New Shoes Round 1:

My new shoes feel fantastic! And if they have the same effect on my off-the-screen shooting, then I may be in for an era of Rip Hamilton like guard play. I don't know if it was the extended warmup time while we waited for enough people to show up to even run 2s, or if the extended time off had a positive effect on things, but I made the most of the flashiest shoes I'v ever owned.
Besides the good shooting, I noticed that my body was noticeably less willing to make and absorb contact. I might have been a little too tired to be playing, but I could feel a difference in the beating that my body was taking. This, I suppose, is the reason players like to stay strong and add bulk to their bodies. Even what I had built up over my regular playing schedule helped.
I still can't hit a layup. I noticed that unless the game involves some amount of fast breaking, I haven't really added a penetration dimension to my game. Just something to keep in mind as I perfect the consistency of my jumpshot.

My New Shoes!

After eating a ginormous hole in the left half of my world-famous breadloaves, the time to retire my trusty pair of outdoor shoes finally came. And HollyG stepped in with the only shoes capable of replacing the glory of the fallen Kobe IIs. She custom ordered a purple and gold Nike Shox with 8 on the back and GOTBEN embroidered on the sides. Every day I see them I love them more even though they may get me beaten up if I wear them on the hard streets of the ghetto (Noe Valley, RIP)

L.A. Daily News - More Sports Headlines

L.A. Daily News - More Sports Headlines

After signing a seven-year, $136.4 million contract in July, Bryant looked every bit in control as the Lakers reported for training camp. He has been working out with teammates for the better part of a month, calling every one of them personally.
"I said, 'If you guys want to come down to L.A., come on down,' " Bryant said. 'But don't come down for the weather. You can expect to work hard.' "
While Bryant taped promos for the Lakers' radio and television partners Monday, his new teammates offered words of praise for him. If Bryant's reputation across the league was damaged by his statement to detectives about O'Neal, it wasn't easily apparent.
"It's awesome," Lamar Odom said. "Working out with Kobe Bryant is every guy in the NBA's dream. ... I've known Kobe since he was 16. He's a good person."
Vlade Divac added: "Kobe's attitude reminds me of Magic. Magic used to do that same thing, calling the guys, making sure they're all on the same page. ... He looks great. I used to block his shot. Now I can't."

Finding a League

I got word from the dreamleague organizer (www.dreamleague.org) and it got me thinkin about finding an organized league to play in. Unfortunately, they play on Sundays and it might interfere with me and HollyG's weekend plans. So she scoped out a couple of other possibilities in SF for me. Hopefully, I'll sign up with one of these.

http://www.recsports.ucsf.edu/leagues/#basketball

http://www.ggsportandsocialclub.com/leagues/index.cfm?content=leagues&sportid=16&contid=19

The UCSF one is nice because maybe I can hook up with Varun and play. The GG club sounds like it could be just as much a dating service as it is a sports league and is a little pricier, but could be a nice backup. I'll also query the Google folk for interest. Running with a Google team could be great.

Gamelog 9/16 Saratoga High

To commemorate the 3rd monthiversary of the Kobe/Hollyg union, Timmy and I went to go check out the open gym at Saratoga high. The competition, as Timmy forecasted, was a crew of large, intese, angry white men. We only got to run in two games since the big gym was occupied by a girls' volleyball game. A way undersized team of me, Timmy, Tommy (vic's brother), Vic and a medium sized Indian guy, stole our first game, off of some decent ball movement, tricky defense and great shooting percentage. I went two for three that game (one on a running hook/converted jumper on the right baseline, the other on a lightly contested jumpshot - 12 feet or thereabouts). I did a fairly good job of boxing out the opposing power forward and stopping him from scoring. The next game, I matched up against an oafier, slower, and less friendly guy. Going up for one driving shot I got knocked to the ground when their center came down on top of me and my guy forced the ball back down on me as I was coming up. I called a foul and the oafy guy complained. Cause clearly his arms were up in the air as he was holding them over me forcing me down.

Generally the competition at this place is a little better, but their attitudes are a little aggravating. That, plus the 3 dollar pricetag and long drive home, might keep me away from this new venue. It was nice to be indoors though.

Gamelog 9/15

So this may prove to have been our final wednesday game. My legs were a little tired after running Monday (coming back from my week off). The numbers continued to diminish, but we mustered up enough for fours by the end. Ran in a bunch of decently close games. The highlight was when HollyG showed up for about 10 minutes and watched my two best plays of the night. I batted away an entry pass for a steal and breakaway layup. Then I caught a kick-out pass for an open jumper that went straight to the bottom of the net. All this and I still made it to get dinner with HollyG and get on the 8:00 shuttle!

GameLog 9/13

We surrendered several players to Monday night football and for the first time in recent memory, we had few enough guys to run only two squads. My first undersized squad with G and Alex staged a fun upset against the larger doug, Ben Smith, and Shailo. Then we traded timmy for Alex and started running. And running the table. We didn't lose till the last game of the night and fast broke our way to most of our victories. It was my first ever time playing on the same team with timmy after 7 weeks of anticipation. It lived up to all the hype. :)

GameLog 9/1

A really early crowd made my week's second consecutive early exit possible. We had five people ready to go before 6:00 and got some great games in. The squads were very competive, with intriguing matchups. Big Luke Stone v. Nate. Doug v the other tall dude from AdWords with the foul-drawing hesitation on his shot. And the regulars were there, Me, John, Mike, Randy, Stephen. The last game came down to a tight race a the end. But after struggling to find the offense for most of the game we finished on some great plays that freed me up for two open jumpers and we buckled down on the last possession of the game to force a bad shot and I scored the gamewinner on a breakaway layup (off a timely outlet from big adwords guy). It's always nice to finish with a win.

GameLog 8/30

Running with the VP

In what was one of my shortest outings ever (I played two games, showered, almost got a game of foosball in and still almost made it home on the 7:00 shuttle) I had a really good game playing against VP Rosenberg. We started amazingly slow going down 7-1 before we turned it on and started scoring. Doug, Shailo, Maneesh and I took it to 10-10 before losing to John, Jon, Ben Smith and G. Rosenberg scored on a 8 foot turnaround-fadeaway, pure elevation and strength shot. HollyG showed up only minutes too late. If she'd been there we definitely would have won. :)

Free Kobe!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1872740

Kobe Bryant's legal drama may soon be over.

ABC News is reporting Wednesday afternoon that the prosecution in the Bryant case will ask the judge later in the day to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning the case cannot ever be brought back for trial. According to the report, the accuser has told prosecutors she is no longer willing to testify