Hoop Dreams

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Okay, so I go to a small Jewish school that has a medical program, a pharmacy program, a PA program and a handful of masters programs, BUT -- the team I was a part of still came in 2nd place in the school wide 3 on 3 basketball tournament. And, even more impressive (in my mind) was that 3 out of the 5 of us were in our 30's. Granted, we had a player who was by far the tallest and strongest in the tournament, and another player who is as fast as I've seen. By the end of the tournament I was so tired I couldn't play defense worth hoot, much less hit an open jumper -- if only I could have turned back time.

No yelling at the refs (there were no refs) or spitting on each other. 

Over the years I've spent thousands of hours in pick-up basketball games -- in Portland, Tampa and Colorado. I've also played in many different rec leagues. One thing that all those games had in common, was that you could be sure that at any given moment a fight could break out, or, at the very least, some serious ill-will would be expressed. One thing I love about playing at this school is that not once has there been anything close to a negative experience (other than my shot not dropping or the pain associated with facing "old-age.") There have been many times at 24 hour fitness where I've walked out of the gymnasium before a fight broke out, or left the park (I'm looking at you Alberta Park, in NoPo) in fear of being shot, or shanked.

I feel your pain, Joel. 
Congratulations to the winners, and here's to many more afternoons of hoops before we move on to full days of clinical rotations.

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