Streetball Is Life by Paul Volponi

Author:Paul Volponi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

That Saturday at the Proving Ground was incredibly physical. Players were pounding each other left and right. The yard resembled the Roman Colosseum more than a basketball court. And for the most part, the participants were willing to fall on their swords before ever uttering the word “foul.”

Angelo and Monk, sensing the mood of the morning, had smartly made early exits. I wasn’t that bright.

Pirate was pissed about Wednesday night’s tournament drubbing. His elbows were working overtime, slashing at anyone who blocked his path to the rim. Thankfully, Pirate was on my squad, though I still made sure not to get in his way.

With our team short of height, I guarded J-Train. He was too big and powerful to push and shove against. So I took the path of least resistance. I tried sticking to him like flypaper, with my relaxed body glued to his. It worked, and J-Train was having a terrible time trying to shake loose.

“You’re like my damn shadow,” complained J-Train. “You gonna follow me to the toilet too?”

Despite his frustration, J-Train didn’t hammer me with an elbow. I was playing him cleanly, and he responded the same way with me.

Some dude stepped off the handball courts and into our game, taking somebody’s place who’d had enough. I could tell by the way he moved that he hadn’t played much ball. But he must have been watching me stick to J-Train, because he tried doing exactly the same to him.

Without a second’s hesitation, J-Train throttled the dude by the throat and body slammed him to the concrete.

I could feel the hurt inside my own bones just watching that.

“Don’t you ever believe you can do me that way,” J-Train hollered, standing directly over him.

Eventually, guys helped that dude to his feet before he limped out of the park. Then I assumed my place next to J-Train, this time leaving an open space between us.

“It’s one thing for you to guard me close, Paulie,” said J-Train, his eyes still glowing with anger. “I’m not about to have some handballer belly up to me.”

That’s when I realized it was all about perception. J-Train could stomach me stopping him because I had a rep as a defender. But he wasn’t going to be challenged by someone who’d barely played the game thinking he could do it too.

The violence didn’t end there.

Two minutes later, Pirate and Jumbo exchanged a hard bump. Pirate responded with a flurry of wild punches at Jumbo’s head. Jumbo tied him up inside his octopus-like arms. But Pirate broke free and grabbed a small ice chest off one of the benches before trying to crack Jumbo’s skull open with it.

Jumbo stalked out of the yard, cursing at Pirate.

“You need help! Serious help!” screamed Jumbo, heading toward the Brown Betty. “You’re going to kill somebody over basketball one day.”

It was all five or six guys could do to restrain Pirate, who had totally lost it on the court for the second time inside a week.

That fight signaled the end of the games that morning.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.