Story of My Life

One day of my life, literally one day, I could dunk a basketball.

My senior year of HS, during baseball season, me and some of the other baseball players went over to a middle school gym to play basketball.  I used to play a lot of basketball and while not great nor necessarily even "good", I could hold my own.  For a baseball player, I was good.  

Anyway, back then, I had the "ups" to dunk, but I could never get the ball down.  What? I'm a pudgy bum now, but back then I was about 165lbs.  The extra 35lbs I've added in the 15 years since keep me a bit more firmly planted to the ground, if not reality.  Back then though, I could get up.  Unfortunately, I'd always get the ball over the front, but I'd bang it off the back of the rim, and usually I ended up crumpled in a pile underneath the basket. 

For whatever reason, I gave it a try that day and bam!!, I dunked.  I dunked multiple times in the games we played.  I was pumped.  As we were leaving a janitor asked us how we liked the new floor.  

New floor? 

"Yeah, they just put it in."  

I had a sinking feeling.  

"Did they take up the old floor before they put in the new one?"  

"Nah."  

Son of a bitch.  

I immediately drove over and broke into the HS gym (it was a weekend).  Up I went, off the ball went towards the rafters, and down I fell into a pile.  So yeah, I could dunk...on a 9'11" rim.  

Story of my life.

Little did I know then that "the bench" would be a metaphor for my life.