I have officially become a grumpy old man basketball player!
This year I will be turning 39 and in about a year and a half hitting a big milestone of 40 years old. Even though I am pretty old in basketball terms I am going down and playing ball with people half my age. I tell you, it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Skills wise I don’t do too badly and I still beat a lot of the youth today 1 on 1. Not too bad for an old man.
Yesterday the grumpy old man basketball player came out. I lost my cool and didn’t enjoy playing at all. Let me break down what happened.
The Rant
The issue with being an older more experienced player to the competition, a lot of things piss me off. Especially with this generation of basketball player. Too many kids these days think they are Steff Curry and throw up shots from long range. Not to mention that these kids do not pass. I’ll save you the rant as I have already written an article about this called Ball rotation, the lost art. This rant was on the back of a church run with kids not giving the ball up and forcing shots.
Yesterday I went to my local basketball hangout and caught up with a couple of my friends. Unfortunately only one of the two courts were available which meant I had to run full court games with the younger basketball players.
Things that set me off
I am a point guard with a bit of foot speed and one thing I hate is when people think they are playing good D but they are really fouling me. For example, arm bars and pushing me away with their body after I have got the first step on them.
Yesterday I got angry at a player because he was bumping me as I drove and on top of that he was calling “brick” each time I shot. I was having a really bad day shooting which added extra irritability to what he was saying. I had some choice words for him after the game was over and challenged him to play me 1on1 if he thought he could stay in front of me. I really need to keep my emotion in check sometimes.
My last game for the day brought out so much frustration that I did behave like a dick. We had a couple of Asian guys, young, that thought that they could play. They continually didn’t pass, turned the ball over and forced layups. I got so frustrated that I asked one of the two guys “You know I’m on your team right?”.
The last interaction was towards the end of the game when a guy set a good screen. I didn’t see it coming and none of my teammates let me know so I went right through it. I bowled the guy over and he hit the floor. I made no apologies which I regret now but I was so pissed off at the players on my team.
In closing, I think I need to pick who I play basketball with because I am so competitive. I also need to relax and enjoy the game a lot more. I am after all well past my prime and in no way looking to be a pro basketball player again. Time for me to chill out and stop being a grumpy old man basketball player!
