ok, so this is what happened. i showed up at the YMCA to play in a men's basketball league last night. as i was walking through the parking lot, i got a call from my friend who got us into the league. he informed me that it was lucky that i recently celebrated my 30th birthday because he just realized that we were playing in the 30 and Over league. now i have to be honest, my first thought was that this could be a really great thing. i mean, as the youngest player in the league, i could potentially be one of the best athletes. that was probably the dumbest thought i could have had. i walked into the gym and immediately realized that the fellows playing in the game before mine were not old geezers in the slightest, but instead, highly trained athletic specimens. upon witnessing the first dunk of said game, it became increasingly obvious that these guys played a lot of basketball. i hadn't played seriously in maybe a year. as my team began to trickle in, i met five other white guys. the only ones in the place. for some reason my friend had told our team captain that i was "pretty good" and because of that i ended up starting the game and the tallest guy on our team, who should have been the one to do it, made me jump for the ball against one of the shorter guys on the other team. needless to say, i didn't touch it or the air around it. after two trips down the court, i felt like i was going to pass out. to wrap up, i didn't control the game with my skills. in fact, i couldn't hold on to the ball at all and old men were wearing me out in the post. i did make a couple of baskets and our team ended up losing by only 3 points. i am very sore today and I hope we have more substitutes next week, but i have gained a huge amount of respect for the other guys on my team and in the league, and from now on will approach games a little differently. now i am going to practice dribbling.