11 December 2007

That was a flagrant personal intentional foul.

-- Michael Scott, The Office

If you haven't watched NBC's The Office, you probably have also wondered what's going on with the "Dwight Schrute" link on the right. My advice to you: Rent the first season of the show and enjoy! It is--scratch that--it was the highlight of my television week, until the writers' strike ended the season.



One of my favorite episodes is the Basketball episode, condensed above. I have a new appreciation for it, too, since I've started playing in the Plymouth City League A Division (there's A and B) on Monday and Wednesday nights. When I was in 7th and 8th grade, I used to scorekeep for the league, and now here I am playing in it with Plymouth Plumbing and Heating. We improved our record to 4-1 with a win on Monday night on a fast break layup with less than 5 seconds left. The 6 people in the gym watching (Ellie was one of them--what a wife!) found it very exciting.

As I said, I've got a new appreciation for the clip I posted above. In the game before our game on Monday night, one of the teams (wearing white undershirts) only had 5 players and were getting tired. What did they do? What any B-league team would do--they recruited the scorekeeper, who happened to be wearing a white shirt, to give them some minutes off the bench. And he did--in jeans and all. The best part: he still had his cell phone clipped to his waist when he started. It was removed after it got knocked off in a scramble for a loose ball. Hilarious.

Much like Jim from The Office, basketball was "kinda my thing" in high school. I was never much of a shooter, but I was pretty quick and could play good defense. I've lost some of that since I developed a certain ambition, but when you consider that some of the guys playing were also playing when I was scorekeeping, I'm still at an advantage.

Is there much of a correlation between basketball and running? Not really. I get tired pretty quick, but my recovery time is about 15 seconds and I'm ready to go again. Is it good for my ankle that gets sprained seemingly every time I try go on a trail run? Actually, it's pretty therapeutic for the little bugger. My ankle is sore immediately after the game, but the next day it feels stronger and the pain-free ranges of motion have increased. I don't wear a brace on it because I am rehabbing it and don't want to give it extra support--I want my own body to provide that in the form of stronger ligaments, tendons, and fascia.

While basketball probably isn't the best form of cross training for running, it's certainly not the worst, and I enjoy it far too much to give it up. It's kinda like golf...it only takes one good shot to keep you coming back. Example: last night I made some great moves to get into the lane, but couldn't finish the layup on a couple of them. If I had scored, I'm certain the "crowd" of 6 people would have together went, "ooooooh." Well, at least Ellie would have.

7 comments:

Topher said...

Let's get this strike over with because the quality of my life is just not the same during re-runs of THE BEST SHOW EVER!!

The Laminator said...

Aah basketball...I'm so with you. You know I started running way back when only as cross-training for basketball season? Go figure.

keith said...

basketball is probably pretty good for your ankle, actually. and all that starting and stopping and sprinting is probably excellent for your overall conditioning! old man winter is good for making you try new things!

Ax said...

That was hilarious! I have actually never seen an episode of The Office, but I've heard it's really good. After I got over my initial impression of "What is this!" I was laughing out loud. I'm gonna have to see if I can track down that first season. Thanks for sharing!

Nitmos said...

Like The Laminator, I also started running to keep in shape for bball. Now I barely play.

As for The Office, it is a great series. Even better? The original BBC version of The Office (only 2 short seasons) from which NBC copied many of season 1's episodes.

Bill Carter said...

Was never a good basketball player, but still enjoyed it enough to make the JV and varsity teams.. I think I might have been voted most valuable bench warmer guy a time or 2 as well.


Anyway, in terms of training and programs I guess I do the BTTGBP program. Haven't heard of it?? Ok, neither have I but lets call it the "Bill Trying To Get Better" Program. What has seemed to make the biggest difference for me is running fast. I was pretty steady around 3:10 in the marathon for a year and half until I added fast running.. which I had previously never done. Now, if I can handle it, I do 2 speed sessions a week.

Tuesday is 1/2 mile intervals (yasso 800s) at a converted marathon pace i.e if you wanted a 3:00 marathon you would do your 1/2s in 3 minutes than a 1/2 mile at a recovery pace of maybe 4 to 4 and half minutes for the 1/2. Repeat for 8 miles.

Thursday is an 8 mile speed test. I give myself 50 minutes to cover 8miles. My personal best is 48:27 and I dread these runs because they hurt so much.

I know that my ultimate goal which is to run sub 2:50 will never happen if I don't continue to push harder and harder on these 2 tough days... but like I said, they do hurt.

Hope this helps even though I know it is not very scientific.

Jess said...

Man, I love "The Office"; so much so, that I was missing it with this writer's strike so I Netflixed the 3rd season to re-watch. Just watched the last disc last night.

"Beer me that water."