21 Feb Prison Basketball at it’s Finest
On Thursday nights part of the gym is cleared for full-court basketball. The games can be contentious and therefore include three referees, two score keepers, and the bleachers are full. Full disclosure – there are only two sets of bleachers, but still. My car works out from 4:30-6:30 and I was able to catch the second half of last weeks game.
Guys were draining three pointers from five feet off the line, charging through the middle of the court, and the foul count was increasing. It was a close match throughout most of the second half and in the final minutes the game is 46-48. After taking a rebound and running the ball back up the court the game is now tied 48-48. Then with only 7 seconds left the other team drives hard and sinks a shot from inside the free throw line to bring the score to 50-48.
The ball is thrown in and one of the best players on that team charges across the court at full speed. He’s dribbles around and past his opponents to toss up a running three pointer behind the line, evading a defensive block from his opponent, and the ball swishes in the net as the buzzer goes off. Final score: 50-51. Absolute pandemonium ensues. The whole gym is yelling and howling, the guy who made the shot is running around pounding his chest, screaming, and as if it were a scene in a movie someone hooks up their mp3 player to the loud speakers and hip-hop starts pounding through the air. Everyone is floored, there’s an electricity in the air, and for those few moments we definitely we’re all feeling so good we forgot where we were.