As I have mentioned before, basketball has been one of my greatest passions. And I have travelled throughout Singapore, chasing that particular game that stirs emotions to such an extent. Though my bball activities have toned down, to say the least, it still creates an impact of my life. Of course, you should know that im blogging this while undergoing cold turkey from bball over the last few weeks, in preparation of(or the attempt to preapare for)my exams.
The memories of the game does not mean the event was significant. But it stayed in my head. My recounting of such events is particularly biased, since it is from my point of view.
Before i start, I should tell you what kind fo player I am, if you have not read this post of my basketball pals and myself. I am primarily a defensive player, defined by my ability to guard practically any position. This has changed alot since my secondary school days, where the thrill of offence was my drive in the game. I operate best in the low post and high post, since im 1.73m tall and 78kg (low height and heavy weight = greater center fo gravity). My favourite position is the small forward position, though I can play any other position other than two-guard. I feel the greatest weakness of my game is my shooting ability, which is inconsistent at best.
Memory1: The year is 2001 and I have already defined myself in the neighbourhood courts. People (godbies, peers, pros,etc) call my by 'Botak!' from my crewcut hairstyle. I was young, cocky, and full of confidence in my speed and offensive ability.
There is one group of players, however, I cannot win. Girls. Yes, shorter, physically weaker girls. But girls that play basketball are particularly scary. They have no fear, no matter how tall you are. They do not notice the differences between sexes and have no qualms with bodily contact and crashing head-first into you. And add that to lethal shooting and you have a potent combination.
Guy on the court avoid body contact with girls. 'Bullying' is frowned upon, so any form of defence, especially blocking shots, are followed by disapproving eyes, shaking of heads and, god forbid, cracking of knuckles.
The thing abt neighbourhood ball is that winning to the only thing that can keep you on the court. Win the game, stay on the court for the next challenger. Lose and wait your turn. And I want to play... as much as possible.
So imagine my horror when I see a group of sec 4 girls, 5 of them, coming down to join in the games of 4 on 4. or in their case, 4 on 5, since they are girls and deserve a handicap. All sec 4 girls were from school team.
My team started to panic, since we are the surviving team on the court; we have won 5 straight games and plan to keep it that way. No contact with girls means the loss of rebounding. No contact also means no defence, especially when there are 5 of them. We are going to lose.
They turn to me. I reply, "pass to me. Im going to shoot three pointers." Now, if you remember, I am a supremely inconsistent shooter; the strategy was risky at best. It was the best we could have come up with.
I checked the ball as I saw the bevy get into position. Impenetratable without any contact. Once I received the ball, I launched it up. Hit!
Check again. Launched again, this time the girl jumped at me with slim fingers right in my eyes, and her body leaping towards me. The ball left my hand. HIT AGAIN! I was on a roll. Till now, I cant recall how I managed to hit that shot. It was distracting.
The girls have locked onto me already and knew I was their primary threat. Crap. A check is followed by the close proximity of 2 bodies. No space to launch a three. I pass to a teammate and run to the diagonal of the hoop at the threepoint line. the teammate promptly pass to me as I jack up the shot before the 2 girls manage to catch up.
That game was the first and last time I managed to hit all 7 threepointers Ive attempted, winning the game by my lonesome and sending the bevy back with 0 points.
Memories 2:The year is 2004. My jc was organising a basketball tornament. I gathered a group of players, a mixture of j1 and j2 peers who had never played with each other before. Yet, we had good talent, and had the opportunity to win the whole thing, since the school team players were not participating.
We called the team Tian Zui, or Sin from Heaven. Sounded cool. We had one practice session, which showed off our decent talent.
The first match came, and I was late. Overslept. I rushed to the court and hurried to hand in the application, being the team captain. What happaned after that was a memory I have tried to forget.
Trouble brewed when the j1s told me that they had a soccer match on that very same day. They had to leave the game halfway. That left less than half the players we had on the team.
So I started with the j1s, seeing as they had to leave halfway aniwae.They were too good for the opponent, overwhelming them and pushing the team to a good 20 point lead.
Then they had to leave, leaving 6 players remaining. One of them was not very good, whom i had put into the team roster to fill up the space.So that left 5 competent players. I fielded all 5 players, myself included. Then disaster struck. I was called for 3 quick fouls. I turned to the referee and shouted "What the...!" Before I could even utter the last word, I was whisted for the technical, and sent out fo the game. I still say the referee didnt like my face.
Being sent out, I had to field that one remaining player, and things went downhill from there. They caught up quickly. Since my teams bench was at the side of the scoreboard, I couldnt see the score. I didnt know they had caught up. When I checked, I realised the lead had shrunk to a mere 1 point lead.
As if things couldnt have gotten any worse, Marcus inbounded the ball that was intercepted. That led to two quick points and a lead with around 10 seconds left. The team inbounded the ball and watch helplessly as Marcus missed the three pointer.
We lost. In the first match of a knockout tornament. Disgrace of the century.
Till now, I know things were my fault. I could have called for a timeout. But I had no idea that that was an option. if I came earlier, I could have asked. The timeout would have helped me discuss things with the team and allow Kaijun to that the 3, rather than our center, Marcus. I could have not lost my temper and not get fouled out of the game. Otherwise I wouldnt have to put in that certain player into the game.
I sworn off bball that day to my girlfriend. It was too painful to watch a ball bounce. The self-imposed curfew lasted 3 days.
More to come later.
05/04/2009 at 11:49 am Permalink
06/04/2009 at 7:43 am Permalink
Hmm, not sure if I agree there. Those who want to seriously hurt you have the means of getting a gun. If guns are made illegal in the U.S., this takes away a method of defense from people who are actually law abiding citizens and would NOT get a gun illegally. Guns are so ingrained in American culture that outlawing them will not suddenly get criminals with guns to throw their weapons away - they’ll just be able to shoot more people, who are now even more defenseless.
Besides, there are plenty of stories popping up in the news about people defending themselves with guns and saving their lives.
06/04/2009 at 2:31 pm Permalink
Nope, banning guns will not solve the problem. Not in the short term. Neither is treating a cancer. Banning guns will present huge problems in terms of crime: Criminals still possessing weapons and law abiding citizens not. Yet, the situation is never so simple. What is to stop a law abiding citizen to suddenly undergo depression and firing at people? Banning guns wont stop the problem, but at least it is the first step in limiting the gun-related problems. Criminals get arrested, firearms will be seized; slowly, eventually, the problem will start to diminish. That is much better than letting the guns be available to any tom dick or harry, law abiding or not.
There are other means of self-protection. Other means that could also not mean endangering your or your aggressor’s lives. Not quite as compelling or as persuasive as a gun, no doubt, bt the alternatives are available. In my opinion, weapons are exclusively meant for the enforcement agencies like the police and military to do what they are supposed to do: protect us.
07/04/2009 at 7:35 am Permalink
I have to admit I don’t quite understand the comparison to cancer. If we were able to just ‘ban’ aka cure cancer all of a sudden it really would solve the problem of people dying from it, wouldn’t it?
I guess we just think differently about it. The way I think of it is if I am under attack by an aggressor then I don’t really care about endangering his/her life. I want to save my own. I’m not the one who attacked them.
We’ve heard plenty of stories about police misusing their powers, including tasering children and innocent people. Where do we draw the line?
07/04/2009 at 2:34 pm Permalink
sorry, I should explain the cancer metaphor a little more. Most cancer patient undergoing treatment normally get worse before they get better. Alot worse in fact. That was what i meant in the scenario if guns were banned.
As for endangering lives, it goes both ways. Ive been in the military before, and ive heard stories of soldiers injured or even killed because of stray bullets or mishandling of firearms. And we are talking about soldiers whom are trained i the use of firearms. What more when dealing with untrained civilians? Are we capable of handling such a big responsibility of holding a firearm? The answer for most civilians is no.
As for police misusing their powers, im sure that is far more unlikely and far less dangerous than if a certain person suddenly starts firing at people. Look at the Virginia Tech case for example. Or even the case that you have brought up. These were done by civilians, not the police. Furthermore, most police are psychologically checked and held accountable for every firearm they own.
08/04/2009 at 4:52 am Permalink
Ah, thanks for explaining the bit about cancer!
The thing is that those who want to use firearms to kill people will get them. There have been many cases where people did, indeed, use the firearms to protect themselves. Had these law-abiding citizens not been in possession of a firearm they could be dead right now. Either way people die.
How do we know that people suddenly going crazy and going on shooting sprees is more common than a corrupted police officer? Is it really more likely that a person will suddenly grab a gun and start shooting his family?
08/04/2009 at 11:11 am Permalink
Well, if anyone do go on a killing spree, it will be all over the news, corrupted or not. So, when was the last time a police officer went on a killing spree, as opposed to a civilian? Hardly, if any. One reason is because the police are never assigned more ammo than they are needed, whereas civilians are able to hoard weapons and ammunition at will.
As you said, either way, people die. Yet, would you rather have deaths and go closer to a solution in terms of limiting firearms, or deaths without any step closer to a solution. How much can u educate people and train civilians in the use of guns? I agree many lives were saved from the usage of guns, but it is because of this availability of firearms which is why they need firearms to protect themselves. It is a vicious circle, and it need to stop somewhere, even if it means costing lives.
It is precisely this availability of guns which is why steps have to be taken in confiscating them. Lets pretend you are a psycho (lol), and you grab the nearest weapon you can find to kill someone. I doubt that a crazy person will search for a firearm when there is, say, a kitchen knife available (people under psychosis have a limited ability to plan ahead). Obviously, a kitchen will kill far less people as compared to the gun.
08/04/2009 at 9:32 pm Permalink
You bring up a very good point and I have to say that I don’t have a valid argument against it! I can’t say I’m totally swayed on the subject of whether guns should be legal or not, but I’m definitely going to be doing a lotmore thinking about it.
09/04/2009 at 2:44 am Permalink
It is just that I kinda feel quite strongly about the subject. Thinking deeper into an issue will be the first step to solve our world’s problems, as opposed to policies for the sake of policies or plain inaction.
Would you mind if I publish our conversation on my blog? Ive been interested in the relation of crime and guns for quite some time and had wanted to blog about it.
09/04/2009 at 5:32 am Permalink
I don’t mind if you publish it at all