29 to 28

We won. We actually won a game. The last game of the season. But we won.

I can safely say this was the best game of basketball I've ever played. And being tall - has it's advantages. There was this moment where I was guarding the basket and a lady charged up to shoot... and I just plucked the ball out of the air before it got a foot out of her hands.

I sat out most of the second half - but I'm glad. We were up one, 27 to 26, with 45 seconds left when THEY SCORED. I thought it was over, and they were going to win by one point. Our team got the ball and they stole it, but then our team stole it back, launched it down the court to one of our gaurds we'd told to stay behind, and she made the basket with 7 seconds on the clock.

It was awesome.

25 to 32

Better and better... though I got an elbow to the nose in our last game. (oh, in case you were wondering, we still lost.)

And Catholic School Teachers... not the clean mouths you might imagine.

28 to 55

I feel so proud. We managed to lose by the slimmest margin we've had all season! We're getting better.

Things I've learned:

- "The Key" has something to do with getting close to the basket.

- If you get too close to the basket and stay there, you get into trouble with the refs. Something about "3 seconds" or something.

- Playing basketball in a gym without air-conditioning in the valley in the middle of the day is like working out in an oven. With lots of people watching you sweat.

- It helps to keep your arms in the air pretty much all the time.

- Be careful of keeping your hands in the air - people will try to throw a basketball at you. You will be expected to catch it.

- You can touch the basketball if someone else is trying to shoot it, but you can't punch it out of their hands. FYI.

20 To 63

Our second game... better than the first.

I didn't score any points this time, but I did block a few shots and got some rebounds, so I felt like I contributed some things.

I don't play next weekend, but the following weekend we're playing what is supposed to be the meanest team in the whole league. Hm. I'm contemplating wearing two sports bras... I hear these "ladies" are pretty free with their elbows.

19 To 97

I played in my first basketball game today. Actually, if we're counting, it was my very first ever organized-teams-with-uniforms sporting event.

And we lost 19 to 97. No, I'm not joking, and if you need any confirmation, just ask JB. He was there to watch all the gory details.

HOWEVER. I also made a basket and therefore scored 2 of our 19 points. Me. With the hopped-up-on-adreneline-18-year-old-high-school-basketball-opposing-team all over my ass. YES.

Did I mention that our opponents were an actual high school girls basketball team? As in a "we practice every day for 3 hours and know our teammates strengths and weaknesses intimately" high school basketball team? Or, if you like, a "we can run solid up and down the court for an hour why are you breathing so hard?" basketball team?

It was... I'm just too tired to finish this blog.

19 to 97 people. 19 to 97.

Practice Practice Practice

One week ago I turned in my 2 weeks notice at my day job. It was a bittersweet moment. In many ways this has been a great job, my boss is the best boss I've ever had, and I work with a lot of wonderful people.

That being said, when I got this new opportunity, I knew I had to take it. While I can't say much due to non-disclosure agreements, I (think I) can say this is the first time I'm getting paid to write.

I will still be a part of the corporate basketball team - unless the new job is so 24-7 that it precludes any other time commitment of any stripe.

Practice so far has been very eye-opening. And exhausting. I got terribly light-headed at my first practice. Second practice was a little better. And now I have a basketball to practice with. Just need the time.

What Do You Mean I Have To Practice?

So the first basketball practice is this Saturday morning. I have yet to buy my ankle-saving shoes. I need to get on that, cause it's all fun and games until someone brakes an ankle.

I'm nervous. I'm getting all of these weird high school ish feelings about having to compete with athletic girls and not being able to.

I'm not feeling terrifically stable at the moment.

Hm.

Yes, I'm Tall.

A kind of weird thing happened to me at work yesterday. I was actually - actively - recruited for the Corporate Basketball Team. And - after protesting that I would likely do more damage than good for whatever team I was let loose on and having all my well-reasoned excuses waived down - I said "sure, I'll sign up."

Brace yourselves for a shock: I was never what you might call an "athletic" child. More what you might call a "bookish" child. I HATED the "team" sports at school because I had glasses and braces and coltishly-awkward skinny long legs and was - yes - generally picked last-ish.

I'm thinking it's PMS. Or... some part of me has recognized that it's possible that the universe has gotten tired of listening to me whine about not having enough physical activity in my life and has presented me with this opportunity that will either 1) give me some physical activity or 2) convince me to cease and desist with the complaining about exercise already.

I asked the lady who recruited me when we start rehearsals. She kind of smiled this half-sweet / half-worried smile and told me "practices" hadn't been scheduled yet.

And did you know you have to have special shoes to play basketball? I mean - not the same sneakers you go running in. A whole different kind of sneaker with a high-top to protect your ankles. I have to worry about my ANKLES.

I signed a waiver promising that if I get hurt I'll admit it's my own damn fault and not sue the company.

Who knows. Maybe I never got into basketball because as a child I was so afraid of rejection that I decided that team sports were stupid and who wanted to get caught up in some pointless exercise where two groups of people expend vast amounts of energy trying to get a ball through a hoop when that time could just as well be spent devouring the entire collection of Sweet Valley High books? SWEET VALLEY HIGH, people. THAT'S how much I hated the idea of playing team sports.

It's going to be an interesting spring.