I would say that I'm not an angry guy.
Anger is not one of my vices -- I'm generally easy-going and moderately patient with people. I don't curse at swervy drivers, or call people mean names, or get into (too many) street fights. I'm what you might call an even-tempered guy.
Except on the basketball court. I can get so angry when I play basketball.
I don't get angry when Gumm doesn't feed me the ball in the post, or when Derrick keeps air-balling his 3s, or when Darius intentionally chooses not to be on my team. I get angry only at myself.
When I make stupid mistakes on the court, I become so frustrated. Today I air-balled an easy jump shot, followed my shot, and punched the ball clear up to the rafters (catching your own air-ball is called travelling, so that's why I didn't try to save it). Sometimes I will swoop in for a layup, brick it off the backboard, and then yell out, "COME ON GRAY, YOU STINK!" And I'm really mad at myself.
Now, if I am going up for a tough shot and I miss, I have no problem with that. If someone shot-fakes me and dribbles around, I tell them, "good job". Its the stupid mistakes that get me so fired up. Its not that I'm terribly competitive because truly competitive people compete in everything ("Dude, I bet I can eat a two-scoop ice cream cone faster than you") and I get annoyed at that sort of person.
So I'm going to lay down on the blogger psychoanalyst couch and let you shrink me. If I only get angry with myself for doing stupid things, does that make me an angry person? Do I have a problem? I'm paying by the hour, so be honest.
Monday, March 12, 2007
AnGRRRR...
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5 comments:
I'm very much the same way. There are few things that get me riled up, most of them are sports. For me, it's that I have unreasonable expectations of my talent. I don't totally suck but I'm not Darius either. At some point, after I walk in the gym, I become convinced that I'm Reggie Miller. When I fail I kill myself... verbally, at least. Then I peel myself off the court, shower, and grab a smoothie. Somewhere in there I remember that it doesn't matter... only to forget the next time I lace up.
*thinking of advise*
I dunno what to do either... is there another couch in the room?
HEY! Why couldn't it be "...when Derrick keeps nailin' his 3's..."?! Why you gotta keep a brotha down?! *it doesn't matter, Derrick, just shut up and get on the couch...*
I shamed you on your 3s because I have only seen you have a bad day on that Saturday after the Man-Law Breakfast. Most of the time, you are en fuego. Gumm on the other hand -- he never feeds me in the post.
Ok, boys. Now that I have you both here, allow me to pass on some wisdom gained from a sermon I recently heard. The pastor was talking about the [vast, incomparable] differences between men and women. He was relating the fact that his wife can no longer go to any of his church-league basketball games because she hates seeing him so intense and hard on himself. He spent some time considering why he was like this, and determined that it is because the Lord created men for WAR. They love sports, violent video games, hunting, even chasing women (!) because they were created to WAR. Perhaps then, as he suggested, the reason you guys are so intense about your "friendly competition" is because it is, to your deepest essence, life and death.... an imitation of war. In this mindset, were you to miss that shot (though, for the sake of the analogy it would be an arrow, a rock thrown from a sling, a sword, or the like), it could mean your death. There is no room for stupid mistakes in war, so, sure, you’re hard on yourselves. Your perception of your own talent really has nothing to do with it; to you men, it feels like it should be instinctual. You rage when your instincts aren’t what you think they are. As Michael alluded to, if someone is simply a more skilled “swordsman” than you, you don’t feel so badly being bested by him (the gaping puncture to your pancreas notwithstanding), but you never want to fail for lack of (or deterioration of) your constitutional man-at-war instincts. And THAT, my friends, is why that air ball is so exasperating.
-Erin
Wow...Erin that was well thought out and extremely eloquent (my favorite line being "the gaping puncture to your pancreas notwithstanding"). But are you sure it's not because they're just BIG BABIES!
He he - I love you bay!
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