I'm sure you've heard this humorous saying:
"It takes me all night to do what I used to do all night."
True, but that's not really what I'm talking about here. I'm talking more about the games young men play, the games that seem to matter so much at the time. Until I was 21 or 22, I played three sports recreationally, and if I didn't exactly have mad skillz, there were things in each of those games that I could do very well.
Now not only can't I do them, I can barely picture in my mind how I was ever able to do them.
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| 16 and in great shape. |
But from about 18 to 21, I was good in pickup games and a fairly decent intramural player. I could do three things pretty well -- handle the ball, pass the ball and shoot from outside.It might be a slight exaggeration to call my shots "jump shots," since the number of inches in my vertical leap could easily be counted on one hand.
But they were accurate, especially when I would get into a groove. It wasn't at all unusual for me to be able to make five or six 20-footers in a row in those instances, and it felt wonderful.
I don't think I've played basketball in more than 30 years, but last year I went to a sporting goods store and purchased a decent ball. We have an outdoor court here -- a half court actually -- and I thought it might be fun to see if I could still shoot.
I can't.
It wasn't just missing more shots. I missed every shot I took from the outside and I missed them badly. From 20 feet or so, maybe a quarter of my shots didn't even get to the rim. When I moved in close and shot layups, I made a few. But from the outside, my trajectory was flat, my depth perception horrible.
So much for basketball.
Football isn't something I'm ever going to play again. I don't think I've played football since 1971 or '72, but one decent skill I had in my teens was being able to throw long, accurate passes. When my game was on, I could throw the ball 50 yards or so and put it on target to a receiver. My lack of foot speed on the basketball court wasn't as obvious in football and I could roll out and throw on the run.
It isn't just that I couldn't do it now. I have a hard time picturing in my mind how I ever was able to do it.
Baseball was never my best sport, even though my love of the game is far beyond any other sport. I was an OK player, but I never devoted the time and practice that would have been required to be good at it. I did coach youth baseball for four years in the 1990s, but the main purpose of that was to spend time with my son.
Virgile loved baseball, and became disgusted and fell away from the game during the steroid era. The last I ever played was a coaches' softball game at the end of the season in 1997. I was overweight and out of shape, but I had great fun, including laying down a beautiful bunt and beating it out for a hit.
Of course, by the time the game was over, I was limping on TWO pulled hamstrings.
No baseball for me since then.
It isn't that there aren't things I do better now than I did when I was younger. I can break 90 consistently on the golf course and occasionally even break 80. The last time I bowled, I rolled a 200 game (although it was in 1987).
But I sure would love to be able to shoot jump shots again, to glide to a spot on the floor, take a pass and throw up a shot that draws nothing but net.
I would love to be able to do some of the other things I did when I was the young guy in that picture clearing the horse. That was the last year I took physical education, and I was in such good shape. I could do a dozen pull-ups, 50 push ups and more than a hundred sit-ups. After running the 600 in 2:52 in the eighth grade, I managed a time right around 1:40 three years later.
I hadn't hit my last growth spurt yet. I was 5-7 and about 135 pounds.
I wouldn't want to be 16 again. Not really, but I would dearly love to be able to run and jump like that.
Maybe next time.
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