The Impossible Dream

I have always been a fan of basketball and slam dunks ever since I saw Dr. J on TV when I was a little kid. One of the greatest moments in my life was when I finally able to dunk a basketball as a sophomore in High School. I'm sure many people won't be able to relate to this (unless you are a drug addict), but dunking can give you a high, like a drug. I used to have decent jumping ability for a skinny white boy although I couldn't do all the tricky windmill, between the legs stuff you see young punks doing these days. During High School, College, and even into my early thirties when I'd play pickup games, I would usually average several dunks each outing.

Over time my vertical jump decreased and dunking became less frequent until the year 2006 when the unthinkable happened. I went the entire year without getting a dunk. I could still occasionally dunk a ball if I was stretched out and it was a bouncy floor, if I had a tail wind and if the moon and stars were aligned, but my days of being able to throw it down on someone during a game were gone..

My drought has now extenended to it's 4th year and I am now taunted by the depressing thought that maybe it is time to just rely on layups and finger roles from now on. Is is possible for a soon to be 42 year old injury prone man to regain his hops and start dunking again? I think it's possible but not very likely. Some might interpret this as yet another mid life crisis or some kind of trivial obsession, but I'll bet those people have never felt the rush you get from dunking. It's a guy thing. It's kind of like harnessing the power of Niagra Falls and combining it with the excitement of killing a Sith Lord with a light sabre. Don't even pretend you don't know how good that feels. Here is a sample of what I'm talking about.

If I can make a return to peak jumping form at my age, I would feel like George Foreman coming out of retirment and winning the heavy weight championship. Not that any of you care, but I think mentioning this in public makes me more accountable to start doing something about it. I will keep you posted when I reach this goal, or if I fail I will just pretend that it was never that important for me and I will simply delete this post.