The Hooper’s Lounge

[QUOTE="

Yeah, I gave up pick-up games at around 50. Loved playing, but it was no longer worth it. You get injured more often and it takes longer to get over it.[/QUOTE]

I had to give the game up around the same time. Just too many hard miles & the little injuries & longer recovery times just forced me to make a hard decision.

I still miss playing…..

 

I remember the Smurfs as a long time intramural team. Always very good.

The Mullets were also good and mostly comprised of intramural refs so they got every call. They also insisted on playing with their own basketball saying it was better than all the other ones. Even when I showed up with an NBA game ball. They still made the claim. I think they were over ruled but were warming up with my ball at halftime until I mentioned that to the refs.

But the one game where the other team got every call down the stretch was when we played a team of UF football players with Emmitt Smith. It was a close game toward the end and we were down about four points or so with a few minutes to go. In that situation you put them on the line. Emmitt told the refs that we were intentionally fouling so that they should get free throws and the ball. Totally wrong interpretation of the rules but the refs gave Emmitt what he wanted and Emmitt signed autographs from the refs after the game.

 

Emmitt being a prick sure seems par for the course.

 

I played at SW Rec at least 3 times a week for most of my time at UF. Then many games of pickup and grad IMs while at law school at FSU. A couple terrible ankle injuries not rehabbed properly, and a shoulder SLAP tear over the years, and now I am deeply in what another poster referred to as "unhealthy corporate lifestyle" lol. Now 36, I attribute all of my daily aches and pains and creaky joints to all the games of basketball. Worth it, probably. Most of my best friends then that I still stay in touch with from afar were my basketball brothers.

One of my best moves was developing a left and right hook shot (at a whopping 5'10, but with a "Pixar mom" butt) that allowed me to beat guys 5 or 6 inches taller on the low block with my back to the basket. Still using it to great success whenever I get a chance to play these days! My law school buddies both loved and hated me for it, depending on whose team I was on Not a bad 3pt shooter either!

 

I had to give the game up around the same time. Just too many hard miles & the little injuries & longer recovery times just forced me to make a hard decision.

I still miss playing…..[/QUOTE]

yeah… I’m approaching 50, and just hurt myself fishing.

 

You live in Miami area? Where is that league held? I am down south, and we're getting back into playing regularly....

 

I’m suggesting to ice your bad knee every day and definitely after you play. I’m astonished how many people fail to ice their bad joints (especially knees) often. I think they thinks it’s a hassle but I consider it imperative.

 

I was a pretty decent player and played all the time; no activity or sport was as much fun for me. I tore my ACL in a city league game and was never the same. Once you sustain a bad injury to a knee, it seems you are prone to future injuries. In my case, I tore my medial meniscus. I had my “good” knee replaced two years ago and it is doing great but you can’t really play basketball if you are smart. One thing the ortho doctors don’t tell you unless you ask is: the TKR procedure takes out your ACL! I think this is why they want patients to limit knee twisting sports like basketball.

 

I wasn’t clear at all; I meant it is not recommended to play bball or football on a total knee replacement. It will likely rip the implant out. I am all for playing as long as your body can sustain it.

 

Sometimes meniscus tears can heal up to some degree. Many decades ago, they always operated on meniscus tears but they now let many of these heal in their own way. I’m hoping you may be able to delay or forego surgery.

 

My kids laugh at their old man lying on the couch with both knees iced every Tuesday night (and soon Sundays), but it makes all the difference in the world.

 

Fwiw, I rehabbed a meniscus through cycling.

Obviously not a sure proof cure, but a low risk alternative to try if you can spin for a couple, three months....

As you know surgery removes cartilage and speeds up arthritis.