Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Bastketball & Court

Last night was the first evening of basketball with the geezers. Yes, the insanity has begun again. Surprisingly there were no injuries. Knock on wood. We had a number of young military guys playing tonight (in order to rent the gym at the base we have to allow members of the forces to play if they wish). They force us to play at a faster speed, which I suppose is good. Then again, it's all fun and games until someone slips a disc or has a massive coronary right there on the court.

The geezer on the left is pretty much reflective of the crowd I play ball with. I may look a bit like them, but I'm just a babe when it comes to age. The military aside, I think that I'm second youngest at nearly 48 years old. It's sad, I shouldn't hurt so much at my age.

I took one ibuprofen before the game (preemptive strike) and 2 more after my shower later on. Between the pills and the single malt I'm almost not feeling any pain at all. Of course I exaggerate...it was beer, not scotch.

A criminal trial started yesterday in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in Grand Falls-Windsor. The case may hold interest to both Canadians and Americans as it involves a woman from Pennsylvania charged with criminal negligence in the shooting death of her husband four years ago today in a popular hunting area in central Newfoundland. In the dim light after sunset, she thought her approaching husband was a black bear and shot him.
The case had caught our attention at the time as we had only been living here for two weeks. The RCMP had investigated and allowed the woman to return home but the man's father pressed for charges to be laid and she was extradited here last May to await her court date. There has been some suspicion about the case as the woman apparently received a hefty life insurance payout after the fact.
The testimony yesterday was mainly from the guide who took them hunting. It sounds like many rules were broken, such as hunting after sunset and the hunters not wearing orange blazing to make them more identifiable, and perhaps the guide is a bit accountable here as well. For those wanting to follow along, there is decent reporting coming from CBC and the local Telegram newspaper out of St. John's.
(Apologies for the formatting here...I have more paragraphs on my screen when looking at the story, but when I hit 'publish' blogger lumps them together for some reason. $%&*ing technology...or maybe it's just operator error!)

16 comments:

Laurita said...

Nothing like the squeal of basketball shoes in an empty gym. Glad to see you're getting a good dose of exercise and friendly (I hope) competition.

Laura Eno said...

Geezers unite! ;)

Blogger lumps paragraphs together whenever you look sideways, so don't do that...

Katey said...

Dear god, people are stupid. Thought her husband was a black bear... wow. Just--wow.

My dad used to play basketball when he was your age--he's well ahead of you in that way, of course, but he does tend to think the whisky/beer helps.

I think he's crazy. Basketball is hard, but even harder when you're 5'6". (He's the tallest in my family, see.)

EC said...

Geezer basketball is a riot! My dad actually used to play donkey basketball.

Hunting in the dark...yikes! That black bear must be laughing his hide off.

Fox Lee said...

Now I assume you play shirts and skins.

Cathy Olliffe-Webster said...

Be careful out there! My ex plays Geezer Hockey and last year TWO guys had heart attacks out on the ice, and one of them died!
So be careful!
Geez, geezers and their sports...
I'm with ya on the premptive pain pill strikes - I have to do that just to go shopping.
It'll be interesting to see how the bear saga plays out.

Alan W. Davidson said...

Laurita- The game can get a bit spirited at times but no fisicuffs to date. We keep score but there is no prize at the end.

Laura- Right on sister! I will look straight forward in future to try and remedy the situation.

Katey- The bear-lady story, I'm sure will only get stranger. Some of the shortest guys are the best players because they are so much faster than the others (unless, of course, the are as round as they are tall).

Erin- I've never heard of donkey ball (pauses to look it up in Wiki...) Oh, they ride donkeys while playing basketball. Quite bizarre. We could substitute Newfoundland ponies here, I'm sure...

Nat- Sadly, no. We play red team and blue team. None of us wants to compare the size of our moobs.

Cathy- Considering a few guys are in their 60's I suppose anything is possible. Perhaps we should pool our money to buy a defibrilator to keep on hand...

Unknown said...

.... ah, go for the single malt next time

David Barber said...

Alan, I read this yesterday on my iPhone (at work) but couldn't comment.

It's great that you get out for some "hoops" with the older dudes. You took the right precautions and the right follow-up, booze and painkillers always work well together!! Ha!

That old guys knees look like mine after a day tiling floors!

Agree with Anthony. Single malt all the way. In fact I've got some ready for your next visit over to these shores!

Along These Lines ... said...

"she thought her approaching husband was a black bear and shot him" ... right, heard that one before.

K.C. Shaw said...

Basketball season already! Time flies. Of course, basketball season (in the pro level, anyway, not the geezer level) seems to last about 11 months these days.

Either that woman was maybe looking for a cheap divorce or she needs glasses. Either way, I wouldn't have gone hunting with her. She might see my pasty skin shining in the gloaming and think I was a unicorn. Instant trophy shot! :p

Alan W. Davidson said...

Ant- I hear ya, brother...

David- Good to see you back, mate. If it weren't for the basketball I'd get no exercise at all. Bet the tiling gig is hard on the back as well as the knees. My back, I wouldn't last a week at tiling! Yeah, it's been 10 years since I was in the auld country...who knows, maybe after we get this last one paid off I'll be able to sample some of that single malt...

Nick- Yep, it cerainly looks a tad suspicious. We'll just wait and see how the judge sees things.

KC- My God...if I had to do that for 11 months of the year! I wonder what a shrink would make of you thinking of yourself as a unicorn trophy! Hmmm...you should be writing fantasy...

Bernard said...

Hey Alan, how about enjoying The Versatile Blogger Award between Geezer Matches? I've passed one onto you at my How to Get Published blog.

EC said...

Okay, you're gonna kill me - I nominated you for an award too, but it is Bernard's fault. :)

Nobody in their right mind should play donkey basketball - it's not a pretty sight and if we'd had Facebook back then,...yeah. I'll take the geezers on foot anyday.

Alan W. Davidson said...

Bernard & Erin...thanks guys, ya'll must know how much I love getting awards! I'll deal with them over the weekend. Hopefully.

kathryn said...

Maybe the wife and the guide were in kahoots for the insurance money. That's usually how these things end.

I think I've been watching too much Dateline Mysteries....