Shooting Hoops

Baseball is considered America’s National Pastime, but look down your hometown street and chances are you’ll see a basketball hoop in almost every driveway. 

Basketball’s resonance spans the generations - kids bounce the ball on the pavement as they walk and talk, teens release the day’s tension after classes playing pickup in schoolyards and parks, and Boomers show up religiously for Sunday morning competition. For these weekend warriors, as long as their banged up joints respond to ibuprofen and neoprene supports, there is no mandatory retirement age. 

Question: What is it about basketball that draws so powerfully and has such longevity? 

Answer: The game is challenging, invigorating, it’s fun! ….. and perhaps the court is a safe place for ‘acting out’ behavior that would otherwise be considered verboten in the outside world. Can the experiences of playing basketball be metaphors for what we encounter as life happens? 

Whatever it is, the game is a unifying theme for my shared passions - playing & observing the game coupled with photography and writing. Consider this personal reflection …… 

“I admire strength, whether physical or mental, and I appreciate finesse. Sometimes all  these qualities are found in one package. 

Along with his seven foot height and sculpted upper body muscle, Hakeem Olajuwon of the ‘70s Houston Rockets coupled a soft touch on the ball with the deft footwork artistry of a ballet dancer as he powered for low post positioning under the basket. At the lower end of the height spectrum was former Russian refusenik Anatoly Sharansky. He played chess, not power-basketball, but he certainly ‘played big’ as a towering exemplar of mental toughness. Sharansky maintained a resolve to emigrate freely from the former Soviet Union during his ten years of imprisonment, interrogation, and torture. In the end, he out-finessed the KGB. 

I'm not at all like either of these giants of mind and body, but when I stepped onto the court, my goal was to emulate by playing strong and smart. Some days, perhaps only when the Moon was in the Seventh House and Jupiter was aligned with Mars, it seemed that I was able to move and battle Olajuwon-like for inside position while persevering with a Sharansky mindset. On those days, I could score and finesse all opponents sent out to defend against me. Those were good days!”

Shooting Hoops as I call my endeavor, is a combined expression of photographic art, storytelling, and street experiences. It reflects a plain love of the game and is the product of countless trips up and down the court of inspiration. I hope to share this inspiration and offer a little insight about the inner game so viewers can be encouraged to feel the passion and then lace up their shoes.

Visit my web site anytime to view the full 'Shooting Hoops' essay along with other Galleries, Photo-essays, and previous blog-posts. Kindly share what you see on social media. Thank you.

images ©David Greenfield