Saturday, October 22, 2011

58 in a row!

Sometime back in the mid-80's, I made 42 foul shots in a row. At least I think I did. It was a number in the 40's, that much I'm sure of. I clearly remember where I did it, though: at the Hun School in Princeton. A group of us used to play pick-up ball there a couple of times a week. Whenever my team lost and had to sit a game, I used to shoot foul shots on one of the side baskets. One night, everything clicked and I made 42 in a row. Since I never wrote anything down, though, the details have faded. I'm not making that mistake this time.

On Tuesday, September 27, 2011, I tore a muscle in my upper right calf playing morning basketball at the Princeton YMCA. It was probably the worst muscle tear/pull in my life. I could barely put any weight on my right leg for about 4 days. It was so bad that I actually had to get a substitute to teach my Spinning classes for two weeks!

On the morning of Saturday, October 15, 2011, the calf had healed enough to allow me to shoot on the sidelines while a group of guys I currently play with played pickup basketball at the Princeton Theological Seminary. While I still couldn't shoot a jump shot, I was able to shoot foul shots. Over the course of about 90 minutes, I talked with the guys, watched them play, trash-talked from the sidelines, and shot well over 200 foul shots. My shot was OK -- I had a few streaks of 20+ in a row -- but nothing fantastic. At the end of the morning, though, after all the games had ended and everyone was cooling down or packing to leave, I got into a groove. In the span of about 15 minutes, I made 58 foul shots in a row! The 59th shot felt perfect as well but was just a little long, hitting the back of the iron and bouncing straight back to me.

When the streak ended I looked around. Only one guy was left in the gym. Sadly, I couldn't use him as a witness. He had been watching me shoot but wasn't really paying attention. He had no idea that I had made 58 in a row. That's OK. I didn't have a witness 20+ years ago when I made 42!

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