{"id":2458513,"date":"2020-05-16T12:12:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-16T18:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=325680"},"modified":"2020-05-16T12:12:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T18:12:00","slug":"writing-switch-in-the-deed-the-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/writing-switch-in-the-deed-the-glory\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Switch: In the deed the glory"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/switch-atw-051320-1-768x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/switch-atw-051320-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/switch-atw-051320-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/switch-atw-051320-1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/switch-atw-051320-1-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/switch-atw-051320-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">With the only sports-related thing on TV being ESPN\u2019s Chicago Bulls documentary, we started reflecting on times when we were at the peak of our athletic prowess. We thought about calling it our own personal \u201cThe Last Dance,\u201d but unlike MJ we never give up, and we keep dancing, even when the lights come on and it\u2019s just us and a bunch of drunk guys left. This week we get in the zone and give an SVP-style retelling of our finest hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><span>Eighth grade B team basketball<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><strong>SB:<\/strong> First of all I should have been on the A team but the coach, who I can\u2019t remember because I don\u2019t take slights to the grave like Mike, said he \u201cDidn\u2019t want ball hogs on his team,\u201d according to some kids on the A team. Turned out it didn\u2019t matter because when you have a pool of 24 kids to fill two rosters, neither team is going to be good.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">And I would have passed the ball but everybody sucked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">During my brief return to a small Catholic school in eighth grade, we didn\u2019t even have enough guys for two teams so we had to bring in kids from the public schools \u2014 who happened to go to the same church \u2014 to fill out the rosters. The A team was mostly made up of them. It was fun, though, because all my friends were on the B team.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Neither squad was good at all but I got to dice up other lowly private school B teams while playing point center. At one point I was on the receiving end of a Box and 1, which is about as much respect as you can get from a middle school basketball coach. We\u2019d inevitably lose because my wings were the kid who played with worms and home dude who got really into Kotton Mouth Kingz in high school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">However, at one point we got to scrimmage the A team and put it on them. I put up some buckets and swatted their center, who was the A team coach\u2019s pet project, multiple times, prompting a \u201cStop bringing the ball down so low!\u201d plea from his coach. (You could tell this wasn\u2019t the first instance of frustration he had that season.) I\u2019m pretty sure it was the best basketball I played all season.<\/p>\n<h4>Hat trick heroics<\/h4>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><strong>BW:<\/strong> Motivation when you\u2019re almost a teenager comes from needing to have a better stat sheet than your buddies during Capri Sun storytime, and also the cute girls on your team. This is my last year before puberty hits and co-ed soccer splits off, separating hormonal triggers so we can live up to all AYSO\u2019s expectations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Every season has a new influx of players on military bases, so making friends wasn\u2019t hard, until one day you\u2019re moving in two weeks and never heard from again. If you\u2019ve lived in Aspen for a while, this may sound familiar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">We were down 1-0, yet I was feeling confident in my red and purple jersey and bangs spiked with so much cheap hair gel not even sweat was letting those puppies droop. I scored a minute after halftime and they responded right after. \u201cLook who\u2019s winning,\u201d sneered some cocky kid (if you are allowed to call them that). \u201cLooks who\u2019s gonna win,\u201d I replied, much more cleverly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">I made a penalty kick to tie us, then deked the goalie for another score as time ran down. I\u2019m last to walk off the field, as is the MVP\u2019s perogative, grinning broadly at the coach, my dad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cYou\u2019ve got some orange stuck in your braces,\u201d he says. I must\u2019ve hit him with a pretty good eye roll. \u201cNice job though, son.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><span>Hit stick football<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><strong>SB:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t play too much pickup tackle football because it routinely ended in fights\/injuries due to the fact that we were, you know, playing pickup tackle football without pads. I\u2019m pretty sure I no-called-no-showed\/quit my godfather\u2019s job to play football this fateful day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">I was having a pretty solid game; contributed a couple of touchdowns, had a nice stint at QB until a pitch that would\u2019ve resulted in a TD was mishandled by the recipient. Soon thereafter, I missed a tackle and was pretty upset about it. The next play, the player I was covering caught a flare pass out of the backfield and I closed on him, bear hugged him and body-slammed into the ground, in the process injuring his knee and forcing a fumble, of which I caught midair and lateraled to a teammate, who returned it for a score.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">The game ended pretty soon after that because a couple of guys swung on one another and the guy I suplexed was injured.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><span>PERFECT PUTTING<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><strong>BW:<\/strong> Golf is not the game for a person who is easily frustrated when sportsballs don\u2019t travel in their intended direction. After angrily launching tees into the pond after skipping another ball along the fairway 20 feet, I swore off golf and my hand-me-down 1970s clubs forever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Until my friends needed another fiddle for their ensemble at the Barstool Open in Lincoln, Nebraska. For those unfamiliar with a Barstool Open, it\u2019s when bars around town set up putt-putt holes and you play progressively sloppier mini golf. We resolved to have a drink at all 18 establishments, and after a little front-loading, I hit that familiar drunken concentration stride that got me through college.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Hole 3 was a foosball-styled box \u2014 plinked it off the corner and into the goal. Shots! I hit the gap across a bridge on hole 4 and into the cup. Shots! I read the slant of the green for a turkey. Shots! Seven times in a row my stroke was true, and walking on O Street I felt like Tiger Woods between holes at Augusta, adjusting my sequined glove and holding my putter like an M16 while the crowd parts ahead of me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">I\u2019m not sure who actually won the tournament, as everyone eventually stopped keeping score and stayed at whatever bar they gave up in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">I woke up face down in a basket of fries and looked at my phone. \u201cIt\u2019s 5 in the morning, how is this place still open?\u201d I asked my roommate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cThat\u2019s p.m., not a.m. Let\u2019s get you home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><span>HONORABLE MENTIONS<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><strong>SB:<\/strong> The time I shot like 3- to 5-over on 18 at the par 3.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">The fact that Ben Welch has yet to best me in any game of basketball, including when I rolled my ankle and Kevin McHale-d my way to the W.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Shooting a personal best 88 at Aspen Glen. (I\u2019m not a good golfer.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">A couple time in seventh grade at 24-Hour Fitness: Once when I crossed up a bunch of older Mexican guys a in an Iverson jersey and had a filthy dime for to finish it. Another time beating an older felon who was wearing a house-arrest monitor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><span><strong>BW:<\/strong> Packing a dude so hard in freshman year that he broke his arm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Sharpie-ing my white jersey with Air Jordan and T-Mac logos and song lyrics, putting it on in a game and being so embarrassed it mentally shut me down rest of the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Catching a double-tipped Hail Mary for a touchdown in the neighborhood Thanksgiving game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">I bowled 206 back before bowling drunk was a thing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Rebuttaling four times in a row and making last cup to win a beer pong tournament.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/opinion\/in-the-deed-the-glory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the only sports-related thing on TV being ESPN\u2019s Chicago Bulls documentary, we started reflecting on times when we were at the peak of our athletic prowess. We thought about calling it our own personal \u201cThe Last Dance,\u201d but unlike MJ we never give up, and we keep dancing, even when the lights come on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2458513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-17 15:40:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}