On my "Basketball Mortality"

Mean sitting around and reading Vogue or Vanity or wtf? Time for McGrady to go to college.

Man… I’m 25 and recently tore my ACL. It hit hard thinking that I will never be the same again and at such a young age too. Its only gonna get harder from here. I use to play basketball everyday for at least 2-4 hours, its just sad thinking about how hard you have to work just to stay in shape. I always wonder, if I worked on strengthening my legs more, would I have torn my ACL? I guess theres no point in looking back, just gotta move on.

If your still healthy and love the game, my advice is to always strengthen and condition your body (stretch, weights, core, etc.,). Enjoy the game, because sooner or later you’re gonna have to accept the fact that you can’t compete like you use to.

Reading some of these….where do you people come up with the time to play basketball every day. Wish I had time on my hands to play every day…

Am an infrequent contributor, but seeing the comments from the 20’s and 30’s youngsters, had to chime in with some 54 year old observations …

Am not as good as I used to be … but to be honest, I never was as good as I used to be … it seems the older I get, the better I was …

Still remember my mid 20’s, when the NBA finally adopted the 3 point shot, and having to use cracks in the playground courts as the 3 point line for a couple years, until they got around to actually painting in real lines …

No matter what you do, after 40, your eyesight will go (glasses; if not bi-focals), your teeth will go (root canals), and your knees will go (look for a soft place to land on your jumpshots … and eventually learn to shoot without jumping at all), and you may even have to stop playing entirely for a few years (48 to 51 in my case, until the patella tendinitis subsided enough). But be patient, and you’ll find your way back onto a court … you’ll foul a lot more, but if you’ve got an outside shot, you can still play and contribute respectably about once a month in your 50’s (and hopefully longer … we’ll see). Of course, you’ll also start telling the youngest guy out there that you’re older than his dad, just to lay a guilt / sympathy trip on him …

In general, after college, guys tend to gain a pound per year, and that happened for me until the wife entirely changed my diet in my mid-40’s … very little carbs, lots of fish / salads / fruits / nuts / no breakfast or lunch but multiple snacks to tide the day through to dinner … and started swimming 2,100 yards 6 times a week (while waiting for the knees to get better) … and in the last 5 years, have lost 20 lbs and am within 7 lbs of my college weight …

Hope these comments from way over the hill help, and good luck on aging as (un)gracefully as possible …

about two years ago (I’m 25 now) when I came down HARD on my defender’s foot when he undercut me on my jumper. I just HAD to elevate a lot on that shot, and the result was 6 weeks before I stepped on a court again, and a lot of purple swollen foot that I couldn’t bear weight on for at least 3 weeks before that.

I have one of the most inflexible ectomorph bodies on the planet, and I’ll admit I don’t really stretch very often, usually because I get pissed at how horrible my range of motion is. I think about how I’ll be able to play in 5 years, 10 years. Even without serious injury, being small (5’10", 137 lbs) I rely completely on being fast and quick, and once I start losing my first step I don’t know how I’ll be able to play. Further compounding my reliance on quickness are my handles and passing skills, which are relatively comparable to Monta Ellis’ (that is to say, horrible).

I’ve played with a LOT of old-timers in their 40s, 50s, even one dude who looked 60-65, and some of them were still very competitive. Granted, the good ones had obviously taken care of their bodies and were still lean and strong, but they somehow always knew how to compensate for their slower movements by just being crafty—you know, those “veteran moves” people always talk about—the drive that comes to a full stop almost at the box, the half turn to fake a pass out to the wing, only to turn again and flip it up off the glass with a low, underhanded release point. :D

I think that basketball is BY FAR the hardest everyday sport to play as you age. I once read that more injuries occur playing basketball than any other sport. While most of them are ankle sprains, jammed fingers and such, it goes to show that the constant running and jumping on an unforgiving surface is really, really hard on the body, and 10 players all moving in a confined space is just a recipe for problems.

In 2004, at the age of 25, I broke my left foot playing ball; it was a fracture of the 3rd metatarsal (middle bone) that I sustained consistently jumping off my left foot. Because of my medical experiences, I am a full supporter of blowing up the entire health care system of this country. I had problems with hospitals, doctors, and insurance companies from day one. The injury did not heal correctly, and it left me with an exhaustive list of medical problems, including plantar fasciitis, flat feet, sore hips, sore knees, bad joints, one leg longer than the other, etc, etc, etc. Because of all this, I no longer play competitively.

If you are a healthy player, I have a few recommendations:

• Try to play on a springy, indoor court or a rubberized outdoor court. I cannot emphasize how big of a difference this makes.
• Don’t overdo it. It’s easy to want to play ball every day, and when you are 19, it’s easy. But 10 years later, you will get injured.
• If you get injured, stop playing immediately. I know we all think we are invincible when we are young, but please trust me that having a major injury in today’s health care climate (with or without insurance) is just a debacle that truly is life changing.
• If you have a major lower body injury, force your doctor(s) to provide world-class physical therapy. Access to a pool is absolutely essential.
• I know this isn’t a political debate, but please support a complete and total overhaul of the US healthcare system. It was by far the most frustrating experience of my life. Keep in mind that insurance companies are for profit; their number one goal is to increase their stock price, not to get you healthy. Now, doctors and nurses will try to get you healthy, but they are restricted by so many rules and regulations set forth by insurance companies that it becomes a sick joke, and they tend to be overwhelmed by the numbers of patients that individual care is not nearly as commonplace as it maybe once was.

Stay healthy, GSoMers!!