April 30, 2001
CYBERCOLUMN:
Basketball and aging need not be mutually exclusive
___By Brett Younger
___From the moment I learned that I am moving, I have been grieving the loss of my old men's basketball game. For about a year, I have been in a group of slow guys who play basketball once a week.
___ The first time we played, we started out full court. We found that after two or threetrips up and down the floor, the oxygen disappeared from the gym. There was nothing left to breathe. We were secure enough not to need to show off, and so we switched to half court, which is more of a thinking man's game anyway. For awhile, a couple of good, athletic high school kids came, but they must have been intimidated, because they haven't been back in a long time.
BRETT YOUNGER
___I don't want to brag, but I have my moments. I've made some moves, particularly head fakes, that could twist a defender into a Picasso painting, moves that could only be more impressive if someone were playing defense. There have been games where I've dropped jump shots from downtown, nothing but the bottom of the net, whoosh, whoosh, Drano City, highlights at 10. A few times, I've made as many as two shots in a row.
___ Ours is a gentleman's game. We don't call fouls on each other. We call fouls on ourselves: "Hey, I fouled you. Your ball."
___ "No, you didn't foul me. You take the ball."
___ "No, you take the ball."
___ "Please, take the ball."
___ We don't play a flashy game, but we can be serious about it. When we drop a pass or dribble out of bounds, we look at our hands as if there is something wrong with them, because there may be. No one ever watches us play, but I imagine it would be fascinating for spectators. Most young players think the game is about shooting three pointers and slamming dunks. We understand the beauty of a gently thrown pass. We don't do a lot of diving for the ball, but we hustle, intermittently, once every 20 minutes or so. We do this primarily to give everyone a chance to say, "Good hustle."
___ There is some trash talking, but it's reverse trash talking. You might hear one of us say: "You're too good," "I can't keep up with you," "I really thought that one might go in" or "Quit running."
___ We don't run because we don't need to be that close to the person we're ostensibly guarding. We're smart enough to understand that if we move fast or far, we'll be sore the next morning.
___ Nonetheless, by the end of the game, most of us are inanimate objects, so we take a lot of long breaks. It's not uncommon for one of us to amble over to the water fountain in the middle of play.
___ Ours is basketball for people who have moved a few notches down his belt, and then bought a new belt. Ours is a game for those whose bodies are monuments to every brownie, ice cream cone, Milky Way, Eskimo pie, Twinkie and potato chip. Every single M&M I ever ate is still there. We have learned to overcome minor aches, pains, muscle deterioration, hearing and vision loss, reduced limb function, memory lapses, emotional instability and male pattern baldness.
___ I realize this isn't a game that I would've enjoyed as a 17-year-old, but I've figured out that I'm not going to have my picture on a basketball card and I like moving slow. I'm comfortable with a game for middle-aged grownups. I want to keep moving even if not as fast as it once was. I want to play, even if it's half court.
___ I don't want to make too much of this, but it seems to me that we're constantly looking for compromises between wearing ourselves out and getting fat, between running hard and hardly moving, between strenuous work and a good nap, between discipleship and peace.
___ We want always to do our best, but we also want to feel OK when we're too tired to do our best. Every day we feel the tension between wanting to right all the wrongs and wanting to read a good book. We strain between the desire to keep pushing and the need to rest in God's grace.
___ Within the Christian faith there are, among many others, two traditions that reflect this tension.
___ One is the social justice tradition that works hard to teach people to read, feed the hungry and change the government. Those who follow the social justice tradition work to end racism, sexism and militarism. They take Jesus seriously when Jesus says, "You are the salt of the earth."
___ A second tradition is contemplative. It remembers the Sabbath and keeps it holy. Those who follow the contemplative tradition pray and meditate. They take Jesus seriously when Jesus says, "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
___I don't always know how to deal with the tension between activism and reflection, but I've figured out at least this much: In those moments when I'm working the hardest, I need to respect those who are learning to meditate. And in those moments when I stop to think, I need to admire those who still are working hard.
___There are moments when I'm driving to the basket as hard as I can and moments when I drift over to the water fountain. All those moments are part of a good game. So if you know any slow, short, old guys in Fort Worth, have them give me a call.
___ Brett Younger recently resigned as pastor of Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco to become pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth.
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