The Summer of Sport

Late this past spring Dana and I went out to play a little tennis at Magnuson Park. While witnessing some evasive manuevers from high school students attempting to avoid cops while still holding onto their kegs, we started hitting back and forth. I quickly realized that despite Dana's athletic ability in many areas (she still stands number six in Western Washington history in the steeplechase), a rally in tennis proves to be difficult for the two of us. So I set out to find some good tennis.

I signed up for some adult intermediate tennis lessons with a local pro at Greenlake on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This made the middle of the week quite active for someone who loves being inactive as Wednesdays already featured high flying men's rec league basketball. How is that going you ask?

Well our men's team changed the roster with the summer session. We finished the spring with really only five players (Butler, Tim, Harry Tang, Airy, and myself). The summer brought in new blood as I documented before with Terry the point guard, Nelson the good, and Jeremy the awful. Eight players with me losing far too much playing time. But as summer goes, people didn't show up (Jeremy for three weeks thankfully) and my playing time increased.

We won a game with only four players as Butler re-injured an ankle and I poured in ten awesome points. We lost a heartbreaker last week where Airy went about 2 for 87 from three point range including a potential game-tying shot. My only three of this season carried me that week. Yesterday we won by twenty with only five players and my six point effort. The highlight of the night came as Harry Tang and I exited the building. I asked him about the hot chicks at his work and how it was going. He said that he didn't think hot white girls liked Asian dudes. So no luck.

Needless to say the games are fun sometimes and not others. I don't get to handle the ball as much and my overall numbers are down although my scoring is actually up. Yet I guess best of all, I can play nearly a whole game without wanting to die (my original goal). I feel like I am in better shape despite no loss of actual weight, which leads me to tennis.

I think I like tennis more because it is all up to me. Win or lose. Dominate or suck. No one else gets to make the difference between Agassi-like victory cries and Nadal-like Capri winning second place trophies. So I went to my first class rocking a 1997 Prince Synergy racket with the original strings and grip. That meant flaking black grip in my hand all class and almost no power. But I loved it.

(Note: I also invented a sport this summer called battle running when Dana asked me to run with her. I just started pushing her into things as we ran. Whoever does it the most wins. I dominated).

The volleys were better than I remembered. The groundstrokes stroking. I felt good. My coach gave me a tip on the serve and all of a sudden no one could stop me. But I needed more.



I needed the Federer racket.

So I took a couple rackets out on demo (a Federer Wilson and a Yonex). There was no choice. It only delayed the inevitable. I needed a Federer. And I got it.

All of a sudden I became a man with a racket full of lasers. I beat two people by myself 6-0 in a set. I aced people with serves. I never lost. Never came close. I played a junior in high school and smoked him 6-3, 6-4. Who wants a piece of Debo?

The new racket, the old love. Tennis and me were reunited again. And it feels so good.