Basketball

So I've balled three times now since I've been to China. I know, that's pretty bad...but it was raining pretty much straight for the first three weeks, so I don't feel that bad. Anyway, some thoughts: it's true, Chinese kids love playing like guards. Or at least in pickup games. I haven't actually played with anyone tall enough to be naturally suited for playing forward or center. But yeah the stereotypes, for the most part, are true. I played with a couple guys today that seriously every possession, whoever brought the ball down would drive and kick or attempt an ugly finish. Every play. Four of the five people on the team. They seriously all played exactly the same. They knew each other too, so the fifth guy, who was actually pretty decent but doesn't look good, got zero ball time. It was a little depressing. Kids here (or at least the kids from Asia except one kid from Korea I met) don't play defense. It's like watching a Warrior Suns game from way back when, or I guess like any Warriors game now.

I was playing today for a while, but the one game I sat out, on a fast break one of the kids who plays like a guard (who is also Asian, has cornrows, is pretty skinny, and wears all like XXXXL clothes) went up for a dunk. He made the dunk, but came down a little too hard and broke the backboard in half. I don't know where I'm going to play next time.

As a sidenote, while I was sitting I got to do some pull-ups because the hoops have a weird structure that makes for an efficient pull-up bar. The good news is that I can do more than one. The bad news is my arms hurt like crazy and it's now annoying to write.