Bloggin' in B'dos 2: Basketball talk!

Today I had the pleasure of being surprised by one of my coaches. Jim Robinson. He's the ol'dude on the left in the black. The other is my long time employer/mentor Patrick Loubert.

It was a good surprise. I haven't seen Jim in months. Hangin' with these ol'dudes reminded me of the basketball run that we used to play in. Every Tuesday and Thursday at 12pm, the workload was put on hold and whatever problems you had pushed aside. All for this run that would host no more then fifteen people on average. I was about 18 years old when i found out about this run. I had to fight tooth and nail to gain a little respect to run with these guys who were an assortment of characters. There were a few Film and Television Executives, Chefs, Rogers personnel, former semi-pro basketball players, professional salsa dancers, reformed crooks, high schoolers, and guys who didn't even have a job. They co-existed on these days and bonded like men should. When I finally got the chance and earned my right to play with these men I learned to respect and see them each as a mentor. These are men who remained to keep their personalities in check without losing themselves in the process. They all came from different walks of life, each had something to provide from their life experience. I tend to study human behaviour so I watched, listened and learned. Sure, during the games there would be fights or arguments. But the comraderie at the end of the day was the unprecedented.

I've seen a sense of comraderie that almost doesn't exist now in any gym program. Not in today's Rec system. I played in that run for ten years. As a matter a fact playing basketball in that run, I got a my job at Trinity, the rec we played at. Patrick, the guy doing the bunny ears over my head in the pic, gave me a job at Nelvana. I can't say that basketball didn't provide me with anything. Probably not your conventional basketball story. But the experiences given from the game... I wouldn't give that up.

Miko, Chris, Sunday, Uno, Conrad, Jimmy, Sifu Pat Chin, Jamie, Mark H, Collin, Chef, Phil, Andrew, P-Lou, the list goes on. The faces maybe interchangeable... but not irreplaceable!