-1s, etc. etc.  I’d guess I probably shot about 12-15 from the field.

Team – A BIG fat L!

Me – My best game of the tourney … A+

Game 3

Once again, we didn’t play very well as a team today.  And once again, we didn’t defend the 3-ball well… at all!  This was a game we should have won, damn it!

Team - Loss #2

Me – I shot average, played average.  C

Note: I went out after this game with Shinny and Scooter and we “got after it” a bit.  We went to a bar/comedy show to drown our sorrows.  And let me tell, it’s hard to keep up with guys that weigh 2 times more than me!  We had a fun night, and luckily our final game on Sunday did not tip ’til 3 p.m.

Game 4

Before the game I’m thinking to myself, “if we lose this game, I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight!”  And I’m happy to report that we went out with a win.  We put it all together… shot well, passed well, play some good D, and finally didn’t let our opponent GO OFF from 3-point land.  Good way to close out a fun weekend.

Team - We won and finished 2-2 for the tournament.

Me – Good overall game and I shot it pretty well with a couple And-1s mixed in there.  B+

Well, I don’t think that I’m going to be playing in a tournament anytime soon.  They take a toll on the body, especially when you don’t play as much anymore.  And although I treat my body pretty well in general, there is a BIG difference between being in “general” shape and basketball shape!!!

I’m going to make today an “active recovery” day (similar to what I go over in “My Body Is A MESS!”), then start up a new training block in a couple days.

As for my birthday, I have a few more clients to train, and then we’ll all head over to my parent’s house as my mom is cooking me up a nice little b-day dinner.

My first birthday with the babies = awesome!