First, I never played in the NBA, and second the song "Pump Up The Jam" was my favorite preparation tune before playing the big game. And regardless of one's social status or dress......if you grew up in the 90s, you listened to this music, admit it. Regardless, athletics is very important to the WASP culture. Sure, watching football, or playing tennis, golf, and lacrosse is the most WASPy, I guess. However, I was a basketball player, and my talent probably lead me to not attending an Ivy League school. My father attended Hotchkiss, and he actually played basketball at Yale. He was very talented, and at 5'9" he was lightning fast. Fortunately, dad passed on his love of basketball to me, and I started playing at a young age. It became very apparent to him that I was very talented, and he sent me to a 4-A public school powerhouse to bare their colors. Though only 6'0" tall, I was extremely fast and I had a 37" vertical leap (I could dunk the crap out of a ball). In four years of high school, our team won 2 state championships, lost in the finals, and made it to the final four in the state competition. The following is a short synopsis:
Freshman Year - Started Varsity - Avg. 13.5 pts, (Won State Championship) - Overall Record 30-0
Sophomore Year - Second Year Starter - Avg. 20.1 pts, (Lost In Final Game) - Overall Record 29-1
Junior Year - Third Year Starter - Avg. 23.5 pts, (Lost in Final Four Game) Overall Record 30 -3
Senior Year - Fourth Year Starter - 34.3 pts, (Won State Championship) - Overall Record 20-10 (yes, we lost our first 10 games....but we finally pulled together and won 20 games in a row along with the state championship. Despite our record, this was by far the best team in the four years I played).
After high school, I went on to play for a strong nationally known basketball team and I was a starter. Unfortunately, I grew very ill after my first season, and I lost around 35 lbs. It took me a full year to recover, but I was not in shape to play basketball for nearly two years. Unfortunately, I lost my scholarship and never played organized basketball again. Regardless of my sad ending, I recommend all WASP wannabes take up a sport. So, have a great weekend and get out there and play.
24 comments:
The lifestyle represented by you taste in interior decoration, furnishings, and clothing is classy.
Athletics? That's Joe the Plumber's territory.
How great - your father lettered on Yale's bball team? I think my 2nd cousin played for them - but not sure when - a branch of the family we're not particularly close to.
Clearly, my comment on your pulling your back out (or something) not being due to playing sport (like a proper WASP) hit home and motivated this (again, incredibly lame and self-serving) post.
If you're going to take inspiration from your comments, you should at least have the balls to publish the comments in the first place.
And as for your "talent" at basketball being determinative in your not being admitted to any Ivies...well, I can assure you, it wasn't your basketball playing that had anything to do with it.
Basketball isn't the least bit WASPy.
Neither is playing for an enormous, basketball-powerhouse public high school.
Where did you go to school, Richard?
Dear Walter Mitty,
I congratulate you for the strength of your imagination (or perhaps of your pathology) and for your ability to translate that imagination into a creative and detailed, if rather desperate, piece of fantasy, even perhaps to the point of posting "anonymous" replies to your own original post to carry the absurdity to its amusing conclusion (i.e., My father was at Yale and an anonymous poster believes he was at Yale.) Marvelous!
Of course, what is intended is a provocation whereby your joke is lost on the reader; who you may hope will reply dissecting and refuting the fictional claims as though they were serious. I decline.
Thank you for giving me the best laugh I've had all day. Of course, Yale men and Hotchkiss old boys and Danny Kaye fans may be less enthusiastic in their response.
I can only pray you are true devotee of the absurd and will soon find and post a snap of a fire-singed, vintage, Yale basketball jersey- the lone relic saved from the Great Inferno that destroyed your father's ancestral manse. Let me guess, your father is notably absent from his class or team picture from the Yale Banner because he was stricken on snap day by the same curious, hereditary illness that interrupted your sport and sometimes your blog.
By my reply, I have not unwittingly "delivered the goods" for the egomaniacal circus master of this curious study in human pathology. I only offer a modest recommendation to the performer. To be successful, absurdity requires more than a litany of silly lies.
The dwindling coterie of thoughtful commentators must declare victory and depart the field.
The average NBA vertical leap is 28". Richard beats that by almost a foot. In fact, Richard has a vertical leap higher than Larry Bird (28") Karl Malone (28") and Shaquille O'Neal (32"). Amazing.
Delighted to learn that "thoughtful" (i.e., negative) commentators are leaving the field.
P.S. I can assure you that I am not Richard posing as "Anonymous"
I never said basketball is WASPy, and I admitted that in the post. And so what if I could jump higher than Malone, Bird, or Shaq. Their are a lot of guys who could jump much higher who never played a day of basketball in their life. However, I can think of several with a much better vertical.....Michael Jordan 42", Spud Webb 44", Scottie Pippen 39".....I could go on all day. And do you assume I can't jump high (or used to be able to) because I am white.....And, I seriously doubt Larry Bird had a 28" vertical......he probably is more like 18".
And, I do publish all comments even if they are critical. The personal ones....no I do not. That is why I published you non-sense criticism.
I don't get it. Ivy League schools are Division 1. How did your talent prevent you from going to one?
If anything it should have helped you out.
Anonymous 12:31....you have "not" unwittingly
delivered the goods for the egomaniacal
circus master..........
A modest recommendation to the...performer.
Well,what have we here then?
A more refined ,"been there and done that"
Walter Mitty YOURSELF? Anon 12:31??
It seems you are akin to Michael Caine in
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels trying to further
instruct Richard ,in the Steve Martin role.
Ohh.....we should really communicate further
Mr 12:31.......OH we really should talk.
Um Hmmm............indeed.
Hi Guys!
I've been dropping by for the pics for a few months. It seems the action is in the post.
The first thing I've noticed, there is nothing like an anonymous post to bring out the lil' kitty in people.
FYI, Richard, I can't control my weight for flip. So good luck w/ yours. It is sad that 90% of sex appeal is hidden by the last 2 lbs of fat hiding one's abs.
What is needed is a blog on how to dress the spherically obese.
Amazing blog! Some of the best fiction on the web!!
[I do worry that you're continuing to believe the crap you write ... kinda sad.]
Yes, Ivy League Schools are Division 1, but really good players do not attend these schools to play basketball. As usual, I figured I would get all the comments spouting that I am writing pure fiction. Oh well, I know that I did these things and that is all that matters.
Ta Ta,
-R
I trust your father is not as arrogant or self absorbed as you.
It would appear the blood thins as you go down the line.
Do you really think that the admissions committee said, "Oh, dear, we can't admit this boy. He's TOO GOOD at basketball!"
You don't get rejected from the Ivy League (or any college) because you're OVER qualified in any field. You get rejected because you're UNDER qualified.
Clearly, you got rejected simply because of your shortcomings. You're simply not Ivy material.
Anonymous,
I didn't even apply to Ivy League Schools, due to the fact of the all the scholarship offers I had to play basketball.
And you are wrong.....old dad is twice the prick I am !!
Haven't we had enough of this idle chitchat about basketball?
Waiting for another garb-related posting.
If you believe it, it's not a lie...
The Ivys don't have any athletic scholarships...and hence watching an Ivy basketball matchup can be painful. I'm taking my dad to the Penn vs. Harvard game for his birthday. Hopefully sushi and sake before will ease the pain.
I'm a hockey guy after all (I currently play on two ice hockey teams).
Ivy league schools do not offer athletic scholarships. That is why, at least in football, they play in the championship division or whatever-the-hell it is they call 1AA nowadays. There is some booster money and financial aid and admissions offices will generally look more favorably upon someone that the coach wants, but it isn't the same as the recruitment and scholarship process at a place like Duke.
I've read the blog for a while and usually don't comment, but I think anyone questioning why somone talented enough to play sports on scholarship at a D1 level would not attend an ivy should at least understand that bit of information.
Now, as to whether or not Richard would have gotten into an ivy league school is another question. There are many extremely qualified applicants (high grades and high boards) who go wanting every year when it comes to the ancient eight, so maybe he would have and maybe he wouldn't have. Nobody will ever know because he didn't apply.
I generally like the outfits Richard, but sometimes there is a bit too much color/pattern for my tastes. To each his own, I guess.
I like the comforter, but not the new bed. I would have gone with something a little less ornate. Again, personal preference.
Careful, Penn Guy. Don't let your comments become as boastful and self-serving as Dickie's posts!
Bullshit! Why won't you say where you played?
Post a Comment