Extra Moves, Extra Words: Playing Pickup Basketball the “Right Way”
When I hang with my mom she talks through a concept. So do I. So does my daughter. In other words, words go on after the core idea. Words. We keep going and we look outside and around us and add those elements into words. The hummingbird. You see it? Add that word. A convoluted set of sounds in your mind? Just get it out. Add it to what you are saying. It is like a straw; you drink the soda and keep thinking some is left when it is all gone. Something is left though. Whatever you get out of the “extra” words adds color, existential nomadic zones, and sometimes, relief and “creation.” Stories and narrative have extras gasps. Breathe. Words and sounds came out!
Recently, I was playing pickup ball and the point guard told me: Shoot it! When you get the ball, shoot it quick before the defense comes! I understand. Yet, I remembered the words. Palabras. Words. The way we talk to each other in our family has all these extra words. This pg from Washington state wants to get quick shots. I want extra words and to slow it down. Extra moves. Extra moments of imagination. In pickup ball, sometimes, I take the position that a turnover is not a turnover if it has words. I want to see what else can be written in the slide and spin. He wants to win by the way he was “educated.” Efficiency. Avoid “mistakes.”
I was able to play through the pg’s take on hoops and mine even if there was no middle ground. He sighs and I do what I want. Sometimes, I follow his take and I say something really loud, and he whispers about how that was the way to go in terms of my decision. Other times, I laugh quietly and internally after checking out my Steph Curry shoes and I ponder why I picked the color red.