I Suck At Basketball

Today marked the beginning of a very busy weekend for Karen and I... and our baby daughter (Briana). With it being the Fourth of July weekend, we had a bunch of cookouts on our schedule... one every day of the weekend... Monday too if you include the observed holiday as part of the weekend.

The cookout that was scheduled for today was at my friends (Ron and Trinh) who live right up the street in nearby Pembroke. Truth be told, we had another cookout also scheduled for today at my friend's (Hot Amy) in Quincy. Never liking to overbook things (because of the added stress of trying to accomplish too many things in one day), I decided to simply attend the cookout which had invited me first.

In this case, the invitation I received first was for Ron and Trinh's. Naturally, Karen attempted to go to both cookouts, in part because her family was going to be at Hot Amy's. And of course with relatives, particularly my mother-in-law, Briana had to go to be "shown" to everyone. Plus, there were rampant rumors that this would be the last cookout they host on the third of July.

Anyway, Karen only stayed at Ron and Trinh's for a little while, which was fine with me because I find Ron and Trinh's place to be like a mini-vacation spot complete with a pool. Ron and Trinh, are by far, the most gracious hosts I know. Trinh had hand-made so many burgers, it was unreal. (The burgers by the way were very delicious.) The amount of food was crazy.

Ron was a great bartender as well. He was doing his best to push the "special" of the day: the Brazilian drink known as the Caipirinha. Of course, I think he just liked saying the word "caipirinha". Apparently, he had recently discovered the drink while on a trip. (And for anyone curious, I thought the drink tasted like a mojito... just without the mint.)

Needless to say, it was definitely a great time (as usual) at the mini-vacation spot known as Ron and Trinh's. It was good to catch up with old friends. I think the highlight of Ron and Trinh's party was the basketball game we ended up playing outside of his garage.

Too bad I suck at basketball. Luckily, everyone else at the party sucks at basketball too. Although, I'll have to give Ron and my friend (Garv) credit. They seemed to be in the best shape out of everyone there. It was a good thing that I happened to be on their team... not that I did much because I was sucking wind pretty early on.

I have not shot a basketball in quite a long time. Up until today, I can't remember the last time I played basketball. But just playing basketball again with a bunch of friends was fun. It reminded me of my childhood where a bunch of us would routinely get together to shoot some hoops (then at a basketball court located at Mass Fields in Quincy). It was something to do with a bunch of friends... just hang out and play.

Surprisingly, I thought I held my own while playing basketball. Granted, my friend (Marc) did have to spell me a few times. Like I said earlier, I was simply gassed from all the start-and-stop running.

Anyway, time simply flew by. Before I knew it, it was fairly late. And with Karen and Briana at Hot Amy's, Marc and my friend (Kelley) invited me back to their place for the UFC 116 pay-per-view. Naturally, I could not say no because this was the return of the heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar. Lesnar suffered a possible career ending bout of diverticulitis after his last championship match last year (which he won and made a total ass of himself after the fight). An interim champion had been determined in the meantime and so Lesnar was set to face the interim champion (Shane Carwin) to unify the titles upon his return.

The pay-per-view was good. Carwin almost actually won the fight in the first round. Unfortunately, like my current basketball conditioning, Carwin was gassed after a few minutes. Lesnar ended up winning early in the second round.

Of course, watching the pay-per-view naturally reminded me of my BFF (Kerry). Kerry, who was present at the last UFC pay-per-view that we watched... which was Lesnar's last match until today... had made the funny comment that she "could so do Joe Rogan". Joe Rogen (of Fear Factor fame) is one of the announcers for UFC. Of course, she meant that she could do his announcing job, but the Freudian slip was just classic... and comical.

Regardless, today has been a great fun day. I had a good time hanging out with friends.