On many a Sunday and the occasional weekday in the spring or summer, I go the Casey Playground basketball courts for some pick-up games. Here are a few observations;

1. The advantages of capitalism over communism are seen often on the court. The general rule of the court is that winning team stays on, losing team goes off, and what ever team has next replaces them. But, sometimes there is no team waiting to come on the court so even if your team loses, you still get to play. These types of games are akin to the communist system because there is no real reason to work harder to win. Thus, people play sloppier and attempt a lot more silly moves and wild shots to amuse themselves since there is no punishment for losing. However, today at the court at times 2-3 teams were waiting to play. This resulted in really competitive and physical games since a loss would mean that you could not get back on the court for another 3 games.
2. Sometimes, if the player is a court regular or someone I knew from High School I know how good they are going to be and their strengths and weaknesses. Then there are the random people who show up on occasion from other towns. Those people’s games are often hard to judge. When assembling a team or watching another game at first it looks as though one team has the clear advantage in player ability. But, many times someone who at first blush looks to be a good player is not. There are 2 main types of these people. One is the tall dude who looks like they will score easily over the smaller defenders but can not hit a lay up if his life depended on it. Next is the flashy dribbler who can do a bunch of crossovers and other moves but can not drive to the hoop well or shoot from the outside. On the reverse side are the people who are surprisingly good. Of these archetypes is the skinny, kinda short, 14-year old kid who hits shots consistently and even drives to the basket and finishes against older, stronger, taller opponents. Then there is the guy in his mid-forties who does a lot of fundamentals well.
3. Teams that can shoot the 3 well will win a lot of games even if they don’t have an all around talented team. In pick up hoops, you score in increments of 1-2 as opposed to 2-3 in real basketball. Thus a hitting it from behind the ark is twice as good as a lay up in pick up hoops as opposed to half as good in the pro-ball.
4. The Bad Hun vs. Good Hun. In some games one person on your team will unilaterally decide that they are the best player and take a bunch of shots. Astonishingly, sometimes this is done by people who have no business shooting a lot. This usually results in his team mates getting annoyed and someone eventually saying something which usually results in the bad hun sulking or being extra defiant and taking even wilder unadvised shots. On occasions when someone huns the ball, but is actually good his teammates will not complain as long as they can go for the winning ride.
5. Confusions and controversies. Since pick-up games are informal, disagreements occur regularly. The first confusions unusually involve which team rightly has the next game. This arises when no one is quite sure who was at the court first and who has played in previous games. Addition, problems occur when one person has declared they have next, but does not assemble their team until the game is over so he can pick from players who are waiting and the losing team. This ends up in people who have just lost playing again before people who have been waiting have played and creates much consternation. Disputed foul and out of bounds calls are another source for potential unrest. Usually, 2 parties bicker ever louder over the disputed call until one says “whatever. I will give it to you even though it was bull shit, but we get the next close call.” On extremely rare occasions these disagreements over calls end up in actual fights which are mostly 2 dumbasses pretended like its going to be a real fight but secretly hoping their team mates pull them back.
6. I am a quirky basketball player. I can’t dribble for shit and my jump shot is not very good. I am however a pretty good defender and rebounded for my size. My biggest quirk is my hook shot which I can make at a much higher frequency then my regular shot. When my hook shot is off, it is really off the mark, which usually results in a team mate saying something to the effect of what the fuck was that shot? On the other hand, when I get on one of my hook shot rolls and hit 5 or 6 in a row it results in laughs from teammates at the exasperation of my opponent who usually is saying this is bullshit.