From basketball to Agricola, it has been a long day

BLOT: (20 Feb 2011 - 12:27:12 AM)

From basketball to Agricola, it has been a long day

A couple of weeks ago, an urge to play basketball came over me, so much so that I went by Target and got a ball (it's green and something like 40% post-consumer recycle). Not sure why. I have never played the game much, and back in my childhood days, when I had a lot of friends who were into sports and could have had teams and such, I was fairly timid about performing athletically in public. Turns out, later on, I'm not that bad at sports. I just never quite wanted to do them in front of people. As I've gotten over this, have actually become kind of non-jerk assertive in my ability, I find my sports-playing circle awfully tiny. Namely: Sarah. Occasional others. The reason? I still don't play super-competitively. I have no need to break myself to beat you. This means I cannot play with many of the actually sporty people I know. Then, my non-sporty friends have washed their hands of the whole "sweat" thing.

In the 90's, basketball was possibly the king sport for the homegrown athlete. Garages, parking lots, gravel lanes: all had dinky goals strung up. I have played a fair number of games on netless, tilting, rough-ground "courts", defined as much by physical limitation as anything like legal measurements ["If it goes into th bushes, it is out!"]. Somewhere in there, it started to fade. When my urge to play came up, I realized there was a lack of those old, DIY outdoor goals. What was once prevalent is now mostly gone. We had one here at Fontainbleu, apparently it was taken down. Went over to Brahan Spring park, and not only are there no basketball goals, but there is a lack of playable tennis courts, raquetball courts, and a number of other things they used to have before they became nothing but disc golf (which I love, mind you) and baseball diamonds. And old people, cranky and fishing. Sarah and I walked around there for forty minutes, and outside of a couple of suspicious looking sorts, and the godlike voice of someone on a PA, we found little as cool as a solitary, gold-colored semi-albino mallard with a green bill.

We ended up playing at UAH, near CCRH (UAH = University of Alabama in Huntsville, CCRH = Central Campus Residence Hall, for those not near here) and it was fun. The goal there in the back corner parking lot has been up as long as I have been in Huntsville, and is netless and a bit off-plumb, but it sufficed. And the game was great. Took us maybe 10-minutes to remember how to score in the game, but after that, we got steadily better and steadily more tired. It ended up being a close game—I just barely won—but the highlight was when Sarah (whom I am now telling people has the nickname "The Octopus") went all handsy on me and actually stole the ball. She was beet-red and out of breath, but had a huge grin on her face.

I guess we should just give up and play indoor basketball. Eh, something about it just doesn't seem as pure.

The other significant event was going down to The Deep this afternoon (The Deep is a hobby store, mostly centered around boardgames and comic books) to hang out with Jacob. They have tables set up where you can play games with other players, and have lots of kids coming in playing Pokemon and lots of older people coming with Magic: the Gathering and Warhammer.

We had Agricola (Agricola's official site). It is a boardgame where you have a farm. As time goes along, you build up your farmhouse, tend to your fields, and take on odd jobs. You get a bigger family, some better equipment. Finally, after about two-hours (which is, surprisingly, only 14 turns) you tally up your points to find out who had the best farm. It sounds both awesome and lame, right? Well, it is pretty awesome to play. I spent the first half the game learning it, so I am looking forward to playing the game now that I have. I am not sure how other strategies will work, but I focused on getting and breeding livestock. It worked for me, I won, but I felt like I barely touched a tenth of the kind of play that I could have delved into. Will be playing it again soon, so if someone wants to meet us possibly next weekend, I am up for it.

And so basketball got mixed with Agricola and it was the weirdest variation of Chess-Boxing since, well, Chess-Boxing. At any rate, a meal out at China House (note: mai fun with tofu = good, their beef with mushroom = eh, at most) and then somehow bled away about two hours and now about midnight am getting ready for sleep because I am an old man and old men get tired.

Long day at work tomorrow, though I have to tell you, I am kind of tempted to wake up early (again) and then go and play some pre-work basketball.

LABEL(s): Me in 2011

OTHER BLOTS THIS MONTH: February 2011