August 15, 2005

You can learn a lot about a man by the way he handles a basketball.:

The court is a stage of never-ending surprise, a space that defies expectations and is always testing our perceptions. Players invariably get sized up physically -- too short, too fat, too gray, too white to be any good. Wrong. You can go to the court and see someone who's built like Hercules, only to discover that, basketball-speaking, he's a bum. We all scout one another while warming up, examining sneakers, shorts, how one dribbles, the release and arc of one's shot. And yet the clues never tell us what we need to know -- only the game does that.
Also, a nice online chat with the author.

posted by kirkaracha to basketball at 04:51 PM - 4 comments

From the Washington Post Magazine's Sports Issue, which also includes essays on autocross, taking tennis lessons at 51, and the mysterious allure of golf.

posted by kirkaracha at 04:58 PM on August 15, 2005

Great article, kirk. Thanks for posting! I've never balled except for what was required in high school gym class (I was terrible), but I've always loved to watch well-played basketball. This article helped me understand why.

posted by rocketman at 06:20 PM on August 15, 2005

I really enjoyed that story, most of all because it made me want to get back into some pickup bball, even though I don't have a whit of talent or sufficient height.

posted by insomnyuk at 03:23 AM on August 16, 2005

Those are great pieces. Thanks for pointing to them.

posted by Uncle Toby at 11:47 AM on August 16, 2005

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